THE LESSON PLAN

Definition
A lesson plan is a teaching outline of the important points of a lesson arranged in the order
in which they are to be presented. It outlines the strategies the teacher intends rightly or
wrongly to use in a given period of time. It is a class guide for the teacher as a visualization
of the classroom experience desired

Purpose of a lesson plan:

It reveals the approaches to teaching.
It is essential for successful teaching .It is a guide to effective teaching.
It gives direction to the teacher
It checks haphazard teaching.
It enables teacher to maximise available time.
It ensures systematic teaching.
It helps teacher to aim at attaining lesson objectives.
It enables teacher to cover a wider field in a limited time.
It enables teacher to prepare thought-provoking and relevant questions.
It reminds the teacher of specific goals to be achieved.
It gives the teacher clear picture of what is to be pursed and avoided.
It enables the teacher to plan beforehand.
It serves as a guide to the teacher on what needs to be done and steps to follow.
It gives the teacher confidence and greater freedom in teaching.
It forces the teacher to use appropriate learning strategies.
It helps the teacher to achieve objectives of the lesson.
It helps the teacher to be confined to the planned programme of action.
It forces the teacher to look ahead and plan a set of activities all designed to enhance teaching
and learning.
It makes effective use of teaching and learning strategies. It enforces the use of objectives,
selection of subject matter, the selection of procedure, planning of activities and preparation
of tests for assessment.

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It guides the teacher on what to teach and how to teach it. (What to teach refers to content;
while how to teach refers to methods, the vehicle through which a teacher reaches the set
objectives)

Components of a lesson plan:

It has the following components;
(i). Grid (name, school, class, date, duration, topic)
(ii). Teaching/Learning resources: apparatus, reference materials, lesson notes, etc.
(iii). Teaching/ Learning objectives to be achieved by the end of a lesson. These determine
the direction the lesson will take. Objectives are of two types. We have general and specific
objectives. General objectives are of general nature and cannot immediately be developed by
the experiences of a particular lesson. They are reference objectives of a particular lesson.
Specific objectives are those that can be developed and measured in the classroom.

(iv). Introduction: It is regarded as a mind capture of a lesson. It should be very short and
interesting. Always relate it to class interest or something topical.

Purposes of an introduction:
 It re-aligns the mind of the learner to what is about to come in terms of
learning new ideas.
 It is the first step in the preparation of the learners’ mind and heart so
that he/she can receive and grasp a new idea. Connection or insight and understand how and
where it fits into his/her life.
 It is a very important step and must not therefore be rushed or left out.
 It is better when it is in form of an interesting story or song that is related
to the topic to be taught.
 It helps to arouse interest of the learner
 It helps to make learners think.
 It helps to provide an overview of the topic to be covered.
 It helps pupils to become focussed on the subject matter.

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Lesson development or presentation:
This describes procedures the teacher shall use and follow when presenting the lesson to the
class.
It shows step by step what the teacher and class are going to do as teaching and learning
activities progress. Marking class exercises is included here.
This has two major components: content and methodology. The content component indicates
sub heading of subject matter with a few details which indicated are in steps: step 1, step 2,
step 3 etc .The method component shows how (the teaching strategy to be used) the teacher
intends the lesson to be taught ( i.e teachers’ activity) and what activities are to done by the
learners. Include questions you wish to ask. Class activities should also be included. Methods
are controlled consciously or unconsciously by objectives.

Chalkboard layout:
a). Diagrams/Charts:
 To be simple, clear and large.
 Should tell a story without words.
 Should speak for itself..

b). Writing:
Should be neat, plain, straight and uniform
Should be seen from the back of the classroom.

c). Use of the chalkboard:

It helps the teacher to record the main points.
Diagrams, drawings and sketches can be put on the board to clarify the points made in the
lesson.
Drill and emphasise new words.
Detailed notes can be written on the board.

(vi). Conclusion of the learners’ activities. This is part of lesson development

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It is useful in a lesson plan because:
It assesses the achievement of the intended outcomes.
It measures the achievement of stated objectives.
It relates to the earlier lessons.
It provides a recap of what has been taught (summary).

(vii). Lesson conclusion: this must be linked to the objectives. Emphasise the main points
of the lesson (the facts you wanted to drive home in the minds of the learner) by answering
the stated objectives yourself.
It is a teacher- centred activity meant to draw the wandering minds back to the class.
It is a one-minute activity and is teacher centred.
Teacher goes through main points of the lesson by tackling objectives one by one.

(viii). Self-Evaluation or comment: This is lesson criticism. Here the teacher gives the
shortcomings of the lesson or how the lesson succeeded. Point out to yourself where things
went well, which activities went bad, how was the quality of teaching, etc.
This is always left blank and is immediately filled in after the lesson has been taught.
Give an objective and honest thought about how the lesson went, successes and failure
encountered. Self-evaluation involves:
Thinking before, during and after teaching.
Learning from teacher’s own experiences.
Relating theory to practice.
Building on strength and improving on weaknesses.

Points the teacher should look in him/herself when criticising a lesson:

a). Preparation: Should be adequate and done before hand.
b). Introduction: Should be excellent, sequence well planned and timed.
c). Interest: Class should be seeing, hearing, doing and thinking.
d). Discipline: Class controlled and encouraged.
e). Manners: Teacher should be confident, enthusiastic, understanding
f). Voice projection: Strong (or metallic), clear and flexible.

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g). Knowledge of subject matter: adequate and accurate
h). Explanations/method: Explanations to be concise, clear, and in simple language. The
method should be well thought out, and chosen to suit class ability.
i). Chalkboard illustrations: Should be apt, useful, distinct and simple.
j). Questioning technique: Questions should be well prepared, one question at a time,
question then name last.
k). Summary: Important points should be stressed and brought out.
l). General impression of the lesson: Objectives achieved/not achieved.

Types of lesson plans:

There are five types of lesson plans:
An informative lesson plan
A practical lesson plan
A Practice lesson plan
An appreciation lesson plan
A revision lesson plan

Characteristics of an informative lesson plan:

Teacher gives new knowledge/information while class is passive.
Teacher recapitulates for the learner.
Characteristics of a practice lesson plan:
Learner centred.
Learners are given tasks to develop skills.
Characteristics of a practical lesson plan:
 Teacher gives instructions on how to do a given task
 Class does the task
Characteristics of an appreciation lesson plan:
Teacher gives background information about a lesson/ topic.
Learners discuss the lesson/topic in groups.
Characteristics of a revision lesson plan:
Teacher gives tasks on already done work.

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Class quickly does the task.
Teacher quickly goes through the work and gives fed back.

Preparing a lesson plan:

Where do I start? Before setting out to plan a lesson ask yourself:
 What do the pupils know before they come to the lesson?
 What do I want the pupils to know when the lesson is over?
 What teaching resources and techniques can I use?
A clear presentation of ideas as well as the careful selection of materials makes the lesson
successful and interesting to the pupils.
The first part in lesson planning is formulation of objectives for the lesson so that the lesson
will be conducted in an orderly manner
Preparing a lesson plan calls for ability, experience intelligence, and skill on the part of a
teacher. It should be brief and include broad points only to enable teacher to treat the details
with freedom and according to demand. The teacher should foresee the type of activity that
will create interest and enthusiasm to the class.
First step: Assemble the following documents; syllabus, schemes and records of work,
reference materials like textbooks and past examination questions.
Second step: Write the grid. Consult the scheme of work to see the topic or content to be
taught. Organise your thoughts into teachable lesson plans. Do initial research on the topic
through a variety of books and past examination papers. Put the information collected into a
logical teaching/learning order. Selecting and systematising what to teach is very important.
Then prepare lesson notes. These must be well planned; well prepared and well written. They
are essential as they provide teaching guidance and security for the teacher.
Formulating lesson objectives: Limit objectives to three or four for a forty- minute period.
Third step: Decide on the duration of the lesson Write statement of objectives as indicated
in the syllabus according to the time. If it is a single period, prepare for thirty-five minutes.
Leave the remaining five minutes for questions. For a double lesson, prepare for seventy-
five minutes. Always leave five minutes for questions
Teaching/Learning aids: state the apparatus, chemicals, reference materials, etc needed.

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Introduction: Decide how best the lesson should be introduced. Relate it to their interest.
Remember it must be through an interesting demonstration, reading a newspaper article,
presenting a scenario that pupils are going to investigate, story of discovery of a particular
fact or principle or a biography of the scientist connected with the topic. Then ask appropriate
questions which lead pupils to realise the necessity of learning the new topic you are about
to present.

Presentation: This is the stage where you actually deliver what you prepared, the time for
you to come out of your shell and the time to show that you are in command..
The ability to select what to teach, organise and present content matter, engage in appropriate
activities such as demonstrating, talking, questioning, supervising, use of chalkboard,
providing activities to the pupils, etc, is a skill which must be acquired. Design various
learning activities, picking at least one activity per objective. Objectives are achieved through
class exercises.

Presentation may be in a table like the one shown below.

Content Method Tr. activities Pupil

activities
Demonstration, Step 1:
e,t,c Step 2:

Revision lessons:
The word revision means seeing again (re-vision!). Hence the same lesson material must be
covered again, but in a different way, to be more interesting. Revision lessons must be brisk,
stimulating and accurate. The success of a revision lesson depends upon the amount of
thought and planning that has been put into it.

Revision Questions:
1.Explain four things that must be considered when preparing a lesson plan

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Suggested answer:
Learner characteristics.
Selection of appropriate T/L strategies.
Having well defined and structured learning outcomes
Advance preparation in terms of identifying t/l resources.
Well-developed stimuli, which captures pupil’s interest and imagination.
Sound knowledge of subject matter and pedagogical knowledge.

Q2. (i). What is the importance of initial research in lesson planning on the topic you intend
to teach?

(ii).In lesson planning, why is it essential to select and systemize what to teach?
(iii). Why is it advisable for a science teacher to develop notes together with the class during
a lesson?
(iv). Justify the reason for having a separate set of well-planned notes on the topic the teacher
intends to teach.

Suggested answers:
(i) It enables the teacher to:
 Come-up with the number of lessons needed for a given topic
 Decide on the practical activity to be used in teaching the lesson.
 Identify the T/L resources available.
 Work out the apparatus and chemical to look for.
 Identify pupils past experiences in the topic.
 Identify pupils’ ability levels so as to come up with suitable teaching strategies.
 Familiarise with the teaching environment.
(ii). The T/L sequencing should be divided into workloads for the class.
Materials within the lesson need organisation to match the time allocated.
The length of lessons and the period when these lessons have to be taught.
Class size need to be taken into consideration.
The ability level of pupils needs to be taken into consideration

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(iii). Pupils need to contribute to their own learning.
Pupils should be custodians of their own work.
Pupils understand their own notes more easily.
The teacher is expected to act as a guide to facilitate pupil’s learning.
Pupils easily relate practical activities for the lesson with theory referred in notes.
Pupils will force the teacher to use the language they are able to understand.
(iv). A separate set of well-prepared notes on the topic should be made so that the lesson plan
concentrates on the activities.
It provides the teacher with a teaching guide and security for the teacher.
Notes provide good outline of the lesson objectives to be achieved
Notes may take care of the different ability levels of the class.

THE RECORD OF WORK

Definition of a record of work:

It is a record of work covered by a teacher in a given period, usually a week. i.e. a record of
what has been taught or covered by each class in any given subject matter.

Purpose of a record of work:

To guide the teacher on the progress of the class.
To guide the teacher on the pace at which the subject matter is being taught.
To guide the teacher on the difficulties encountered.
To enable the head of department to know the progress and difficulties encountered by each
teacher in the department.
To enable the head of the learning institution to know the progress and difficulties
encountered by the teachers in implementing the school curriculum
To enable the teacher who might take over the class to see how far the class has gone in the
coverage of the syllabus so that the teacher knows what has been covered and not covered.
To enable the teacher when assessing to see areas of the syllabus that need remedial work.
To enable the teacher when assessing to see which areas or topics of the syllabus needs
assessing.

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To enable the teacher to see the effectiveness of the teaching strategies used.

Components of a record of work:

It has the following components depending on the institution;
(i). Grid: This includes the Name of agency running the school, school, subject, grade, term,
teacher’s name
(ii). Table with six columns.
First column: The sub-heading is Weekending: This is the week a particular topic/ activity
was taught in class .A teaching week ends on Friday. Here use a calendar to fill in the dates
of the previous Fridays.
Second column: The sub-heading is Work done/ content covered: Here write the actual
topic/activity done in class (the topics taught).
Third column: The sub-heading is Expts, Demonstrations, methodology, etc, done. Here
indicate how the covered topic was done ( the vehicle used to do a particular activity) the In
this column the teacher lists the expts done, the T/L aids used.
Fourth column: The sub-heading is prep work/home work given. Here write the topic/
area where exercises were given (not the actual work given to the class since there is no
enough space.
Fifth column: The sub-heading is teacher’s comments. Here write comments on the
effectiveness if the method/teaching strategy used. Include progress made and difficulties
encountered by individual pupils, and a suggestion for remedial work or way forward. The
following are examples of teacher’s comments:
Revision showed previous lesson was not understood. Method and approach to change
accordingly.
Class showed real interest in this practical work.
Induction/deduction method developed logical thinking in the pupils and this made class
participation very good.
It was quite a good lesson. Behavioural objectives achieved.
The method was well thought out and chosen to suit the lesson.

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Sixth column: The sub-heading is H.O.D/Head teacher’s Comments; Leave this column
blank. Here the H.O.D and the head teacher write their opinion on the progress and
difficulties encountered by the teacher.
A format of the scheme of work is shown below.

The United Church of Zambia

Kafue Boys Secondary School

Record of work

Subject: D&T Class: 11C Term: 2/2005 Teacher: Ms. V .Z. Banda

Week Wo Expts, Pre Teacher’ Comment

Ending rk practica p s s
Do ls, Wor Comme By
ne Tests, k nts HOD/H/
etc, Giv On Teacher
done en progress
T/L aids /
used. Difficulti
es

21/05/ Nil Nil nil Pupils Understo

05 Reporti od
ng
28/05/ Exercise
05 s
Were
Worth
the
Time
spent
-Head.

Preparing a record of work:

To prepare a record of work, you need scheme of work file, record of work forms and a
calendar. Copy the content covered in their respective columns. The work done per week
need not necessarily be the same as indicated in the scheme of work due to several factors;
funerals, sickness, slow pace of pupils, holidays, etc. The teacher should explain why the

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work covered differs from the content schemed. After filling in all details, file the forms in
records of work file and send the file to the head of science department, who will in turn
submit the file to the head teacher.

Revision questions:
1. Explain why records of work are a necessary part of a teacher’s work. What
features appear in good record of work?

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