Each of your submitted lessons should include:

1. Objective(s), statement(s) of what students will be able to do after the lesson. Consider how you will

  • inform students about what they will learn
  • convince them that this material is important
  • show them how this material will be used in the future.

2. Type of lesson

  • lecture, cooperative, discovery, game, etc.
  • procedures you or the students will follow
  • expectations for the students during the lesson (explore, conjecture, experiment, take notes, listen, collaborate, work independently, discuss, write a set of steps, write a summary, etc.)

3. Anticipatory set (engaging student), whether that is to

  • create interest in new learning and focus attention with a “hook” such as a story, metaphor, or problem posed,
  • provide a warm-up via some organizing framework, some presentation of big ideas, or some diagram or advanced organizer
  • review previous learning, including prerequisite knowledge, skills, or concepts
  • serve some other purpose

4. Teaching presentation

  • Input: Consider and be very specific about what new information students need to know and how, will be shared with students (teacher, book, video, demonstration, etc.). Include definitions for terms students will learn and diagrams for explaining concepts or relationships to students.
  • Modeling: How will students "see" the product or process? Teacher may model, such as by framing problems, leading, guiding through examples. Student may model or discuss new ideas. If students are to discuss, consider how you will facilitate the discussion. How will you expand on new ideas and develop, explain, or clarify concepts? Remember learning styles: auditory, visual, kinesthetic or Gardner's Multiple Intelligences.
  • Checking For Understanding: How will you know if a student has acquired knowledge and understands the material? What questioning or testing will you do to determine if you have successfully taught the material or led the class?

5. Guided practice: Describe how you will…

  • have students work individually or in groups to practice or apply skills, solve problems, experiment, gather data, or summarize
  • circulate, assist, observe, and supervise

6. Closure: How do you plan to review, summarize, further check for understanding, or preview what is to come?

7. Independent work: Include some description of application, practice, worksheets, problem solving, experimentation, data gathering, summarizing, etc. to be done outside of class. How much work is expected? How well do students need to do for you to consider them successful?

First assignment: write a lesson plan for a test you would give but did not write

(5 points)

Due date: ______

Rationale: Some departments or districts have mandated assessments or common assessments written by committee or chosen from a test bank. Sometimes when new curriculum is adopted or new courses are developed, teachers rely on tests that come with the books or borrowed from teachers who have taught the course previously, so as to provide continuity in programs or to allow the teacher to focus on instruction.

Forone of these given tests:

  • middle school rational and irrational numbers test
  • algebra 1 exponents, polynomials, and factoring test
  • geometry triangle and polygon test

This lesson:

  • should reasonably be expected to precede the given test.
  • should prepare students for one or more items on the given test.
  • should NOT include every skill or concept that appears on the test.
  • may include skills or concepts that do not appear on the test.

Elements to include:

  • objective(s)
  • brief identification of the type of lesson (see delivery modes below)
  • anticipatory set
  • some detail of your intended teaching presentation: supporting materials, handouts, or worksheets needed, manipulatives or technology needed, terms, definitions, or theorems to include, diagrams, pictures, websites, or graphic organizers to use, examples to use, and questions to ask
  • guided practice
  • closure
  • independent work

Use the delivery mode(s) of your choice:

  • Direct Instruction Lesson
  • Inquiry Lesson
  • Interdisciplinary Lesson
  • Multiple Intelligences Lesson
  • PowerPoint Lesson
  • Cooperative Learning Lesson
  • Differentiation Lesson
  • Game Lesson

Second assignment: Two Consecutive Lesson Plans

(10 points)

Due date: ______

These lessons DO NOT have to follow any particular writing format, but must be lessons that would be in sequence. By this, I mean that these two lessons are taught either on consecutive days or are separated only by a day of practice work.

Elements to include:

  • objective(s)
  • brief identification of the type of lesson (see delivery modes below)
  • anticipatory set
  • some detail of your intended teaching presentation: supporting materials, handouts, or worksheets needed, manipulatives or technology needed, terms, definitions, or theorems to include, diagrams, pictures, websites, or graphic organizers to use, examples to use, and questions to ask
  • guided practice
  • closure
  • independent work

Use the delivery mode(s) of your choice:

  • Direct Instruction Lesson
  • Inquiry Lesson
  • Interdisciplinary Lesson
  • Multiple Intelligences Lesson
  • PowerPoint Lesson
  • Cooperative Learning Lesson
  • Differentiation Lesson
  • Game Lesson

Third assignment: Classroom Teaching Presentation of a Lesson

(10 points)

My presentation date is: ______

The lesson presented may be:

  • one of the three written and submitted for the Thursday portion of the course
  • one of the lessons written for the Tuesday portion of the course
  • a separate lesson written not otherwise assigned

Present a lesson of up to 20 minutes so that we have time to discuss your presentation.

Remember that during a lesson it is desirable that you:

  • Move around the room
  • Make eye contact
  • Vary your tone
  • Vary calls for responses: call on directly, use choral response
  • Redirect undesirable behavior
  • Use wait time: Pause, prompt, praise
  • Monitor your reactions, check your emotions
  • Make smooth transitions
  • Distribute your attention fairly (race, gender, etc.)
  • Anticipate opportunities to find students successful
  • Incorporate checks for understanding

Fourth assignment: Reflections on Lessons

(20 points)

Due date: ______

Following each classroom presentation of a lesson, including your own, prepare a brief reflection paper. Your reflection should analyze the lesson’s elements as well as the teacher’s presentation of the lesson. This is not a critique of the lesson to be given to the pre-service teacher, but rather a record of your own reflection on the lesson that you can use to improve your own teaching methods. Consider the following questions as you reflect on each lesson:

  • What was good about the lesson’s organization? What, if anything, would you have arranged in a different order?
  • What elements seemed particularly effective? What detracted from the lesson?
  • Would you have used the same mode of delivery (inquiry/discovery, deductive, modeling, peer-teaching, etc.)? If not, what mode would you use for this concept?
  • What teaching behaviors did the teacher include that you noticed and that seemed to aid in the presentation? Were there actions that you found distracting and that you would try to avoid?
  • Did you see evidence that the teacher anticipated student errors or confusion? Do you see other potential student errors or confusion that you would want to head-off? How would you do so?
  • Did you see particular examples used that you would use as well? If so, why were they good choices? If not, what would you have selected instead and why?