Components of a Good Lesson Plan

There is no doubt that lesson plans are the basic building blocks of being a teacher. You can never escape them! Yet, they have some real benefits. For example, lesson plans are useful in helping the teacher to keep track of what is being taught and can be referred to in years to come.

Let’s not forget the relief on a substitute teachers face when presented with a detailed step by step guide on how to smoothly run a lesson.

So, what must we include in our lesson plans to guarantee success?

Let's look at some of the other most significant traits of a great teacher.

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Topic or Subject

Let’s start at the beginning, state what you are going to teach at the top of the plan. Need we say any more?!

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Objectives

Before any procedural planning can begin, it is useful to identify the learning goals and outcomes of the lesson You can easily work backwards from there. It’s important to ask yourself these questions, “What do I want students to learn?”, “What is the target language?”, and “What should students be able to do at the end of class?”.

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Procedure

First, you will tell students what you are going to teach. Next, you teach them. Finally, you finish by asking them what they have learned.

Typically, an ESL lesson will have 5 basic parts:

1. Hook – Get the students’ attention with a visual or audio stimulus.

2. Present the target language.

3. Give students a chance to practice by themselves or in groups

4. As a class, complete a comprehension activity.

5. Wrap up and check for understanding.

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Activities

Now that you know the objectives and structure of your lesson, you can begin to prepare appropriate tasks for students. Activities should cover a range of learning strategies that accommodate audio, visual, kinesthetic or tactile learners, whilst switching between listening, speaking, reading and writing activities. Describe each activity in detail on your lesson plan and note whether it is individual, pair work, groupwork, or whole class interaction.

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Time Management

Any detailed lesson plan should include a break down of timings for each part of the lesson. For example, “Warmup (5 minutes). Reading Comprehension (15 minutes). Wrap up (3 minutes)”. Of course, this will differ depending on the grade you teach and the length of your lessons.

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Materials

So, we finally have a solid procedure, and we know what our activities will be! Next, it’s vital to prepare a list of materials you need for the class in advance and print any worksheets.

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Be sure to include all these components of a good lesson plan and you’ll be ready to rock up to class fully prepared.

Is there anything else you find helpful adding to your lesson plans? Let us know in the comments!