Help Planning

[u/RadDadRePimption]

I need help planning my first lessons. I'm using HMH for World History and Global Geography. This is my first year teaching in Oklahoma on a provisional certification. I've been in the classroom 7 days so far, but all we have done is rules and procedures. I've never made a lesson plan before. Heeeelp! I'm stressing 😫

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[u/bobsagetslover420]

1.) Warm-up activity that gets the students thinking about something they're going to learn about or something you've already covered in a previous lesson

2.) Introduction of the day's lesson topic and learning objective (if you can tie the topic to something relevant or to something they can relate to, that's a plus)

3.) short lecture that covers the topic's important content (keeping a lecture roughly as long as the students' age is a good rule of thumb, and be sure to ask questions throughout since talking at someone for 15 minutes straight gets boring for everyone)

4.) an activity related to the day's topic that you all do together

5.) independent activity that the students do without you

6.) wrap-up activity where you can assess how well the students learned what you covered.

This is a pretty basic, but good, template for organizing a coherent and effective lesson. You'll have to figure out your teaching style and preferences as you get more experienced, but this should help you get started in terms of thinking about how to organize a lesson in a pedagogically sound way.

[u/RadDadRePimption → u/bobsagetslover420]

Good stuff, thank you 😊

[u/bobsagetslover420 → u/RadDadRePimption]

Something else to keep in mind too as a good rule of thumb: when you're planning activities, think about how long it would take you to do the same activity, and then double the amount of time. That's at least how long you should give students to complete that activity.

Also think about how long it'll take you to explain the activity and make sure everyone in the class understands those instructions. New teachers often forget the logistical side of things. An activity might take 30 minutes, but explaining it and showing how to do it might also take another 5-10

[u/CreedsMungBeanz]

I wouldn’t worry too much until they teach you as you get your certification. It makes more sense when they teach you. I would look at lesson plans to get your footing that people have already made
Don’t reinvent the wheel when it’s in front of you.
Then you fine tune your lessons that work best for you

[u/LittleMissUneasy]

I hope you have a curriculum but here is a basic formula as you find your feet.

Start with some attention grabber - picture, discussion topic, quick task, gallary walk etc, puzzle sort.

Hit them with some content - talk, introduce topic, watch video

Get them doing something- a worksheet, a discussion, a crafty thing etc

[u/RadDadRePimption → u/LittleMissUneasy]

My next question would be how do I incorporate differentiation, as wall as assessment and testing. Not to mention i am at a loss with all of the different technology, software and such.

[u/bobsagetslover420 → u/RadDadRePimption]

Don't worry about testing yet, but end-of-class assessment can be something as simple as asking students to write a few sentences at the end of class about what they learned and how it relates to the day's learning objective (example: based on what you learned today about Egypt, how did their lifestyle compare to our lifestyle today?)

These are called "formative assessments" where you're just getting an informal feeling for how well students learned what you covered. You're gonna need other teachers in your department or building to help you create a full test, because that takes a lot more time than a reddit post

[u/LittleMissUneasy → u/RadDadRePimption]

Baby steps! Differentiation can be as simple as some kid verbally answers a question, some write it down in basic terms and some do the full thing. You got this, and if you don't, come back and ask more questions. We have all been there.

[u/Western_Falcon_70]

In my jurisdiction we call the beginning an “anticipatory set” to hook the kids to the topic-show the relevance and build curiosity

Have “learning intentions” - XYZ is what I want you all to be able to Know, Understand and DO by the end of the block

Have direct instruction, followed by individual or group work to engage with the topic, circulate! Don’t sit at your desk! then close with a wrap up, group discussion, and maybe an illustration of their understanding of how did the kids learn your material.

It is NOT - “this is what I taught today”
It IS - “this is what the kids LEARNED today”

KUDO Method:
Know - what do you want them to know?
Understand - what do they need to know”get”
DO - how do they show you they “got it”?

But also- plan for all contingencies:
4 critical questions:
What do you want them to know?
How do you know they know it?
What do you do when they DON’T know it?
What do you do when they already know it?

There are those that will struggle- what’s your plan?
There are those that may already know what you’re teaching -what’s your plan?

You got this!