Why Lesson Plan

A lesson plan is essentially a plan for your work in a classroom. I have been a teacher for almost 6 years now and I can easily say that it’s the difference between good classes and average or bad classes for ME.

Does every teacher plan every single lesson, every single day, all of the time? Probably not. However, the teachers who do, are likely the ones who are able to reflect on their lessons, what works and of course, what doesn’t.

I remember watching a teaching video about an ESL teacher in Hong Kong who gaves his views on ‘the lesson plan’. He explained that if he tried giving lessons without plans he would often have to spend time during the lesson having to think about, what’s next, how to communicate a certain idea or maybe what games to play. The time that it took to do so might just be a few seconds however, sometimes it’s just enough for students to become distracted or for discipline to start breaking down in class.

It was a simple explanation but an important one. Time matters in class. And making as best use of it as possible requires some mental preparation.

In addition, I started thinking about my teaching performance over the last year. How could I most consistently improve and what were some of the things that prevented that. Clear, consistent planning is the perfect way for a teacher to constantly evaluate their own lessons, seeing what works, what doesn’t and how it could be executed more quickly or efficiently.

At the end of the day. Students may not remember what you say or what you do. However they will certainly remember how you made them feel. And teachers who take time to make good lesson plans are the ones who are going to be most likely to pay attention to their students, their needs, their strengths and weaknesses and help them accomplish more. Not be busy trying to figure out what to do next, how much time is left to fill or trying to solve technical issues with classroom equipment.