Katherine Bilsborough: Lesson plans – less is more

You can travel without a list of course but you will avoid a few problems if you spend a bit of time planning – not a whole week though. That would be silly. A few minutes should be enough. Pre-empting problems will bring peace of mind and when it comes to teaching, this is a major defence against burnout and work stress. New teachers who have had training will have been evaluated and assessed on their lesson plans. You can find lesson plan templates on the Internet too – that you can fill out yourself for your own classes. More experienced teachers tend to spend less time on lesson planning. But what the wise teachers have in common - whether they are new or more experienced - is that they understand the importance of lesson planning but are 100% practical in their approach. No more burnout – a simple guide to successful and time-efficient lesson planning

Course planning Pre-service teacher training courses typically focus on the detailed planning of a 40 minute or 60 minute lesson and don’t focus attention on how to go about planning a much longer scheme of work. This is also an important area to consider though, because most teachers are involved in teaching courses, which may typically last anywhere between 30 and 120 hours. The aim of this article is to share some of the conclusions of a recent project I was part of, with the hope that it might enable other teachers to plan a little faster too! Why do we plan our lessons? I think that most teachers plan lessons in order to feel more confident in the class itself. The aim of planning is also to map out learning activities in a coherent, logical way, in order to help students understand, learn and practice concepts and skills which will develop their abilities in English. Why, What and How? At the start of a course, we need to sit down and think about ‘What’ we intend to cover in the course, and ‘Why’.

BusyTeacher.org Mobile Writing a lesson plan will ensure that you are prepared for your class and will make it run more smoothly. It is important to break the material up into several sections and choose activities suitable for each. Knowing approximately how much time an activity will take is important, but after the first lesson you may need to adjust things accordingly. It is best to be flexible seeing as different classes will respond to material differently. If at any point students struggle, you will have to dedicate more time to instruction or drilling before moving on to practice activities. For the purposes of this example let’s assume that an English class is forty-five minutes long. Does your own lesson plan look like this? 1Warm up A warm up activity can be used in a number of ways. The idea behind a lesson plan is that another teacher could pick it up and successfully teach your class without further instructions. Not all lessons will be conducted the same.

What I Wish I’d Known as a New Teacher It’s been two decades since my first year in the classroom. I reflect on that time and wish I’d known a few things about myself, about teaching, and about my students. Some of what I wish I’d known could have been shared with me—some I just had to live and learn. So I offer this reflection both for new teachers as well as for those who support them. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. As a new teacher, you need a lot of feedback and support. The first year (like a first love) has so many highs and lows, and I still get both dreamy-eyed and panicky when I remember the 1995–96 school year. English Worksheets Reflective teaching: Exploring our own classroom practice By collecting information about what goes on in our classroom, and by analysing and evaluating this information, we identify and explore our own practices and underlying beliefs. This may then lead to changes and improvements in our teaching. Reflective teaching is therefore a means of professional development which begins in our classroom. Why it is importantBeginning the process of reflection Teacher diary Peer observation Recording lessons Student feedback What to do next Think Talk Read Ask Conclusion Why it is important Many teachers already think about their teaching and talk to colleagues about it too. However, without more time spent focussing on or discussing what has happened, we may tend to jump to conclusions about why things are happening. Beginning the process of reflection You may begin a process of reflection in response to a particular problem that has arisen with one or your classes, or simply as a way of finding out more about your teaching. What are you doing?

Present simple | Exercises | Pdf Online exercises PDF grammar rules PDF exercises You can download the following printable worksheets in pdf with present simple exercises for elementary students for free and print them easily. Do, does in yes | no questions Do, does in yes | no questions 1 Complete the dialogue between Sue and Ann, teenage friends.Do, does in yes | no questions 2 Find mistakes and correct them.Key with answers A Don't, doesn't in negative sentences Don't, doesn't in negative sentences 1 Correct the wrong information in the general knowledge quiz.Don't, doesn't in negative sentences 2 Fill the gaps in negative sentences.Key with answers B The third person singular The 3rd person -s, -es, -ies endings 1 Complete the story about little Samuel in the 3rd person singular.The 3rd person -s, -es, -ies endings 2 Choose and write correct verbs in the third person singular to fill the gaps.Key with answers C Wh questions Do | does in wh questions Liz is taking an exam. Present simple versus present continuous top