Yesterday I read Michael Griffin’s thought-provoking and conversation starting blog entry titled ‘29 statements about lesson plans‘, and 5 of the points in particular triggered the following reactions in me:
• “There is no sense planning lessons if we are not paid extra to do so”. (#3)
I disagree: We plan for ‘ourselves’, i.e. so that we can give good-quality lessons confidently.
• “You can’t have a lesson plan if you don’t have target language”. (#7)
I disagree (of course :D): A lesson can have any one of the 4 SYSTEMS aims (i.e. grammar, vocab, pron, discourse), as well as 4 SKILLS…
• “We need to write out everything the teacher will say in class”. (#15)
I kind of think this can be useful, especially for beginner teachers, or those who’re undergoing some kind of an ‘overhaul’ (e.g. on the Cambridge Delta), or those who want to improve a specific aspect of their teaching (e.g. giving shorter, clearer instructions, less TTT, etc.)
• “We need to write out everything the students will say in class”. (Even if it takes 30 pages). (#18)
I kind of agree it IS useful to have a few examples of the TL we are trying to elicit SPELLED OUT in our lesson plan as well (especially if we’re being observed, or know will be nervous in class for any other reason).
• “There is a strong correlation between lesson planning skills and teaching skills”. (#28)
I agree there is, though it’s not a guarantee. Being able to plan is a ‘necessary but not sufficient’ (!) part of good teaching, I think.
Do you VEHEMENTLY agree or disagree with any of these points?
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Hi. I’m Fatime. I’m an IELTS Teacher Trainer, helping CELTA-qualified English language teachers become better at teaching SKILLS, as opposed to just testing them.
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