Once you have completed your observation week you now have a better idea of the children you will be working with, some of their interests and this should be central to your planning. If the children are interested they will be motivated to work hard and behave well.

Lesson planning – what to include

Class level, subject, date
Objectives
Introduction
Development
Conclusion
Resources
Differentiation
Assessment

Objectives

What should the children be able to do at the end of the lesson?

Objectives come from the curriculum, however they should be more specific for each lesson.

The curriculum documents are available in PDF form here.

I like to share the objectives (child friendly) with the children and the ‘Steps to Success’ so they know what is expected. (Today We Are Learning To (WALT)…)

W.A.L.T. – Create love potions
Steps to Success – Write list of materials that will be used, Use time words

Introduction

How will you motivate and gain the childrens interest?

Find out what the children know (KWL/Brainstorm)
Think Pair Share on a given topic
Play a game
Show a picture
Play a short video clip
Ask a question
Show a problem/riddle

Development

How will the learning take place?

What will the teacher do? How will you teach the new concept/skill? (Demonstrate, ask questions, clarify, check for understanding)

What will the children do? (Watch, talk me through it, demonstrate)

Independent work

Activity
Discussion
Practice new skill
Research using books/internet (Project work)

What will the teacher do during the independent work?

Help individual children
Help small group of children
Conference with individual/ groups of children
Offer feedback or support (I really like the way you ___________/ what about trying ___________)
Walk around the room – listening and checking for understanding (

Conclusion

This is a time to answer any questions the children may have about the new skill/concept. Clarify or correct any mistakes/misconceptions that the teacher may have noticed during the development stage.

Ask questions
Share childrens work within their groups or with the whole class
Check for understanding using a game
Colour code your work (Green for I worked well, I have a good understanding, yellow for I’m ok but not 100% sure – I may need more help, Red for I am very confused and need extra help)

Differentiation

There will be a mix of children in all classes and in all lessons. Those that will have their work finished in 5 mins, those that could still be working on it 5 hours later and those who will get the work completed in the allocated time.

It is your job to teach ALL the children in your class which can be very difficult at times and for certain lessons. I find it helpful to have an idea of what was covered in the class below as some children may be at this level and you will need to start from where the child is at. For example – if you have 3rd class for T.P. then check what they should know from 2nd class. This will give you a rough idea of what they need before they can progress to the 3rd class level.

As well as this, you may have children who are performing at much higher level – therefore you will need to have work that will provide a challenge for these children. Make sure to have a further activity that will provide this challenge.

Early Finishers Activities

There are a huge amount of ideas for Early Finishers Activities, however they should be related to the theme/concept/skill that you are teaching. Children need to be challenged not given time filler activities such as word searches/ colouring sheets/ cross words. (Also the children who never get the work finished may loose confidence in themselves and their ability)

Assessment

How will you know what the children have learned or if they can now complete the task/skill independently? Some strategies you may use;