EDU650: Teaching Learning and Leading in the 21st Century EFFECTIVE LESSON PLANNING AND DESIGN

Teachers complete research on the backgrounds of our learners to develop instruction that is appropriate for our diverse groups of students This way, effective pedagogical approaches that teachers are going to implement in the classrooms can be free of any language or even cultural biases. Secondly, objectives must have consistency in regards to what is required from the learners in the end. WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE LESSON DESIGN?

It is vital for educators to be aware of what they are required to teach. Understanding the destination that educators need to reach aids in a sooth sojourn for both the learners as well as the teachers. For example, in my own place of work, we do not have sound learning objectives because they are constantly being redesigned and or disregarded. Therefor and to say the least, many educators do not know what they are explicitly supposed to teach the students. Many teachers have become demotivated in providing a quality education for the students because the objectives and standards are very unfocused and disorganized. Educators must create Big Ideas or important questions idea which are essential to further the students’ understanding Wiggins & McTighe,2005). WHY ARE GOOD LEARNING OBJECTIVES CRITICAL TO PLANNING EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTION?

Students will practice vital reading skills such as predicting content and vocabulary in context, skimming as well as scanning, which they will use during reading comprehension. This objective is suitable because it describes clear as well as specific skills that students will practice as well as develop different abilities while reading. PROVIDE AN EXAMPLE OF A GOOD LEARNING OBJECTIVE ALIGNED WITH THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS. WHAT MAKES THIS A “GOOD” LEARNING OBJECTIVE?

There are similar struggles that occur when educators try to plan effective lesson plans. During my Certificate for English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) training by Oxford University, I was informed by my teacher trainers that the lesson plans I had created incorporated learning objective that where ambiguous (JONES, JONES, VERMETTE, 2011). WHAT ARE SOME COMMON PITFALLS IN PLANNING EFFECTIVE LESSONS? HOW CAN WE AVOID THESE PITFALLS?

Ambiguity was common among the other trainees as well and so, without a clear purpose in mind, educators went beyond their one hour teaching practice time because they tried to teach everything about a specific topic. According to JONES, JONES, & VERMETTE, (2011) if educators do not have specific learning goals associated with academic content, teachers will try and cover anything as well as everything about the subject matter “without developing the conceptual understandings necessary for [students’] cognitive growth” (Pg. 3). WHAT ARE SOME COMMON PITFALLS IN PLANNING EFFECTIVE LESSONS? HOW CAN WE AVOID THESE PITFALLS?

Another prominent issue that occurs while developing lesson plans is the fact that educators can develop learning tasks as well as activities that are either extremely simplistic or even advanced for the learners. This situation offers students open opportunities to engage in off task behavior while they are in the classroom (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2008). WHAT ARE SOME COMMON PITFALLS IN PLANNING EFFECTIVE LESSONS? HOW CAN WE AVOID THESE PITFALLS?

Lack of a substantial connection with preceding lessons concepts that allow students to connect their pervious knowledge to the new knowledge being presented is another common mistake that educators create when developing lesson plans. Fundamentally effective lesson plans should create cross curriculum learning that is essential to develop students’ schemata of the studied topic. However, to initiate such learning opportunities, students must be actively engaged in different starting or (warming) activities that relate to the topic hand (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2008). WHAT ARE SOME COMMON PITFALLS IN PLANNING EFFECTIVE LESSONS? HOW CAN WE AVOID THESE PITFALLS?

Renowned authors Wiggins and McTighe developed a pedagogy that focuses on teachers comprehending the final outcomes and most essential information that should be taught during their lessons. Educators must create different big Idea about the topics’ concepts that will help aid learners’ understanding of the material. WHAT DOES BACKWARDS DESIGN MEAN?

Wiggins and McTighe (2005)

Educational standards such as the Common Core, establish that all students as well as educators and administration are aware of the requirements that are needed for the academic success of the students. To guarantee that educators are not aimlessly teaching, the Common Core Standards act as a guide to the required performances that students must achieve. Additionally, the standards and different lesson plans develop students’ strengths and weaknesses in content areas HOW DOES THE COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS INITIATIVE PLAY A ROLE IN DESIGNING EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTION?

COMPARING AND CONTRASTING

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.5.4a- Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding (Common Core State Standard Initiative, 2012) Grade level: 5 Language Arts lesson Stage 1 Leaners will be able to describe the word “engineering” Students will brainstrom words linked to “engineering” Leaners will read a grade level text about the given topic while using important reading skills such as skimming, scanning and understanding contextual vocabulary. BACKWARDS DESIGN LESSON PLAN

Stage 2 Assessment of student knowledge Educator shows images of different ancient as well as modern buildings Students create Big Questions Ex. Which is the tallest building in the world? Which country has a eco-friendly architecture? BACKWARDS DESIGN LESSON PLAN

Students will peruse and match a scrambled list of countries, target language and different buildings around the world. The teacher will then provide students with multiple choice questions which students must predict the answers based on the images they matched. Students will underline keywords in the questions and then scan the text to find their answers. If the learners face any challenging vocabulary, the educator will provide instruction in how to understand vocabulary in context. BACKWARDS DESIGN LESSON STAGE 3

Common Core State Standard Initiative, (2012). English Language Arts Standards » Reading: Foundational Skills » Grade 5. Retrieved from: Copper, D, (2013). Assessment and Grading for Student Achievement Workshop, Toronto Canada. Echevarria, J., Vogt, M. E., & Short, D. (2008). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP model. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc JONES, K JONES, J, VERMETTE, P, (2011). SIX COMMON LESSON PLANNING PITFALLS – RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NOVICE EDUCATORS. Vol. 131 Issue 4, p p. 2 Charts. EBSCO Industries, Inc. REFERENCES

McVittie, J (n.d) Teaching Methods: Direct Instruction. Retrieved from: Newman, R. (2013). Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century: Connecting the dots. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Wiggins, G. R, & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design. Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development REFERENCES