The lesson plan I chose was part of a larger unit on bicycle maintenance and repair. It can be challenging for students to grasp processes without a demonstration. Talking through a process is often insufficient and leads to some confusion, although it may be tempting because it takes less preparation time and class time than a demonstration. In my revised lesson plan, you can see that while the topic is introduced briefly in the beginning, there is a demonstration of the procedure right away in the beginning of the class. This gives students the ability to see the process and ask questions where things may be unclear. If the teacher were to just talk through the process, it would be challenging for students to even identify the questions that they have. Having the physical demonstration there gives context and parameters to the students to define what is unclear.
This shift in the lesson plan demonstrates the necessity to give attention to not only the content in the class, but also how it is being delivered. Teachers must give attention to the aspects of their pedagogy that are failing in helping students to understand. “To blend properly the two aspects of a teacher’s capacities requires that we pay as much attention to the content aspects of teaching as we have recently devoted to the elements of teaching process” (Shulman, 1986).
Below is the link to my lesson plan.
Works Cited:
Shulman, L. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4-14.