A Quick Guide to Lesson Planning TE105b/TE205b/TE305b

A Quick Guide to Lesson Planning

Name Student Number

GENERAL LESSON INFORMATION & RATIONALE FOR LESSON DESIGN

A. Lesson details

Date of lesson Subject (CAPS) Include in this section the

full details of the subject
area the lesson aligns to:

Examples included below:

E.G. Foundation Phase:

Life Skills:
 Creative Arts
o Visual Arts

E.G. Intermediate Phase:

Social Sciences:
 History
o Learning from
Leaders

Grade Topic The topic is what

Number of learners differentiates the area of
focus for this particular
Duration How long is the lesson lesson.
going to be?

B. CAPS-Specific Focus

(Concepts, aims and skills. Refer to CAPS for this subject and select
directly from the document (i.e. the relevant Termly foci), those elements that pertain to this lesson)

E.G.
ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE
Listening and Speaking: Include the relevant
page/s no/s from the
 Recites poems and rhymes and adds actions to them with growing confidence (p.43)
CAPS document)
Emergent Reading:
 Develops eye movements. For example, follows a pencil moved from left to right (p.45)

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Refer to the relevant

C. Summary of the content to cover
subject textbook for
(Indicate the most important content to be integrated into this lesson) required content

“This section of the lesson plan requires you to write a summary of the content that you intend to
teach. In this way, as student teachers you are actively engaging with the content and concepts. In
order to fill in this section, you may have to conduct additional research and clarify the concepts in
your own minds. This section of the lesson plan develops your content knowledge.” (Taylor, 2016:
11)

D. Lesson Objectives

(You will need to look at the content to be covered, refer back to the points under CAPS Specific
Focus, and construct learning outcomes that reflect both)
At the end of this lesson,the learners will be able to…
(now list your specific lesson objectives – you may have a few lesson objectives per lesson)
“Every lesson needs to have specific lesson objectives. If a lesson does not have these lesson
objectives, how will you, as the teacher, know if the lesson was successful or not? It requires you to
consider what learners will learn in relation to your particular lesson and what evidence of that
learning will look like. In other words, a good formula to follow in constructing a lesson objective is…

By the end of this lesson, learners will be able to [verb] [insert content/ skill] by [insert
observable evidence of competence].

Examples of different verbs that you may use include:

Listen to Evaluate
Read Apply
Speak Analyse
Explain Classify
Describe Demonstrate
Compare Identify
Define Count
Recall Draw

For example, a Natural Sciences teacher could construct a lesson objective as follows:
By the end of this lesson, the learners will be able to describe the process of photosynthesis
by drawing a cyclical diagram of the process of photosynthesis.

Can you see that the teacher has clearly indicated what content the learners need to learn (“the
process of photosynthesis”), what level of cognitive ability content should be engaged with (describe),
as well as what evidence learners should produce if they have successfully met the lesson objectives
(“by drawing a cyclical diagram of the process of photosynthesis”)?” (Taylor, 2016: 17)

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E. Curriculum integration (if relevant)

(Include other subjects that you wish to incorporate into your lesson design in the teaching of this
particular lesson. Reference to this must be included in the design. Only complete this section if it is
applicable)

F. Considerations to be made about the learners in relation to this content

(Consider issues/ interests/ characteristics about the learners/context which will influence the
planning of this lesson)
“In this section, you need to think about characteristics of the learners that are relevant to the
content to be taught. This does not mean that you need to write a mini report on every learner in the
class. It means that you need to consider the learning needs of the learners that are relevant to the
content. For example: If the learner has dyslexia, it will be an important consideration. That being
said, you also need to consider the interests and learning needs of the class as a whole, as well as
individual interests and needs.

Furthermore, you need to reflect on how they will manage any relevant barriers to learning in the
lesson in this section. So, for example, if a learner is colour-blind and the lesson requires learners to
identify the colours of shapes, you will need to write about how to ensure that that learner is
included and can still learn conceptually in the lesson. This section of the lesson plan develops
student teachers’ knowledge of the learners and learning context.” (Taylor, 2016: 16)

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Refer to relevant
G. Teaching Strategies
modules/other sources
(Select the most appropriate strategy/combination of strategies with due consideration for strategies that
meet the objectives
to all the factors above)
“In essence, this section of the lesson plan asks you to ask yourselves: how will I teach this content to
these learners? As student teachers, you need to draw on your knowledge of teaching strategies to fill
in this section. Refer to the relevant modules in your degree, that speak to the specific teaching
strategies appropriate for the phase of teaching as well as the specific subject being taught. You
should also consider the most appropriate grouping strategies, and whether teacher-centred or
learner-centred instruction would be more appropriate and so on”. (Taylor, 2016: 23-24)

LESSON DEVELOPMENT

H. Lesson Steps

Phases Write, in detail, every element/step of your lesson for Resources

each phase. Include time on task for each phase. Required

Cover prior knowledge, a ‘hook’ to get learners enthusiastic about

learning
INTRODUCTORY
PHASE

Write in detail every element of your lesson. Anyone should be able to

use your lesson plan to teach the full lesson as per your design.
LEARNING PHASE
TEACHING &

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How do you plan to bring your lesson to a meaningful end to allow for
feedback /preparation for next lesson.
CLOSURE PHASE

(Your assessment of/for learning must meet the lesson objectives)

“It is important that you to plan your assessments in line with your
lesson objectives. You thus need to plan to assess. Your assessments
need to be learner-appropriate and content-appropriate. If your
assessment meets these two criteria, it should be accessible for the
ASSESSMENT

learners”. (Taylor, 2016: 29) Consider carefully the following:

o Who you are assessing?
o What you are assessing?
o When you are assessing?
o How you are assessing?

I. I discussed my lesson plan prior to teaching with:

The IIE Supervisor’s Date:

Signature OR

Mentor Teacher’s Signature Date:

Student’s Signature Date:

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REFLECTION

“In the lesson plan template, there are a set of specially-constructed questions that you need to
answer about every lesson. Even if a lesson does not go too well, you can still learn much about
teaching from it. When you reflect on your lesson, whether using these questions as a guide or not,
you need to remember to be honest with and critical about yourself. Even if the learners enjoyed the
lesson, did they learn something powerful?

Reflecting requires critical examination of the lesson objectives of the lesson and you need to ask
yourself whether the learners truly met these lesson objectives. You also need to consider what the
learners’ reactions (whether physical, verbal or written) to the lesson means for your development as
a teacher.” (Taylor, 2016: 36)

J. Lesson reflection questions

Year 1 and Year 2 (only)

(Answer the following questions honestly after each lesson)
1. Describe aspects of your lesson that worked really well.
2. Which areas of your lesson did not go according to plan? Explain why you think this may have
happened.
3. Re-examine your lesson objectives. Did you meet them? Why/why not?
4. This is what I learnt about the learners in my class today:

Year 3 (only)
(Answer the following questions honestly after each lesson, as they will influence your professional
Action Plan and Developmental Plan)

1. What was my most challenging moment in this lesson and why? How will I respond next
time?
2. To what extent were the learners productively engaged in the learning process? Discuss.
3. If I had the opportunity to teach this lesson again to this same group of learners, what would I
do differently? Why?
4. What evidence/ feedback do I have that the learners achieved an understanding of the lesson
objective(s)?

________________________________________________________________________________
List of References:

Taylor, D. 2016. Teaching Experience 1 Intermediate Phase Teaching Module Reader. Sandton: The Independent
Institute of Education.

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