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The 7 parts of a fail-proof lesson plan

I've been teaching people how to write lesson plans and how to put schemes of work together for some time now. I've come up with a blank form that seems to suit a wide number of settings.

 Not everyone needs to include all the things that I find useful.  You might like to consider them as you plan your own form, adding and deleting areas that suit or don't suit your particular organisation.

If you are working in a non-educational environment then you may not be required to create such a plan.  However, I've found that nearly everyone who teaches craft, or runs craft activities does have a plan of some sort, written, or not.

If you are new to teaching then work through these ideas to see if they gel. Review the areas I've included and consider whether they might be valuable to you. Sometimes fresh thinking on a familiar theme can be useful.

A blank pro forma is included below

1. Basics - what where when who
Like it says, this one is basic. Include details of the group, where it is being run, the session, even perhaps the number of session i.e. 2 or 6.  When you review it later this information is vital.

2. Aims and objective
Your aim is your overall goal for the run of sessions.  If you are teaching a group of activities it might be to introduce the learners to patchwork, foil, glass painting etc. Your objective is your bite-sized goal for just that session i.e. to introduce new materials to enable learners to make a…..

Objectives usually concentrate on something to be done by the learner.  It uses a verb or a doing word i.e. to make, try, use,

3. Method (what you will do, what they will do)
I include in this section all the steps for a particular subject in the right order.  For instance if there are 10 stages to making a project I will list all 10.  This can then be used as my instruction sheet if I lose other information.

You might like to create two columns here for what you the teacher will do and what the learners will do, adding times.  For instance: demonstrate outlining: 5 minutes.  This can be useful until you get confident in judging how long things will take.  I am always amazed at how long things take, so plan for going quickly, and going slowly.  It's often a surprise!

4. Success criteria
This is an important one.  Here I mean the things you and your organisation will look at to see if someone is achieving in this particular subject.  That will be different for every individual and environment.  Educational establishments may be looking to see whether learners have worked through certificate programmes.

Others may be concerned purely about social skills; i.e. if someone participated or was self motivated.  It may be that the making of the craft is an extra bonus in the process.

You will need to decide where you are on this one.  Are you looking for hand skills and being able to draw straight lines or are you more interested in whether they could understand what you were saying?

5. Resources
I also include a full list of all the resources I will need to take into class with me.  Included in here are things such as patterns, template, paper, etc.  Add in all the things you are likely to want and gather then together on one place to make life easier for you.

6. Evaluation
Evaluation is crucial in reflective practice.  Assessment looks at how the learners did.  Evaluation looks at how you did.  How did it go?  What went well, what should you change for next time? Think about what you said, did and planned and see how you can make it better for future sessions.

7. Notes
This is the final section and gives me a place to write any notes to myself that might get forgotten.  For example I’d use this section to note things to bring in for next time, things to prepare or buy. I'd also add any little extras that might jog my memory before the next class.

If you follow these simple basics then you should be able to create a plan that you can use time and again to record and note things that matter to you and your teaching.

Be prepared to adapt and change it until you come up with something that works for you.  It will give you confidence and be a visual route map that you can use time and time again.



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Geraldine Jozefiak is passionate about crafts and their place in education.  Be part of raising standards in teaching and learning by offering the best possible creative opportunities.
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