A Guidepost

Lesson planning is one of the challenges every teacher has. It is a responsibility which a teacher should master. And for me, lesson planning is a vital component of the teaching and learning process. The effectiveness of teaching relies on the appropriateness of planning the lesson. As for my experience, there are three things which I realized about lesson planning.

            First, the lesson plans should be for the learners not for the teacher. In planning the lesson, the learners should be the first in considerations. The teacher should make the lesson for the convenience of the learners in learning not for the convenience of the teacher in teaching. The first question that a teacher should answer is, “how will I make my students understand the lesson according to the level of their thinking?”

            Second, the teacher should not necessarily follow everything written in the lesson plan. During the implementation of the lesson, the teacher should become sensitive on the different needs of every learner. There are cases that what was planned was actually not appropriate to the kind of learners present in the classroom. So it is the responsibility of the teacher to create modifications in his or her lesson plans to meet the learning styles and needs of the learners.

            Third, the effectiveness of a lesson plan will only be determined after the implementation.  A teacher cannot tell that his or her lesson plan is effective unless it is being implemented. There is really a teacher factor when evaluating a certain plan. There are cases that the plan is excellently done but the implementation does not coincide on what the lesson plan is telling. So it is important that the teachers should not only master the making of the lesson plans but should also practice well in the implementation stage.

            Hence, the role of the lesson plan is a guide. One will be lost if it is absent.