Lesson Planning: Secret Strategies to Know
As a teacher, lesson planning should be among the most important things to consider. Throughout my personal experience as a student, good teachers are always one who has come to class well prepared. It gives me great comfort when I know the teachers have put in the effort to give the students the best education. One of the most tangible ways of showing effort is through lesson planning.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Xin Y. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
Why to Plan?
There are many ways lesson planning can help reduce the workload of a teacher. Especially as a new teacher, the lesson plan can bring structural consistency to the class. This will help the new teachers to avoid being seen as unprofessional when they can simply be just nervous and try to accomplish too much at the same time and making the lesson seem to lack focus. Having a lesson plan can help a teacher better prepare for the class they are about to teach and can also help them make any adjustments if anything unexpected happened. The lesson plan gives a sense of purpose to the class section, as it clearly defined the goals of the day and greatly lessen the load of the teacher. A lesson plan can also be used as a self-evaluation guide for the teachers when teachers finish the class for the day, they can reflect on it teaching based on did they accomplished their goals and how can they improve their selves for the next class.
Also Read: Do TEFL Certificates Expire?
Pros for Students
A lesson plan will benefit the students in many ways. When a student is not accustomed to the teaching styles of a new teacher, it is always a comfort for them to know that the teacher has a lesson plan. It will be great to know what the learning goals for them are, so they can better prepare for class. By excellence preparation that results in a great performance in and outside of English classroom, that will create confidence in their ability to learn a new language; this will result in increased interest and willingness to engage in the English language, became an active participant inside of a classroom. This will result in better teacher and student relationships in and outside of the classroom.
Downsides for Teachers
The possible drawback of a lesson plan is that it can be restrictive sometimes, the teachers will have less freedom to do whatever they want. When a teacher packed a lesson plan too tight it will leave no room for the student to ask a question that will come up during the lesson. The best way to fix all this kind of problem is to work them into the lesson plan leave about ten to fifteen minutes for questions and be flexible on the go.
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It is always the best when a teacher can have the consistency and the focus of the lesson plan, also the flexibility to change the plan based on the flow of the class. But that will only come with experience after a few years of teaching. As for new teachers, it is always the best to have a lesson plan that can assure the main objective can be reached in the class for the day.
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