MODELS OF LESSON PLANNING

There are a number of approaches to lesson planning. The dominant model of lesson planning is Tyler’s Rational-Linear Framework. Tyler’s model has four steps that run sequentially:

1. Specify objectives
2. Select learning activities
3. Organize learning activities
4. Specify methods of evaluation

Tyler’s model is still used widely in spite of evidence that suggests that teachers rarely follow the sequential linear process outlined in the steps. Taylor (1970) studied what teachers actually did when they planned their lessons and found that they focused mostly on the interests and needs of their students. More important, he found that teachers were not well prepared in teacher-education programs for lesson planning.

Research on what English language teachers actually do when planning lessons shown that many teachers, when they do write lessons plans, tend to deviate from the original plan. Also, when English language teachers do write daily lessons plans, they do not state them in terms of behavioral objectives, even though they are taught this method in preservice teacher education courses. Instead, English language teachers, especially more experienced teachers, are more likely to plan their lessons as sequences of activities, teaching routines, or to focus on the need of particular students.

Bailey’s (1996) studied some of the reasons why teachers deviate from the original lesson plan:

1. Serve the common good: In this case, teachers are willing to deviate from the original lesson plan because one student raised an issue that the teacher perceives to be relevant for the other students.

2. Teach to the moment: Sometimes, teachers may completely abandon the lesson plan to discuss some unplanned event because the teacher thinks it is timely for the class.

3. Further the lesson: Here, teachers make a procedural change during the lesson as a means of promoting the progress of the lesson.

4. Accommodate student’s learning styles: Teachers may sometimes depart from their lesson plans in order to accommodate their student’s learning styles if the original plan has not accounted for them.

5. Promote student’s involvement: Sometimes, teachers eliminate some steps in their lesson plans in order to have more student involvement, especially if the students are not responding.

6. Distribute the wealth: This last principle has teacher changing lesson plans to encourage quiet students to participate more and to keep the more active students from dominating the class time.

These findings show that teacher decision making is a dynamic process involving teachers making choice before, during and after each lesson.