No matter how much teachers hate it, they still need a lesson plan. Everyone needs a plan for everything that we do in life. To run a few errands, a simple plan is sufficient but in order to build a house elaborate plans are needed. Likewise, a teacher needs a lesson plan for class. Lesson planning is a form of art. Most teachers have no idea of what a lesson plan is when they first start teaching. Many have had some sort of training in a formal classroom situation. Often, it is prior to any type of training or even knew they know what they are teaching, they are standing in front of students teaching. They follow the textbook like it was a bible. Often, they don’t even understand the function of a lesson. This lack of planning can lead to disaster.
Usually after receiving a certificate course in teaching, most teachers start to use lesson plans religiously. They quickly find that it makes the class go much more smoothly. Before long they realize that not only was the preparation of the lesson plan taking up too much of their time, but that the plans were also restricting learning in the classroom. It often feels more like the teacher is performing with a script rather than using a method that is designed to help students learn. They also usually became aware that they are making themselves the most important person in the classroom.
After this experience, most teachers suddenly realize how ridiculous it is to worry about having sections or stages such as: Introduction, warm up, pre teaching presentation, and production. They would also worry about how long each section should or would last and what the target lesson is that they are teaching.
Most teachers now use a list called “things to do” for most lessons and it works out much better. Many teachers visualize each activity and imagine what could happen. Things seldom happen as they are planned. To learn a lesson a student must naturally feel enough freedom to want to learn. Sometimes the students aren’t in the mood for certain things. If the weather is sunny outside, they may not feel as much like learning as if it were raining.
Most teachers list should include extra items and if they are not used in that lesson then they should be added to the next lesson’s list. They should also keep a diary of each group of students, which is much easier than maintaining detailed lesson plans. They should read the diary every once in a while to see what they would like to repeat or what they would like to try differently. This works for some teachers but others may not like to keep lesson records, they can always experiment with other methods.
The idea is to plan what the teacher is going to do during a lesson while not letting the plan control what happens in the classroom. The most important learning occurs when the students feel that they can participate fully or in spontaneous moments. A traditional lesson plan is much like a barrier between the students and the teacher. A new teacher should try different methods of planning and see what they are comfortable with. The most important thing is that they feel comfortable in the classroom and don’t feel that they have to perform.