How a Lesson Plan Ensures Teacher's Effectiveness - Report Example

An Effective Teacher Name Institution Date Introduction An effective teacher is very important to the students and the school as a whole. This is mainly because the students will easily understand new concepts being taught. If the teacher is not effective, the students will end up in a lot of problems as they will not be able to understand the new concepts. Most students will end up failing the examinations while some may be unable to perform practical aspects of the lessons. For a teacher to be effective, a good lesson plan is mandatory. This will guide the teacher throughout the lesson and how ideas will be taught to the students. A lesson plan will also give an opportunity for assessing the students and ensuring that they have understood what they have been taught (O'Bannon, 2008). On the other hand, a lesson plan will enable the teacher to manage the time allocated to him/her proficiently. This is mainly because time management is a powerful tool for ensuring every minute is well utilized. The paper will therefore discuss how a lesson plan will ensure that the teacher becomes effective. The importance of the work plan will also be discussed in details in relations to a mathematics lesson about shapes. Lesson plan The table below shows a lesson plan for a mathematics class for a period of one hour. The lesson was about shapes. Teaching strategy Description Timeline. (Minutes.) Introduction. Explain the activities to be covered during the lesson. 5 Student learning activity Drawing of various shapes and taking brief notes by students. 15 Analyze the shapes and discuss it with the students. 15 Asking questions to the students to determine whether they have understood the lesson or not. 10 Assessment Reviewing the student’s questionnaires. Reciting the questions 5 Activity extension Giving the students assignments. 2 Conclusion. Summarize all the objectives. 5 Teacher evaluation. Did the students understand the concepts taught? Did the students answer all the questions correctly? What were the challenges during the lesson? 3 How the lesson plan makes a teacher effective The lesson plan above ensures that the minutes are well spent and nothing is wasted. The teacher will become effective in class because the activities to be carried out in class are clearly spelt out. It will provide the needed guide towards achieving the main objective of the lesson. The teacher will become very effective as the activities to be performed are already defined and time allocated to each of the activity (Salsbury, 2008). This will save a lot of time and time wasting will be completely eliminated. The teacher will thus be able to accomplish all the activities required during the lesson without any difficulties. Time saving is an important quality of an effective teacher which is achievable by the use of a lesson plan. The lesson plan as portrayed in the lesson plan above is important in ensuring that the students are able to learn without losing interest in the lesson. This is achieved through breaking the monotonies that may be exist due to teaching one concept for along time. This therefore makes the teacher effective as it is important to ensure that the students maintain their concentration throughout the lesson. If the students loose their concentration during the lesson, then it will be difficult for them to understand the concepts being taught. A lesson plan therefore helps the teacher to be effective and thus maintains the concentration of the students (Tchudi, 1999). When dealing with a class of students, it is evident that their level of intelligence is not the same. This means that the students will not be able to understand the concepts at the same rate if a continuous method of teaching is used. The lesson plan above ensures that different activities are incorporated in the lesson. With different activities during the lesson, the students will easily understand the concepts regardless of their level of intelligence. This therefore makes the teacher quite effective as an effective teacher is supposed to ensure that everyone has understood the concepts taught. The goals and objectives of the teacher will be easily achieved through the use of a lesson plan. This is evident in the lesson plan above as the teacher allocates time for each activity. The time allocated for each activity is usually considered carefully and thus gives allowance for all the activities to be completed in time. The lesson plan therefore makes the teacher very effective since he or she will be able to accomplish all the aims and objectives within a given period of time. An effective teacher is always organized during the lesson and has procedures to follow. The lesson plan therefore ensures that the teacher is organized as it lays out the steps to be followed during the lesson (Wong, 1998). Any teacher who is not organized will not be effective at all as there will be some tendencies of leaving out some issues and concepts during the lesson. The lesson plan above therefore provides the teacher with a plan of how to conduct the lesson. The lesson plan above is also useful to the teacher as it provides room for evaluation. The teacher is able to know whether the students have understood the lesson or not. The lesson plan also provides room for analyzing problems and dealing with them. The lesson plan therefore provides room for the teacher to identify problems and rectify them to avoid he chances of future occurrence (Ahrenfelt, 2006). Any teacher who is able to solve problems is considered effective. This is made possible through the use of a work plan. The lesson plan gives the teacher an opportunity to analyze the daily performance and make corrections and improvements where necessary. This will enable the teacher to become effective and very organized during the lesson. The lesson plan also promotes the interaction between the teacher and the students. In the case above, the students are given time to discus what they have learned. This is important in ensuring the students have understood the lesson. Well. This makes the teacher effective as any teacher who is able to work closely with the students is considered effective (Biggs, 1999). The lesson plan above is very effective in ensuring that the teacher is effective. This is mainly because it gives the teacher room to make improvement of the teaching skills if the students are not coping. The evaluation of both the teacher and the student is important since it ensures that any challenges are dealt with immediately. The evaluation makes the teacher effective and improves his or her capabilities. The lesson plan offers the teacher the chance to know what kind of students they are dealing with. This makes it easy for the teacher to teach the students and to grade them depending on their performance. Since the lesson plan gives room for the students to participate during the lesson, it will be easier for the teacher to identify active and passive students. The teacher will be able to identify weak students and know how to help them achieve better results. This is thus a characteristic of an effective teacher. The lesson plan thus enables the teacher to be effective through understanding all the students in the class and help them achieve better results. A teacher who is effective therefore knows the importance of a lesson plan (Serdyukov, 2008). How a lesson plan is prepared in order to make teacher effective An effective teacher must have a good lesson plan similar to the above that incorporates all the aspects of the lesson. An ordinary lesson plan may not be able to fully make the teacher effective. A poor lesson plan is compared to an ill equipped doctor or engineer. These professional will not be able to become effective without the tools, it is also the same for the teacher without a good work plan the teacher will not be effective. It is therefore important for the teacher to make several consideration including the main aims and objectives of the lesson and subject. When this is incorporated into the lesson plan, the teacher will become effective. On the other hand the teacher should also consider the time allocated to them so as to avoid any chances of failing to meet the aims and objectives or waste time. Considering the time allocated will completely eliminate the chances of wasting time. The components of evaluation and analysis are also important in ensuring that the teacher is able to become effective. The criteria will enable the teacher to get the real impression of the students and how they are performing (Milkova, 2011). Importance of an effective teacher An effective teacher will effectively guide the students to achieve great success and good performance. In a video by schools world, an effective teacher knows how to handle the students and ensuring their success. During the maths lesson in the video, the teacher was able to ensure that the students fully understand the concepts of shapes and other mathematical terms. The video shows that the teacher is well prepared for the lesson and has a god lesson plan. The students are given a chance to ask questions and also to respond to some questions. This is followed by evaluation by the teacher to determine that the students are fully aware of the concepts that were taught (Schools world, 2012). The teacher is thus considered effective due to the fact that the teacher is able to understand the requirements of all the students. The main purpose of the video is to show a real time example of lessons in the classroom and how the teacher ensures that the students are well taught and evaluated. It is also important to note that the lesson was about mathematical shapes which is quite challenging to most students and thus a high sense of expertise is required of the teacher. An effective teacher is thus able to break all the barriers that may hinder the students from understanding new concepts no matter the difficulty. It is also necessary for the teacher to be efficient so as to gain the trust of the students. This is mainly because the students will always find it easy to interact with an effective teacher. On the other hand it is worth mentioning the fact that the students will always have little or no trust towards the teacher who is not effective. An effective teacher will however change the attitudes of the students. This will make the students more wiling to learn and as a result they will like the subjects. It is also important to note that the attitudes of the students will determine how easily they will adapt to the subjects being taught. A lesson plan is also an important tool for the students. This is mainly because students will always like lessons that are not boring. An effective teacher will thus incorporate other useful strategies that will ensure that the lesson is easily understood by all the students (Fink, 2005). Conclusion In conclusion, an effective teacher is very important to the school and also the students. This is mainly for the purpose of ensuring that the learning takes place smoothly during the lesson. The students will also understand the lesson easily and thus succeed in the exams and practical skills. The lesson plan has been identified as a powerful too in ensuring that the teacher is effective. This tool ensures that the aims and objectives of the teacher are clearly defined and met. It also ensures that the students participate in the lessons and thus gain more understanding of the subject. The lesson plan also ensures that both the teacher and the students are evaluated and thus errors are identified and eliminated. The most important aspect of lesson plan is however its ability to eliminate wastage of time. Proper time utilization has been identified as the main merit of lesson plan. It is therefore evident that a lesson plan is a tool for success and it ensures that the teacher becomes effective. The attitudes of the students are also influenced by the effectiveness of the teacher. References Biggs, J. (1999) Teaching for Quality Learning at University (pp. 165-203). Buckingham, UK: SRHE and Open University Press Schools world, (2012). Retrieved on April 6, 2012 from, Fink, D. (2005). IDEA Center: Integrated course design. Retrieved on April 6, 2012 from Milkova, S. (2011). Strategies for Effective Lesson Planning. Retrieved on April 6, 2012 from O'Bannon, B. (2008). "What is a Lesson Plan?" Innovative Technology Center: The University of Tennessee. Retrieved on April 6, 2012 from   Tchudi, S. et al (1999). Exploring and Teaching the English Language Arts (4th Ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Wong, H. (1998). The First Days of School: How to be an Effective Teacher. Mountainview, CA : Harry K. Wong Publications Serdyukov, P. et al (2008). Writing Effective Lesson Plans: The 5-Star Approach. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, Salsbury, D. et al (2008). Lesson Planning: A Research-Based Model for K-12 Classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Prentice Hall. Ahrenfelt, J et al (2006). 100 Ideas for Essential Teaching Skills (Continuum One Hundred). New York: Continuum. Read More