Introductions

Elements of an effective teaching plan included in this post are proposed to raise the curiosity of the students. I believe the objective of teaching is to raise the curiosity and interest of the students in the subject. If we as a teacher are able to create interest in our students for the subject, then we only have to guide them to how to find answers. This will make students self-sufficient and will be able to learn any new subject of their interest and succeed in their lives.

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a. Teaching Objective

As planning is important for achieving desired results the objective and goal are important for the plan to be successful. The starting point of the lesson plan is a well-defined and clear objective, one of the most important elements of an effective teaching plan. The teaching plan’s objective is to encourage critical thinking and motivate students to learn new skills. The teaching objective of a class can be broadly classified as under:

• Conceptual Knowledge: Basic know-how of what it is, and where it is used. A simple objective can be “Students will be able to understand the various systems and their function in the human body that enable digestion, respiration, etc.”
• Procedural Knowledge: Imparting skills and techniques for the application of the subject. An objective for young students can be “Student will be able to read and write numbers from 1 to 10”
• History and evolution of the subject: knowing how the subject has evolved and what is the latest trend and important research in the field and the future technology. 

The objective clearly states what the students will be able to learn at the end of the class. Your lesson plan may aim at achieving one, two, or all objectives. Rember to keep your Lesson objective SMART. i.e Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound.

b. Know your students

It is important to know your students. The grade of the students, the level of knowledge the students have about the topic. The background of the students, how they interact, and their social and religious paradoxes have an impact on their learning.  You will customize your lecture as per the audience,  a class from a school from a metropolitan city has customized for a class from a school of rural background.

You may tweak your lecture based on the background and additional information you have about your students. 

c. Set your timeline

The lesson plan is like a guiding light for the teacher. There has been a debate on the lecture time which should be available. As a teacher, it is a challenge to transfer his thoughts and motivate the students to retain the learnings and raise the appropriate questions to heighten the curiosity of the students. All this you have to do in a limited time. It may be a good idea to make an outline by breaking the topic into sections and budgeting time for each section. You can revisit it and make adjustments in your timeline as per the teaching objectives, and your students. Drop some section and leave them for self-study but try to fit in the time without compromising on the objective of the lesson plan. You can use a generic time template to budget your class time. An ideal template for a 40-minute timeline can be

2 mins Introduction, warmup, recap

3 mins Share what you will teach

25 mins Cover the topic

5 mins Q & A

3 mins Conclude

2 mins Feedback

Your timeline has to be flexible as it can not supersede the learning objectives. Keep the objective of the lesson plan in mind and focus on the objective with high priority. You may have to drop certain parts of the lesson if you are short of time to ensure that you deliver what the students shall be able to retain and must know at the end of the class. 

d. Planning Delivery

Plan your delivery to ensure

i) Check the awareness about the topic

ii) Clear common  myths and misconceptions

iii) Illustrations, activities, and stories to engage students within the budgeted time

e. Feedback and Evaluation

A lesson plan should include the ways and means for assessing the knowledge of the student after the lesson. Setting parameters to evaluate the success of the lesson is another key element of an effective lesson plan. In this section of the lesson plan, you can plan how to check what students have learned at the end of the session. You can check using a flash quiz at the end of the class, or plan an activity for their home. You can also plan depending on the age of the students, to pose a quiz on the online platforms or whatsapp group to respond.

It will give you a better perspective to meet the learning objectives. Depending on the response you receive build the lesson plan for the next class.

Conclusion

A teaching plan is an important element in effective teaching at all levels. Even experienced teachers need some preparation time to plan. The critical elements of an effective teaching plan discussed in this post are indicative. You should try to keep it simple and try to include all the elements discussed in this post and any other element you feel can enhance the learning of the students. You can check the completeness of the lesson plan by asking these questions What you are going to teach? Who you are going to teach? How you are going to teach? How you are going to test the lessons learned? If your lesson plan is able to provide answers to these questions you should pat your back for doing a good job.

I believe that learning is a continuous process and the role of the teacher is to enable and motivate students to find the path and pursue their journey of learning.