Tips on how to plan for a lesson.

 

Tips on how to plan for a lesson: lesson plan

Planning for a lesson can be so daunting, even when you’ve had a long teaching career. Your dream or goal as a teacher is to make concepts so easy and understandable that your learners’ walk out of class having learned and understood the concepts you were trying to teach.

Why plan for lessons?

1.    Outline of your teaching goals.

2.    Learning objectives.

3.    How to accomplish objectives

4.    Provides structure for the lesson.

5.    Allows you, the teacher, to track learners’ progress.

6.    Allows you, the teacher, to review your teaching style.

At times, you are faced with an ELEPHANT, a huge concept that is sometimes too huge for adults to even understand. How do I start? Where do I begin? You ask yourself, Some of us get panic attacks even thinking about this. My "Teaching Methods" instructor would find me looking through countless worksheets, trying to plan for Sunday’s lesson, and for the life of me, nothing was "caning" and none of my ideas were making sense. She would look at me and say, in a very soft voice, "Manda, have you prayed about it?" and there it was.

I took on the habit of praying for my next lesson and asking for guidance from God every Sunday evening. I would review today's lesson in my mind (introspect) and try to figure out how to do it better next week. What am I saying? What does this have to do with you, you may wonder? Before anything, ask for strength and guidance from God. Do ask for ideas; trust me, that is not at all a silly request. Even throughout the week, when you are cooking up your ideas in that secret lab of yours (I know you have one), do pray still and pick any story from the Bible.

When planning your lesson, consider:

Who are you teaching? I hear you say, Kids, of course. Let me rephrase. What age group are you teaching toddlers (babies)? 2 years, 3–4 years, 5–6 years, 7-8 years, 9–11 years, pre-teens, teenagers, young women, middle-aged women, or elderly women?

Based on this answer again, you consider your audiences.

• Attention Span.
• Vocabulary.
• How does your audience retain information?
• What do they relate to at that particular time in their lives’?

Example:

Let’s say you are teaching toddlers (babies under 2 years old) next Sunday.

• A toddler’s attention span is 2–3 minutes long (shockerrrr).
• A toddler’s vocabulary is about 270 words.
• A toddler retains 10% of what they hear.
• 70% of what they say or sing.
• 80% of what they see are pictures.
• 90% of what they do (crafts, colouring, and activities)
• Toddlers relate to LOVE: me, mommy, daddy, sister, and brother, so base your lessons on God loving me, mommy, daddy, sister, and brother.

So based on this information, you are able to cut down your ELEPHANT (lesson) into bite-sized pieces for your audience to understand. You now know that this Sunday you are going to sing more than you speak, have more clear and concise visual aids for your lessons, have fun activities and songs to sing that correlate with your lesson, and if you have a worksheet or craft, ensure that it is simple and easy.

If you teach all age groups at once, you are doomed. Relax; I am joking. It isn’t easy, but I would advise you to have different or separate worksheets and crafts for both groups (older and younger kids). I will write a blog on how to handle a variety of ages in one class soon.

 

4.   Structure for the lesson:

• Read and study the lesson; you can’t sit with your Bible or flash cards in your face and read the lesson that is just CATOSTROPHIC (we will discuss why in the classroom prep blog).

You need to know what you are teaching so that you can answer any questions based on the lesson. If you have no answer to the question, be honest and tell them you will research and answer it next lesson (please keep that promise).

• Bring the lesson to their level; if you are teaching toddlers about love and God, there is no need to mention that God sent his Son to diiiiiiiiie for our sins because he loved us, and love is the royal law, as Christ said. CATOSROPHY.

To toddlers, love is a red heart shape, and they share that with mommy, daddy, sister, brother, and God, and that God, daddy, mommy, sister, and brother love them too, simply, done, and dusted.

• Bring the lesson to life; this, for me, is the fun part; you have fun while teaching the lesson; you enjoy yourself. Here, we forget that we are grown-ups; we try to relate the story using our imagination, as though you were there when God said, "Let there be light. You change your voice to match the character's.

Unfortunately, toddlers’ do not like abrupt sounds or noises. You can still be fun and imaginative, but try not to be sudden in your actions, sounds, and movements.

• Make the lesson appealing: This is when you find activities, worksheets, crafts, toys, and visual aids that correlate with the lesson, visual aids that are age appropriate for your audience, so for toddlers, "less is more," try to find visuals that are A3 in size, not busy but preferably a big red heart for love, a picture of mommy and daddy (this week), or sister and brother (next week), and me with a mirror so that they can see themselves on the mirror, "Jesus/God loves me (the other week).

Ensure that all these activities, worksheets, crafts, and toys are age-appropriate. If crafts need to be cut out, do it for them during prep during the week in your secret lab; if there are things to be stuck on, please do it for them; and no painting for toddlers’ yet, please.

1.   Outline of your teaching goals:

• For knowledge to grow around a certain concept.
• Learns to desire to learn.
• To make a measurable change in behaviour or thinking.
• To shine Christ's light on my learners.
• To bring them closer to Christ.

 

2.   Learning objectives:

As per the above example, learners would have learned that they are loved by God, and God loves their families.

3.   How to accomplish objectives:

Finding interesting and new ways of teaching the same concept.

5.   Tracking learners progress:

Ask general questions based on the lesson, e.g., "God loves... With you holding a picture of mommy, daddy, sister, or brother, and they fill in the blank.

Start singing a song and see if they follow.

With older groups, ask questions that make them think; do not emphasise that it is "question time; let’s see who was not listening. Some learners’ feel you are trying to catch them out, and they shut down because these phrases are not engaging at all. Also, please do not reward your learners if they have answered correctly; the reward system has the same effect mentioned above, which can be detrimental to a learner’s learning ability.

6.   Review teaching style:

If you do not notice any growth in your learners, sometimes we think of throwing in the towel and thinking it's the end of the world, but maybe it’s just a matter of changing your teaching style and your approach with them. I do not know how many times I have had to change my teaching style until I found the right style for me and my learners’.

It is okay and a good idea to ask your learners to rate you after every lesson; this also enhances your relationship with them and makes them feel comfortable if and when they are just lost in how you’ve taught. Really, it is okay that I do that with my learners; I prefer an open policy.

 

I remember being asked to teach at a congregation I was just visiting with. I was sooooo annoyed because I hadn't prepared for a lesson (I am slightly OCD). I had taught once there and twice at a few other congregations, and guess what? In all three of these congregations, I taught the same lesson. When the preacher's wife asked me to teach Sunday school or kids Bible class that morning, as annoyed as I was, I gladly agreed. I got in there and taught the same lesson, which, by the way, I had utterly forgotten I had taught at that congregation.

Long story short, after I had taught the lesson, a little girl raised her hand and looked at her teacher and said, "Teacher, this is not fair; this lady came the last time, taught us the same story, and was wearing the same dress she is wearing. What is going on? Woooooow, I apologised to the kids and asked for another chance to do right by them. Can you share any stories where you did not plan for your lesson? What happened, and how did you soldier on?

 

Acknowledgements: (Teaching methods study guide, Beverly Lothian, Southern Africa Bible College. 2016.)

Instructor: Beverly Lothian.