UNIT - 5 INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING

Lesson plan - Meaning & Need

Good lesson planning is the key to successful teaching. Lesson planning in advance has a
futuristic implication which permits a teacher to anticipate pupils’ reactions, any by using these
reactions to prepare adequately in order to avoid foreseeable difficult. It helps a teacher manage
her time effectively.

Definition

A lesson plan is a teacher’s detailed description of the course of instruction for an individual’s
lesson – Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

Good defined a lesson plan as an “outline of the important points of a lesson arranged in the
order in which they are to be presented to students by the teacher”.

Various Models /Approaches of writing lesson plan

There are different approaches to lesson planning two common approaches are

1. Herbartian approach, 2. Evaluation approach or Bloom’s approach, 3. 5-E approach

Herbartian Model

John Fredrik Herbart, a German Philosopher and educationist divided teaching units into six
steps. The six formal step for the development of a lesson plan are

Introduction / Motivation: It pertains to preparing and motivating the child to the content of
the lesson by linking it to the previous knowledge of the study by arousing their curiosity and
appealing to their senses. This step involves,

 Testing of previous knowledge

 Arousing curiosity by means of activity like demonstration, chart, showing models etc.
 Sustaining students’ curiosity and receptivity using various measures like story telling
etc.

Presentation: the first step is to state the objectives explain clearly the purpose of exposure of
students to new information. The next step is the actual presentations were students and teacher
should be active participant.
Comparison or Association: students are provided with examples and are asked to compare
them with other set of similar examples and facts e.g. eye with camera lens. Etc.

Generalization: students are made to reflect and the whole knowledge learnt in presentation
step is systematized leading to generalizations, formulae, and rule etc. through comparison/
association. Generalization involves the following steps:

 Reiterating definitions of new terms.

 Providing occasional summaries and restatement of important ideas.
 Using alternative explanations when necessary.

Application: students will make use of knowledge gained in familiar and unfamiliar situations.
Science without relevance to daily life would end up being meaningless at times. Forms of
application are: solving problems, writing an essay or an article, drawing maps or charts,
preparing some models, doing some practical work, setting of new type of tests.

Recapitulation: this is the last step of the lesson plan in which the teacher tries to ascertain
whether his students have understood and grasped the subject matter or not and to do so he:

 Asks questions on topic;

 Give short objective type test;
 Make them solve problems etc. It is very important as this helps the teacher to judge as
to how well the students have learnt the concepts.

Blooms Evaluation Model

According to this approach, teaching activities are objective centered. Bloom considers
education as a triangular process with educational objectives, learning experiences and
evaluation.

Lesson Plan Steps in Evaluation Approach

In planning a lesson, the lesson plan has the following six steps:

 Teaching Points or Content to be taught.

 Behavioural objectives with specifications
 Teacher Activities (asking questions, use of materials etc)
 Students Activities (answering questions, responding to teachers’ activity etc.)
 Teaching Aids
  Evaluation

5-E model

Rodger Bybee, co-creator of the model, explains, “The 5E Model of Instruction

includes five phases: Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. It provides a carefully
planned sequence of instruction that places students at the center of learning.”

1. Engage
The first phase of the 5E model is used to introduce students to the topic, gauge their current
understanding, and spark curiosity for more engaged learning. Educators should ask open-
ended questions and facilitate discussions about the concepts they plan to cover.

2. Explore
The second phase, and arguably the most important, has students Explore the new concept
through concrete learning experiences. Plan hands-on activities that allow students to work
together, investigate objects or situations, and make observations. In this phase, teachers can
act as consultants to their students to prompt questions and direct personalized learning
experiences. This should be the longest portion of the lesson, as it’s important to give students
time to truly explore.

3. Explain

The Explain phase encourages students to consider their exploration and build knowledge of
the topic. First, educators ask students what they learned during the Explore phase and if they
have any questions. Then, instructors share additional information students need to understand
about the topic, like key terms and processes, allowing students to make connections between
what they’ve experienced and the associated term or concept. Multimedia such as images and
videos can help supplement the Explain phase and cement knowledge building in students.

4. Elaborate
Similar to the Explore phase, the elaborate phase hands the learning experience back to the
students to apply concepts and increase understanding. Teachers can assign hands-on projects
like presentations and expect students to use the vocabulary and definitions covered in the
Explain phase.
5. Evaluate
Essential to any instructional model is assessing whether students are grasping core concepts.
The final phase is a period of reflection to determine learning outcomes. Educators can use
formal or informal assessments like self-assessments, writing assessments, or exams to have
students demonstrate their understanding.

Characteristics of Good Lesson Plan

The characteristics of lesson plan can be listed as follows:
 It makes the teacher’s work regular, well organized and systematic.
 It prompts confidence and self –reliance in the teacher.
 It helps the teacher to proceed with particular aims in view and thus makes him
conscious of interests and attitudes to be developed in the students.
 It renders a saving in time, for the students have a better understanding of the subject
and develop some desirable attitudes in a specified time, while in the absence of a plan
it might have taken more time for the similar understanding.
 Lesson plans establish proper connections between different lessons of study.
Therefore, they provide continuity in the teaching process.
 It stimulates the teacher to introduce striking questions and illustrations.
 It provides greater freedom in teaching, for a teacher who has properly planned his
lesson, enters the classroom with confidence; without any anxiety, ready to attack the
problem and prepared to carry it out like a skilled workman.
 It helps the teacher to plan the teaching aids to be used in the class, well in advance and
also ensure their workability.
 It avoids wastage of time.

Unit Plan: Definition

The term unit signifies the ‘unity’ or ‘wholeness’ for the learning activities related to
some problem of them. Planning involves the selection of proper, suitable techniques or
procedures from the alternative ones. Therefore unit planning is an organizations of activities
and resources with its focus on the expected outcomes to meet the needs of students.

According to Preston: “A unit is as large a block of related subject matter as can be

overviewed by the learner”.
 According to Bossing: “A unit consists of a comprehensive series of related and
meaningful activities so as to achieve students’ purpose, provide significant educational
experience and result in appropriate behavioural changes”

Salient Features of Unit Plan

 The aims should be clear and well defined.

 It should cater to the needs, capabilities and interests of the students.
 A good unit should provide suitable activities for students.
 A good unit should be flexible enough to provide for individual differences.
 A unit should have meaningful segments of well-organized subject matter.
 It should provide for project work, excursions, film viewing and the like.
 A unit should not be too lengthy or too short.
 The length of the unit should be such as to retain the interest of the students

Steps involved in a Unit Plan

A unit should always be viewed as an integrated whole. While planning a unit, the following
factors should be kept in mind:

 Objectives with specifications (the why of the unit)

 Content analysis (the what of the unit)
 Learning activities (the how of the unit)
 Testing procedures (evidence of achievement)
 Objectives with Specifications: The first step is to find out the
objectives with specifications that can be realized through the content
analysis.
 Content Analysis: In unit planning emphasis is placed on analysing its
content into terms, contents, facts, situations, processes, generalizations,
conclusions, principles, laws, relationships, etc. In the language units, it
should be analysed into new words, new phrases, idioms, facts, figures
of speech, central idea, concepts, proverbs, word-building, etc.
 Learning Activities: The third step is to organize those activities that
will best achieve the specifications. Keeping individual differences and
the psychology of the pupils in view, the content, specifications, and the
learning activities should be planned in the unit plan.
  Testing Procedures: This is the fourth and the last step in the unit plan.
Here, the types of evaluation tools and techniques are mentioned
through which the teacher would get evidence of the achievements of
objectives on the part of the pupils.

Advantages of Unit Plan

Unit planning is an important phase of teaching learning process that has the following
advantages:

 It breaks up the entire work into small sections, small enough so that pupils can easily
group the scope of these during the observation.
 It helps in classifying the general and specific objectives of teaching.
 It helps to cater to the needs, nature and aptitudes of the students.
 It helps in saving time and planning work effectively.
 It makes teaching learning clear, precise and comprehensive.
 It develops self-confidence among students for it evolves opportunities for meaningful
experiences wherein they can organize and review their learning.

Disadvantages of Unit Plan

 It requires committed and hardworking teachers.

 It increases the work of a teacher.
 Difficulty sets in when topics are unrelated and unsystematically arranged.
 Evaluation becomes a difficult process.