Creating Lesson Plans

Calling all teachers out there...How do you organize your lesson plans? If you are like me you put a title at the top of the page, below it goes the topic(s) and a brief description to remind yourself that you are really seriously going to cover this topic today. Below that you list the activities in order and a brief description thereof. Correct? What about time tables? how long do you spend on one subject or activity? What if you teach 4 classes from the same textbook that have very different ability levels? What is a lowly laowai English teacher to do?

First, I'm going to outline my problem and then I'll talk about the solution.

Problem: We are required to submit lesson plans for the entire semester to the powers that be. These powerful people have decided that all lesson plans should look exactly alike regardless of the course they are designed for or who is teaching the course. The theory behind this is that other teachers or administrator years from now will be able to duplicate the lesson plans of today right down to the very last minute provided they have the same text books. Therefore the lesson plans are laid out thusly;

Title of lecture and class

Topic (what is being covered)

Goal (why this is being covered)

First half of class:

Activity 1:

Who is involved?

What are the rules?

How long will you spend on this activity?

Why are you doing this activity?

Support information for this activity (ie websites, resources, etc.)

Activity 2:

Who is involved?

What are the rules?

How long will you spend on this activity?

Why are you doing this activity?

Support information for this activity (ie websites, resources, etc.)

Second half of class:

Activity 3:

Who is involved?

What are the rules?

How long will you spend on this activity?

Why are you doing this activity?

Support information for this activity (ie websites, resources, etc.)

Homework assignment:

What is it?

Why this HW and not some other (how is it related to the topic or topics)?

What is the goal of this HW?

My problem is that an outline like this far too rigid for my classes. I teach one class in which everyone is fully capable of studying abroad in any English speaking country. I have another class where about half of the students would be able to do this. A third class that should go back to their freshmen year and re-learn everything. and a fourth class that is actually better in Listening than the class above them, but significantly further behind in their speaking abilities. How or why should I have a lesson plan tat is this rigid for classes that require a lot of adjustment?

My solution:

I don't use the format the school requires and this has ruffled a few feathers. I use a lesson plan format that is much more fluid and contains only the information I need do deliver an effective lesson to all four classes regardless of ability levels. I simply see no point in submitting the "standard" lesson plan when it is not something I would ever be able to use. My lesson plans look something like speech outlines, but with far more detail. I include entire paragraphs of relevant information that I want to make sure I deliver to my classes. I don't use timelines because I would never be able to use them in class. An activity that takes 5 or 10 minutes for my best class would take 30 minutes for my lower-performing classes. Therefore, I simply outline what activities I CAN use to support the lesson, but I don't make it a mandatory thing for ALL of the activities to be accomplished. To make sure the lesson is effective, I make sure that the most pertinent and necessary activities are in the first part of the lesson plan and other activities that are simply nice to have find a home at the end.

This seems logical to me since a lesson plan is really only a means to keep the teacher on track. It is never supposed to be replicated by others teaching different courses with access to different materials. I guarantee that none of the teachers in the future will be able to duplicate my lessons simply because they will not have access to the same materials (such as iTunes podcasts). I would have no problem with making a lesson plan using the acceptable outline, but I would then have to make another lesson plan that I would actually use in class. 

Here is an example lesson plan from the school:

Objective: 1. To practice VOA news

2. Show Students English Slangs: pronunciation and sense

          3. Make students do slang conversation

Attendance
VOA News: Students will listen to a VOA news report twice. They must answers questions in this format: -Who -What happened/story about... -When did the news event occur... -Where did the news event occur... -Why did this news happen... If the students did not finish they will have to do this as homework, then turn it in..	15 Min.
Assign Student Teacher Exercise Dates	5 Min.
Slang PPT. Introduce vocabulary Listen to a three passages from www.ezslang.com and ask some questions about the passages after each passage. Some students may have to read the passage out loud do to audio errors	25 Min.
Slang Conversation: Break sts. into pairs The sts. will create a conversation using the new vocabulary. They must write it down. Once finished the pair will approach another pair and perform their conversation in front of them. The other pair must identify the slang words/terms they used.	20 Min.
Finish the Valentines day Simpsons.	15 Min.

Here is one of my lesson plans:

Listening class 07 March lesson plan

Turn in and review Homework.

Finish Stereotypes and prejudices work.

Introduce Accents of the British Isles.

Students should be able to distinguish between the two dialects. Students should also be accustomed to hearing various accents and dialects of English as TEM 4 preparation and for SA.

http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/index.html

What is the difference between the standard British and Western Neutral American dialects?

 English is a West Germanic language. This means that it derives from the Anglo-Frisian dialects of Northwest Germany and Netherlands. One particular dialect came to dominate all of the other regional dialects that were present in the British Isles before 1000 CE…

Continue this discussion with the PPT.

Play examples of BrE and AmE accents and dialects for the class.

Dictation exercise

http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/case-studies/geordie/vowel-sounds/

Have students write down what they hear. What are the different or strange words? Are there different pronunciations? Call on random students to read back what they have written.

HW: http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/text-only/england/birkenhead/

Go to this website and play the clip. Summarize what the girl is talking about. Write down at least 5 words that are unfamiliar to you and write the definitions. Your summary must be at least 5 full sentences.

____________________________________________________

I like my lesson plan, although I do see where they think the problems are. I simply operate differently than they believe all classes should operate. I do what is effective for my classes, not what some of the other teachers say is effective for their classes. 

___________________________________________________

Update:

I have now taken to writing two lesson plans for each class. One to turn in and one to use in class. It's a royal pain in the backside, but it's what I have to do...

Any thoughts or opinions?

New Semester

Ahhh....back to school. The new semester started on the first, but I haven't had the time sit down and write a blog. "Why?" You may ask. Well, the reason is that for the first four weeks or so of every semester, teachers at the school I teach at are busy making sure everything looks perfect to the supervisors who pretend to know more than you do about your subject area(s). If you are going to teach at a University in China, this is something you need to understand. Teachers are required to submit not only our semester course outline, but also all of our lesson plans for the first four weeks (in the case of my school) by the end of week one. I don't know about the rest of you teachers out there, but I usually tailor my lesson plans on a weekly basis based on how each class performs the week before.

This seems logical to me, especially since I teach four classes whose ability levels vary widely. Renji 1 and School of Foreign Language Studies Class 1 for example are at roughly the same level and any one of those sophomores could pass the TOEFL exam and study abroad; it's not them I worry about. Renji 2 however is a class that constantly surprises me in their ability to forget everything. Renji 3--the supposed lowest rank of classes--usually scores higher on their listening exams than Renji 2, but they have difficulty grasping simple concepts in Speaking. I typically find myself changing the lesson plans for Renji 2 in both listening and speaking because they require much more review than the other classes. I do the same for Renji 3 in the speaking class, but for them it is more basic and involves aspects from classes such as grammar, writing, and reading.

On the other hand, Renji 1 and Class 1 are so far ahead that even if I were to make a lesson plan that fell in the middle of the abilities of the four classes, it would be far too simple for Renji 1 and Class 1 and would in all likelihood be far too rigorous for Renji 2 or Renji 3 (although Renji 3 could probably handle the listening class). Yet we are allowed only two lesson plans per week (one for listening and one for speaking in my case) and if we don't stick to it, we receive "visits" from the administration to our classes. This is the dilemma we university teachers find ourselves in at the outset of every semester. The only good news is that they lose interest in us after the first four weeks, so for the rest of the semester we are generally free to do what is needed. I just really wish I could have those first four weeks to actually teach what the students need and not what the administration wants.