Lesson Musts
When asked, veteran classroom teachers will likely be able to offer a long list of vital components to include in a lesson. No doubt, there are many elements of “must haves” to be included in a lesson. School principals and instructional leaders, both have lists of these core components that they feel is critical if the lesson will be expertly delivered and considered successful.
I ask you to pause now and jot down your list of essential strategies for the successful delivery of a lesson. Be sure to include all of them.
Here comes the challenge! If you had to filter and distill all these incredible, proven strategies down into just three essential ingredients for success, what would they be? Which three effective classroom strategies, come whatever may, must be included in any lesson?
Before sharing my own three ideas for “lesson musts,” I feel the exercise itself is worthy because it gets us, as teachers, to reflect on our practices and to make certain we are being purposeful and deliberate when planning and employing instructional strategies. There are some teachers who feel they can “wing it,” walking into the classroom and simply “doing” the next chapter or lesson. While I can agree that there are a number of excellent “natural” teachers out there that were born with a whiteboard marker in one hand and sheets of gold stars in another, still every teacher will be an improved and more effective teacher if they can reflect on their practices and determine what they did that made a lesson go well...or, what they did that made the lesson implode. Or simply, what did they learn that will make the lesson be even more impactful the next time.
So, what are your Big Three?
Upon reflection, I feel the following are my “must haves” in any lesson. Allow me to share and explain.
1. Pristine clarity on your Learner Outcome – The number one component is to know what your students are to achieve and learn today! Imagine a surgeon, car mechanic, or a plumber set out to work without a very clear picture of what the goals of the job entails and how to measure success. A teacher of any kind, at any level, must have laser-like precision about what is supposed to happen by the conclusion of the lesson. I find that a good way to develop this skill is to ask oneself, “what will the students know or be able to do at the end of the lesson that they do not know or cannot do now?” The answer to that question becomes the “learner outcome,” and once that is clear, a teacher can build the best lesson to achieve the goal.
2. Forethought on maximizing student engagement- In order for students to learn, they must be engaged and involved in the learning process. To borrow a similar phrase, if a teacher is teaching and the students don’t care, are they learning? Teachers can and must learn the skill of enhancing “active participation.” This includes the variety and frequency of activities to process learning, the types of instructions given to students by the teacher, and the way questions are asked and how responses are received. Most often, the goal is to have 100% participation (or very close to it) and engagement in the processing of the learning. Thinking about and planning for these types of strategies is, for me, a “must have”!
3. Having a pre-planned, well crafted, activity to measure the actual learning- How can a teacher go home at the end of the day without knowing if what was meant to be learned by the students actually was? How can a teacher assess the progress of both the class as a whole, as well as the individual students? Without the knowledge as to what degree the days lesson was actually learned, a teacher has no clue what to plan tomorrow, nor what feedback, reinforcement, or assistance to offer to individual students. The teacher in the planning stage therefore needs to craft a short but focused activity which measures the learning that was intended to be learned. This activity, given to the class after the full instruction and prior to a “closure exercise,” should help the teacher answer the question, “Are the students demonstrating the knowledge or skill now as a result of the lesson?” During this activity, the teacher is closely monitoring the students and their work, rotating through the class, peering over their shoulder, and listening in deeply to student’s questions or comments.
Are there any essential strategies from your list that you feel should have been included?
Are there any on your list that you would consider switching out for those on my list?
Once again, the process of merely reflecting on and considering instructional strategies is a positive professional practice.
