Because of my groups failure to reach the top of the aforementioned pedestal, I am going to devote a blog to tips for writing lesson plans! Yay! I picked the picture above because sometimes that is how I feel when I'm writing a paper or a lesson plan or a poem or anything... I feel like I'm mucking it up for the sake of looking like I know what I'm talking about. I felt like we got all our stuff straightened out for our lesson plan this time, but that wasn't necessarily the case, obviously, so I thought the cartoon was appropriate. So, here are some tips I found...

1. Develop what you want to teach- and be sure to watch the grade level the lesson is for! Also, think in terms of units and projects, not just one lesson. Tying things together helps kids hold information better.

2. HAVE CLEAR, SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES. These objectives should not be activities, but instead the outcomes of learning the material.

3. Make clear what materials will be used. This way, if someone else uses your lesson plan, they will be able to be prepared for it easily.

4. The lesson plan should include a step-by-step process of what will happen. Granted, it won't be able to say everything you want to say, but it can cover as much as possible to make the lesson go that much smoother.

5. Allow plenty of activity/independent practice time!

6. There should be some sort of overview/closure to the lesson so that all bases are covered. Also, time allowed for questions should be figured in, in case some part of a lesson isn't as clear to a student as it could have been.

7. Some sort of assessment should be provided at the end. This serves as a gauge for what was a learned, and an outlet for feedback for both the students and the teacher. Connections can often be made here too to other activities or lessons the kids have learned before.

8. A good lesson plan should also be malleable so as to suit all levels of children within the classroom.

These are some of the main tips I found, but if anyone has any they'd like to add or share, please, feel free!