Well-Structured Lessons

CAP Element 1.A.4

To be considered proficient in this CAP Element, a teacher candidate must "develop well-structured lessons with challenging, measurable objectives and appropriate student engagement strategies, pacing, sequence, activities, materials, resources, technologies, and grouping" (Guidelines for the Candidate Assessment of Performance).

Throughout my teaching practicum, I've learned that well-structured lessons can make or break your class lesson for the day. Of course, teachers have to be flexible and be able to change things up at a moment's notice, but having a plan helps you to be prepared for anything. Having a plan is often synonymous with being rigid, regimented, and not go-with-the-flow. However, that is not necessarily bad. I believe that the best teachers are a mix of both -- well-planned yet flexible enough to shift gears if something does not go as planned.

I included an agenda at the beginning of classes that outlined what we would be doing for that class. This routine gave my students structure. They knew what they would be doing for the rest of the class and they knew where to look for the information for each class. Later into my practicum, I began to include a "How are you feeling on a scale of [insert theme of the day]" scale? For the first few minutes of classes, I would let the students tell me which image they felt best represented how they were feeling that day. This was a quick and simple way to get my students into class, engaged, and ready to start the lesson.

As for the lesson itself, my usual lesson consisted of a quick lecture on a new topic at the beginning of the class. This would be followed by a short video, teacher or student demonstration, or practice problems/scenarios (or all three!). After we went over a concept in multiple different ways, students would start a hands-on project, some of which were independent and others group-based.

Reflection

Evidence

Feedback from Practicum Supervisor and Supervising Practitioner

Cindy consistently implements standard-based units comprised of well-structured lessons on a daily basis. She begins each class with a "Do Now" to engage students in the topic being taught, followed by group discussions, an appropriate time of lecture, & adequate hands-on, individual practice. During that time Cindy circulates around the room, visiting each student, & offering assistance as needed.
Her use of graphics, anecdotal information, & hands-on learning experiences utilize all learning modalities & represent best practices.

Daily Routine

Every class, I would go over the agenda for the day and check-in with my students via the meme-scale of the day. Each of my lessons had a beginning, middle, and end (hence the mapping slides featuring three icons). I used icons and words to represent the activities we would be doing for the day.

Sample Lesson Slides

Sample Lesson Plan

There are two types of mapping slides that I use: one for the unit and one for the lesson. The mapping slide on the left shows the big topics we will cover in the "Intro to Electronics" unit whereas the slide on the right shows the agenda for that day's class.

An example of a meme-scale I used to check in with my students at the beginning of class.

This snippet of slides from a lesson on resistors shows an example of how we problem solve as a class when we first learn about a new topic. Also, note that my slides do not have a bunch of words or information on them so that my students do not feel pressured to scribble everything down. Slides with few slides are an indication that a live demonstration (passing around a resistor in this case) is happening.