Lesson Planning
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Lesson Planning
I found the video produced by NIET to help support aspiring instructors during Covid-19 interesting and informative. The video is about a grade three classroom lesson. The lesson shows what a high-quality classroom should be in various grade levels and settings. I agree with most of the approaches the instructor uses to ensure the lesson objective is met. I believe the video is the best example of lesson planning for the lower primary level.
From the video, the instructor starts by stating the learning objective for the class. She states that the lesson aims to enable pupils to answer text-dependent questions and justify their answers by providing text evidence (Supporting aspiring Teachers… 2020, 00:00:32). The pupils need to comprehend what they read and know why they understand what they read. The instructor delivers a lesson that connects informational text to the concept of pollution to ensure student comprehension. The first step in lesson planning is always to set a clear and simple learning objective for the students (Milkova, 2012). The objective should be simple in the context it is less confusing to the students. Thus, the video portrays perfect lesson planning as the instructor has stated a simple and clear objective to be met during the lesson.
Additionally, I believe that the activities from the lesson in the video align with the learning objective set by the instructor. The teacher gives the pupils pictures connected to pollution and requires them to think of how those pictures and similar and different. The pupils keenly observe the pictures then give their thoughts on how they differ or match. I think the activity aimed to allow the students to answer text-dependent questions by justifying their answers from the visuals. Therefore, learning activities from the video aligns with the learning objective.
Furthermore, I strongly believe that the pupils from the video will master the learning objectives. It is clear that students always learn better when given a context relevant to the skill or topic they are developing or studying (Milkova, 2012). The lesson from the video employed activities relevant to the topic of study. As such, it had a context and progression to ensure students understand their learning in that particular lesson forms a bigger picture. The pupils were highly motivated and engaged their teacher effectively conveyed the learning value (Supporting aspiring Teachers… 2020, 00:15:00). Also, the teacher uses some of the scientific researches to demonstrate how students provide answers and attain evidence. She encourages the students to always keep asking questions. The participation of the pupils in class demonstrates the level of understanding of the topic by the students. Therefore, I think the study objectives will be met as the teacher uses relevant approaches to meet the learning aims.
Besides, I believe the teacher employed developmentally appropriate activities in teaching the students. According to Kim (2011), a developmentally appropriate practice is a teaching approach that promotes optimal learning and development of each child through a play and strength-based approach to engaged and joyful learning. The teacher in the video employed developmentally appropriate practice by recognizing various assets and answers pupils were bringing during their discussion. Also, the activities aim to build the strengths of each pupil in the classroom and ensure no harm comes to the pupil either socially, physically, emotionally, or cognitively. The teacher implemented and designed the learning environments to the students meet the learning objective and achieve their full potential. Thus, I strongly believe the teacher in the video used a developmentally appropriate activity in teaching her students.
In a nutshell, I enjoyed watching the video so much. The teacher used various approaches to ensure the learning objectives were met. Her teaching approach demonstrated some of the factors that should be considered when developing a lesson plan. The video allowed me to critically reflect on how teachers should come up with a lesson plan. Therefore, it is one of the best videos to demonstrate the appropriateness of a lesson plan.
References
Kim, H. K. (2011). Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) as Defined and Interpreted by Early Childhood Preservice Teachers: Beliefs about DAP and Influences of Teacher Education and Field Experience. Srate Journal, 20(2), 12-22.
Milkova, S. (2012). Strategies for effective lesson planning. Center for Research on learning and Teaching, 1(1), 1-29.
National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, (2020). Supporting Aspiring Teachers: 3rd Grade English Arts Lesson [Motion Picture].
