Curriculum - Session Planning

LESSON 3

Welcome to the third lesson of the Teacher Training course. This lesson will give a brief idea of aspects you should consider when planning your lessons. Please feel free to ask questions, make comments, and suggest ways in which to improve this lesson in any way.

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Introduction -

· This lesson shows some of the factors which you may need to take into account in planning a teaching session.
· There is nothing new or challenging here—you probably ask yourself all these questions anyway.
· Like most of this material, this represents the “standard model”: it has its limitations, and experienced teachers may well move on from it.
· But for starters it provides a sound foundation.

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What Do You Want To Teach?

· This is a pretty crude question, but it is basic.
· In the jargon, it is called “defining the Aims of the session”.
· “Aims” are somewhat looked down upon by theorists, because they can be vague and woolly.
· Defining aims, however, also raises the question, "Why should they learn this?"

· And example of an aim: “I want them to appreciate the issues around the introduction of genetically-modified organisms into the eco-system and the food web"

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Who Are Your Students?

· It is pretty self-evident that you are going to tailor your teaching to the capabilities and experience of your student group. Isn’t it?

· Example: There will be about 15-18 of them, mostly 17-18 year-olds. They have fairly basic school-leaving qualifications. They are doing a two-year vocational course at a Further Education (Community) College. This is part of a course on “Environmental Issues”.
 

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Your Students: What Are Their Motivations?

· Associated questions: “What do they want to learn?” “What would they rather be doing?”.

· Are they in the class because of a passionate interest in the subject?
· Are they there because they need the qualification at the end of the course?
· Are they there because they were sent?

· More will be mentioned on motivation in later lessons.

· Example: Most of them are not particularly interested, but not terribly hostile. They have a fatalistic sort of attitude—“This is just something which has to be got through”. They are accustomed to be told what it is they need to learn, and on the whole they do not question it.
· However, here on Elftown people have chosen to study your course. What a bonus!
  

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Your Students: What Are Their Learning Styles?

· Everyone finds it easier to learn in slightly different ways.
· Your class will contain people with a mixture of learning styles, and you will need to offer something for everyone.

· There is a perennial practical problem here: do you tailor your teaching to what they respond to?
· Or do you try to get them to develop their skills in using styles they are not familiar with?
· The answer may depend on the kind of course you are teaching.

· For example: some students have a tendency to rush into things, and to take trial and error approaches to problem-solving. You will certainly need to get this type of student active if they are really to engage with the material.
· Others may prefer a step by step approach.
· Or another valid approach is to plunge straight into the general material and fill in the details later.  

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Where Are They Now?

· Not “Where are they physically?” but in terms of their learning to date.
· What, in other words, is the base-line from which you start?
· If you don't know this, you will have to make deliberate efforts to find out.
· I usually assume no prior knowledge and start from beginner level.

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Where Do You Want Them To Get To?

· Now we are getting more specific
· In the light of your answers to the questions above, where can you realistically hope the students will have got to by the end of the course/module or session?

· Can this be clearly specified?
· Some of the answers to the question above will be straightforward
· They will largely be about sheer knowledge, comprehending it, and perhaps applying it in relatively straightforward situations.

· What if it can't be clearly specified?
· The arguments have raged fierce and long about whether everything can or should be specified in terms of objectives.
· Clearly there are some things you can’t describe, but you know when you see.
· I don’t believe in abandoning these altogether—you can't have a liberal “education” without them.
· However, you should still be able to conceive of what would count as evidence of these softer outcomes, so that both the student and you would know when they had been achieved.
· Specify some of those, and you get something clearer and (probably) more teachable.
  

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Specify Objectives

· Now you should be able to list the “objectives” you are teaching towards.
· Well-formed objectives should be the touchstone of everything in the session.
· If it doesn’t contribute to the objectives, why is it there?

· However, be prepared to revise them, in the light of experience.
· There is always a danger that you end up teaching something different from your aim, because you can’t express the aim in the form of objectives.

· Example below:
1. List three differences between...
2. Give two reasons why...
3. Identify four sources of information about...
4. Evaluate the reliability of sources.
5. Give three criteria on which to judge the reliability of each source
 

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What Can Students Do To Meet Objectives?

· Strange question? Not really, because the objectives are for the students
· It is they who have to reach them, and you can’t do it for them.

· Students can do background reading.
· Students can do reasearch.
· Students can discuss their views together.
  

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What Can You Do To Help Them?

· Your role is to help them to reach the objectives.
· It is not to show off how much you know about the subject, or to entertain them—although you may end up doing both.
· In this very conventional model, you are the servant of the subject.

· Consider how you can help your student: 
· · I can give them a brief orientation and help them to see why it is important.
· · I need to point them in the direction of sources.
· · I can use a worksheet to keep them focused.
· · I can help them to discuss their answers.
 
· Let’s get practical again: you need to plan for individual sessions
· Only very reactionary university lecturers just plough on through sessions starting where they left off last time!
· So you need to “chunk” the material so it is in bitesize pieces for easy digesting.

· We will talk more about scheduling later.
  

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Plan Session!

· Introduction: Explain session objectives and structure.

· Organise your information in a logical and visually appealing way.

· Bullet points are often a useful tool and make lessons easier to follow.

· Don't be afraid to include pictures, examples and demonstrations to back up your point and make it easier to understand.

· Set work for your students to make sure they really read the lesson closely and take time to think about it themselves.

· A summarising conclusion is often useful for helping your students to understand the material.

· Feel free to supervise your students' learning and check up on their progress.

· Make yourself available to answer any questions they may have.

· Remember to check any work you've given them or make the answers available!
  

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Conclusion

This should give you a greater understanding of what your students need from you and how you can help provide them with information that they can more easily understand. Remember to try to keep the information basic and provide examples of the most important points and don't be afraid to test the ability of your students ;)

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