In class we discussed the different paradoxes of planning. Here is a short list of pros and cons of lesson planning. Do you think it is necessary to have a written lesson plan for every single class we teach? Post a comment explaining your answer and do not forget to comment on somebody else's opinion.
Some advantages and disadvantages of lesson planning - HIMANSHU MALLICK
Advantages of Lesson Planning
1. It inspires the teacher to improve the further lessons.
2. It helps the teacher in evaluating his teaching.
3. It develops self confidence in the teacher.
4. Proper care is taken on take into consideration, the level and previous knowledge of students.
5. The teaching matter is organized in a time-frame.
6. It inspires the teacher to ask proper and important questions.
7. It provides guidance to the teacher as to what and home he should teach.
8. It helps in creating the interest of students towards the lesson.
9. It stimulates the teacher to think in an organized manner.
10. It helps the teacher to understand to objectives properly.
Limitations of Lesson-Planning
1. In new or odd situations teacher feels himself helpless.
2. Sometimes simple matters become complicated.
3. More time is required to plan a lesson.
4. Teacher cannot work/teach independently.
5. There is lack of flexibility in lesson-planning.
6. The teaching process becomes more difficult.
I think thats its necessary for my own guide to have a written lesson plan. It gives me direction, confidence and a as I say a personal guide. But I also believe that is not necessary to have written EVERY SINGLE thing, like every activity or concept in detail. That give me a chance to incorporate new things in every class and make them more flexible.
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DeleteI agree with you when you say that is not necessary to have written every single thing, we have to let the class flow while we observe the students behavior and learn how to allow or create moments of natural or spontaneous interaction between the students in which they can develop their communicative skills.
DeleteI think the necessity of writing every single thing sometimes depends on how experienced a teacher is. I agree with you when you say that a lesson plan is a guide and not something to follow strictly.
DeleteThats a good point Angelica. I believe that the more experience a teacher has the less written words he needs in his lesson plan. When we are just starting, most of the times we tend to forget things (or at least me ). It might happen because we are nervous or feel so much pression about our studentds getting the topic well. For me it is good to write as much as i can since my memory sometimes doesnt work so well. But, when a teacher gets more experience and have some things mechanised in his or her mind, it wont be totally neccesary to write down many details.
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Deleteindeed, not every single word of what you want to do but a detailed short activity explanation must be there at least, a teacher must know what is doing but cannot LIVE improvise of what activity works the most in class.
DeleteI agree that the lesson plan provides the teacher with confidence about what needs to be taught. On the other hand, I consider that a detail lesson plan helps the teacher to go over his / her notes and to analyze students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, what type of intelligence a student might have and what things work and which do not.
DeleteI think all teachers should have a lesson plan, not necessarily a big one with lots of pages. But enough to keep in mind details that we might forget or skip tiny observations during the class.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with you because I think it is necessary to have everything very detailed, and of course it would be so long and would take lots of pages.
DeleteI agree with you, a lesson needs to be planned for every class maybe a short lesson or a long one depends on your capacity of memorizing things and how creative you are when you have to improvise an activity immediately by forgetting details
DeleteI believe it's quality over quantity, one-paged lesson plans seem to be enough.. remember to keep things simple rather than writing lots of pages full of predictions about what might work for x class.. trust in your capacity to interact naturally with your students, be a good observer and consider a lesson plan as a guide not as a rule or a bible. LOL, hahaha.
DeleteI agree with what you say, having a too detailed lesson plan requires more time and it will also make the teacher feel that is necessary to follow said lesson plan letter by letter.
DeleteI agree with the fact that lesson planning is important and that we need to have one ready for every class, it does matter to have this "written pal" next to you, consider it, the skeleton of the class.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, we as teachers need to keep pushing our creative and improvisation abilities to be capable of handle spontaneous and unexpected situations in the classroom, and to share and teach/learn with the students in a natural and comfortable way, without pressures or tensions. This will be the flesh and vital organs of the class. Because by leaving this space to interact with students maybe we are opening the doors for some students intrinsic motivation and autonomy development.
I don't agree with you at the point of saying that a lesson plan will cut your improvisation ability off, because it's just the guide for you to be sure of what you're doing, and having a record of you're students performance. You need to do some modifications on your lesson plan when teaching the lesson, and that's the most important thing to take into account.
DeleteIm agree with that 'modifications'. I think that we need to keep in mind the students behavior or the class mood and that allow us to be more spontaneous with the students... I think that the natural interaction between me and the students helps to improve their learning skills.
DeleteFor me it's really important to have a written plan for every single class, although it takes so long, I prefer to have everything completely organized and planed, of course I'm aware of the importance of being able to solve paradoxes anyway.
ReplyDeleteBut keep in mind that 'having EVERYTHING completely organized and planned' maybe cut the interacción class and make boring classes sometimes. For me is not essential to have written every example, topic, activity, etc...
DeleteI think that having every detail written down can become a problem. Some people tend to forget more often and rely too much on their notes, possibly making them more distracted during class. Maybe using an outline with short phrases or words about how class should go would be more productive.
DeleteI agree with you in having a lesson plan to follow, however organizing and planning everything by the book could become contradictory and have you in the place of a "super ready" teacher.
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DeleteI think having as much details as you can, its an advantage to. Sometimes there are problems with students or parents or directors about things that were supposed to be done in class. If you have most of the situations going on in your lesson plans record, could be a tool to prove you actually did what was recuired and many misunderstandings can be solved with it.
DeleteHaving a written lesson plan is very important for us as teachers not only because it'll help us to accomplish what we want students to learn but also to understand what are the students goals and needs. A lesson plan it'll also give you the confidence once you're entering a classroom either if it's for the first time or if is a classroom that you've already been teaching.
ReplyDeleteMy thinking about this topic is that teachers should have a written lesson plan in order to check if they fulfilled the goals they have set for enhancing students’ learning process. and that, despite some people claim that teachers who plan their lessons may not know how to react when an unexpected situation appears, I believe that the lesson plan itself helps teacher in their teaching process since reflecting on how good the activities worked and how they can improve others activities, new paths of doing activities emerge, giving more options to work with in a classroom.
ReplyDeleteTo conclude, a lesson plan is worthless when it isn’t planned for the students’ educational benefits, and that a written lesson plan is a record which helps teachers to reflect on what they have done in class, how good was for the students’ learning process and how they can improve their ways of teaching in a classroom.
I agree with Andres, mostly because written language will always last longer than memory, and will aloow you remember everything that you have thought of for a particular activity, and if something goes wrong you can always comeback to something you already planned.
DeleteA lesson plan may be a tool that works best with unexperienced teachers. Nevertheless, both experienced and unexperienced teachers can benefit from using one. I think teaching is like giving an oral presentation which needs some sort of guide in order to come out fluid and/or naturally. In any case, a lesson plan does not have to be written. It depends on the preference one may have and thus, it may or may not be needed each and every class someone teaches.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I could agree with you in everything that are saying, comparing a lesson plan with an oral presentation not sure if that would really work, because if you have your lesson plan in written you'll have the chance to keep a record more deatiled than in a oral presentation. But again it depends on the experience of the teacher and the methodology that he/she uses. Personally won't use a oral presentation if is not following the steps of a written lesson plan.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with that a lesson has to be planned for each class Based on that we have more advantages when we plan in that way. but it doesn't mean that we can not use one already planned before, it is to be flexible when we carry it out in the class also we can change the way we we plan by using technology, like that we have chance to make changes to the activities during the process.
ReplyDeleteanyway, a lesson plan is a tool for teachers to be organized with the students learning process and the preference of using it depends on how inexperienced you are teaching.
I think it is possible to use some structures of another lesson plan but modifying some steps depending on the students needs.
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ReplyDeleteI think it's important to have it written because it's better to have something concrete and then make changes, add or delete some things and perhaps if something it's just on your mind it could be desorganized or you could forget important things no matter how experience you are . And about having a lesson plan for every class, I think that even in difficult situations like having many large classes there's still ways and teachers should try to take into account the individual differences of their students and i also think that experience makes things better regarding how detailed or how much time your expend on your lesson plan and to quickly know what works for a class or a student.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. You've got a point and specially from your point of view as a rookie teacher. It is very important to have some sort of guidance even though you're considering the changes and modifications on the go. That's the way it should be!!! :D
DeleteA lesson plan can be all and nothing at all at the same time, depending on the teacher’s experience, and the way they teach. It can help to have a sense of organization, to keep track of what has been taught, what activities were successful or not, and what is pending or needs to improve.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, a teacher might focus obsessively in the lesson plan trying to carry it out no matter what, even though it’s obvious that the activity is boring or not working, or the sequence needs to be changed according to what unexpectedly developed in class. They may also try to fit many things in, regardless the time constraints and the students’ pace to assimilate all the input they’re receiving.
Every teacher has a style for presenting contents in class, one may stop every time students are stuck and another may continue nonstop following the lesson plan. There is also another consideration to be taken into account and is that some topics may lead towards a more interactive class than others, and also the type of students and groups. These can also be active or passive or may enjoy certain types of activities more than the others. The lesson plan tends to reflect that.
So in a very active class students may propose stuff to work on, competitions or interesting activities to practice what they know and if the teacher ignores this and continues with whatever is in the plan, students may lose confidence and start distrusting the teacher ‘cause it’s like not giving any credit to the students’ capacities and ideas.
Otherwise in a more passive or low level group, students may be expecting the teacher to model first, give lots of examples or explain it at least two times. And if the teacher just comes and tells them to read that or discuss some questions on their own, they won’t be able to perform and they will feel they don’t know a single thing ‘cause they can’t express themselves in the way they're asked.
In conclusion, the lesson plan and its characteristics depend on the teachers’ abilities and the students needs, it’s necessary for better track issues in that particular class but not a restraining matter to completely ignore what is actually going on in the classroom.
You got the balance. I agree with you. Thanks for sharing your point of view
DeleteI like this explanation, I think that some topics will not reach the students attention but the teacher might be able to modify this during class, learn from what has happened and develop new strategies to make it appealing. :)
DeleteHaving many details written in our lesson plans can be very helpful. Even if a teacher has the best memoryzing, there are some situations that might affect him and thus, forget those details that he was already aware of. So, having everthing written? Yes, its better to be ready for any circumstances that may happen and have a guide to redirect you to the path where you were on. However, a teacher should develop an improvising skill. I said already that having everything written its better in order to solve problems. So, if some activities or plans didnt go according to what was planned, then you can try some adjustments to the actual situation in your classroon and have it reported in your lesson plan, explaining why it worked better than what you were soppoused to do and then maybe apply it to future classes.
ReplyDeleteHaving everything written is not necessarily the best thing to do. To have written your lesson plan step by step beforehand doesn´t mean that you are ready for any circumstances, if anything it means you will just follow personal guidelines while giving your class 'killing' any option of improvising or doing something different.
DeleteI truly believe in teachers’ experience, how they have performed in their career demonstrated how much they have reflected about the students’ learning process, so I agree with you in the way that teacher should be able to skip or change an activity when it is not working in class as he planned. By doing this teachers, who use a written lesson plan as a record and as a flexible class guide, can manage easily any unexpected situation in class.
DeleteHaving many details written in our lesson plans can be very helpful. Even if a teacher has the best memoryzing, there are some situations that might affect him and thus, forget those details that he was already aware of. So, having everthing written? Yes, its better to be ready for any circumstances that may happen and have a guide to redirect you to the path where you were on. However, a teacher should develop an improvising skill. I said already that having everything written its better in order to solve problems. So, if some activities or plans didnt go according to what was planned, then you can try some adjustments to the actual situation in your classroon and have it reported in your lesson plan, explaining why it worked better than what you were soppoused to do and then maybe apply it to future classes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that is an useful tool for solving problems, for activities record, but also as a progress track, and to know how to offer a better solution and several options for your students learning process.
DeleteI think that before you come to class it’s very important to have a lesson plan, especially if you have a large group. I think, also, that it is important to follow some pattern, maybe a book or a syllabus where you can base your lesson plan on. This is important, because it will allow you to prepare the topic and the class room activities for it, taking into account the level and previous knowledge of students. Moreover, you will be able to connect previous knowledge of activities and topics into a more advanced activity in order to be able to teach a more advanced topic. This will boost student’s confidence in the teacher, or at least it will tend to, since it will offer the image that their learning process is embedded in a serious, objective methodology and that the teaching and grading is not done in an arbitrary way.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the lesson plan can have its setbacks, because, and this is my opinion based on my own learning experience, English is not learned in a straight path. Furthermore, sometimes students’ abilities and expectations are not the same as the ones the teacher has set for his/her lesson plan, this is when creativity kicks in, because the main idea is that students are able to learn in order to fill in the gaps in their knowledge of English. Of course there are more good things and bad things that can be said about a lesson plan, especially in different situations but I could not cover them all, so I chose only those that I thought were the more important.
The lesson plan, from my perspective is an important part of the class development. Is not a tool that only benefits the teachers but the students, both of them need to have a guide that link an activity or topic with the next ones. Even though the lesson plan might be recorded in different ways by the teachers, all according to their abilities, is one useful practice which keep a track between the classroom/students/activities and the progress/ success /development along the course. Is not necessary to say that there are not "recipes" for a lesson plan, but at least is a good exercise that allows you to be prepared for several situations you might find, or just the simple fact of have options for the class progress.
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DeleteI like when you say "is one useful practice which keep a track between the classroom/students/activities and the progress/ success /development along the course." it is basically what all the teachers should take into account once they are planning their classes.
DeleteA written lesson plan shows teacher´s professionalism , shows respect from the teacher to students and how interested a teacher is about the student´s process. I totally support the idea of having a lesson plan for each class. Having previous information about students´ learning styles will provide the teacher the necessary tools to scaffold a very attention calling class, of course there are sometimes things that will not work as they had been thought, however even if this situation comes up, for the teacher will be easier to modify his/her planning but always maintaining the same approach towards the goals which might have been planned when the class was first been written. A well designed lesson plan based on students´ previous performance will provide the teacher evidence for either future or current action plan.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the idea that having a lesson plan shows professionalism and of course interesting from the teacher because it means he spent time planning the best for his students, taking into account their needs and wishes.
DeleteI agree that having a lesson plan also shows how interested the teacher is about the student's learning process. Moreover, the lesson plan represents an evidence of the class development and it makes easier to think over the teaching practice.
DeleteHi everybody,
ReplyDeleteI want to thank you all for your great comments. Lesson planning is indeed a crucial topic for any teacher. I'm sure we will continue learning together next class.
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Having a written lesson plan for every single class is very necessary because that helps the teacher to be prepared; it means that the teacher can speculate or foresee even the unexpected. It also helps the teacher to be organized and to develop a class with a proper sequence. Having a lesson plan is really useful even if the teacher have to modify the activities throughout the class. The lesson plan includes all the aspects a teacher should take into consideration during class, it helps the teacher to have a clear idea on how to introduce a topic, how to develop the topic, and how to conclude the topic in a way the teacher can measure if the students achieve the goal or the objective for each class. In addition, the lesson plan is the tool the teacher has to remember what things and activities were done in the previous class.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you marco on" it helps the teacher to have a clear idea on how to introduce a topic, how to develop the topic, and how to conclude the topic in a way the teacher can measure if the students achieve the goal or the objective for each class" I think you should have numbered each step and named them as SUCCESSFUL STEPS TO TEACH.
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