All good teachers will have some sort of plan when they enter their classrooms each day. The level of complexity and detail included in these plans can vary greatly from teacher to teacher, however, the more detailed and organized a lesson plan is the more useful it becomes. When a lesson plan is fully comprehensive it can function as a guide for the teachers themselves, or for a substitute teacher entering the classroom on short notice. For a teacher, having a record of what the students did in the class serves as a valuable resource when planning assessment measures such as quizzes or unit exams. Detailed lesson plans can also act as a historical document reflecting teaching philosophy, student population, and most importantly goals for the students. In spite of the importance of planning and creating valuable lesson plans, it is crucial to note that lesson plans must be flexible. Good teachers think on their feet and know when it is time to change an activity, regardless of what the lesson plan says, therefore, these plans are not meant to dictate exactly what or how to teach, but simply to act as a guide.

When writing a lesson plan it is vital to keep theories and philosophies of learning and intelligence in mind, as knowing what you are going to do is just as important as knowing why you are going to be doing it. Take for example the attached Language Arts/ HACE lesson plan based on the picture book “Zero” by Kathryn Otoshi. Many different theories of learning and intelligence have been taken into consideration in the preparation of this lesson plan including Lev Vigotskys’ Social Constructivist Theory, Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory, as well as aspects from the New London Group’s Multiliteracies Theory.

The lesson plan “Zero” is geared towards students who are in a grade 4/5-combination classroom, therefore the students in this class are approximately 9-10 years old. The main objectives for this lesson are to have the students demonstrate empathy and understanding of the concepts of inclusion and self-worth. It is thought that the students will be able to do this through listening to a story based on the idea of self-worth, verbally answering questions (both in pairs and as a class), and by creating a self-portrait of themselves. The portrait will highlight activities that they are good at, characteristics of their personality they are proud of, and things that make them unique. The students will also be required to include a minimum of 6 words that they feel are representative of their self-worth on their portraits.

The first aspect of the lesson plan is the “hook”. Within the hook students are asked to create predictions based on the cover of the picture book “Zero” in a think-pair-share format. Think-Pair-Share is a cooperative learning strategy that allows students to think independently about the question that has been posed and to formulate ideas on their own. The students then work together with a partner to articulate and discuss their ideas as well as the ideas of their partner. Finally, the students are able to share their ideas with the greater class. Often students are more comfortable presenting ideas to the class with the support of a partner. Think-Pair-Share also allows for the students to engage in critical thinking where they have 3 different opportunities to refine their thoughts and ideas. It was proposed by Pimm that the think-pair-share strategy also helps to increase the types of personal communication that are necessary for students to internally process, organize and retain ideas. In sharing their ideas the students are able to take ownership of their learning and negotiate meanings rather than rely solely on the teacher, which is an important aspect of the Constructivist Theory, whereby student construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. Another important aspect of the think-pair-share strategy is the idea that students have the opportunity to gain higher-level thinking skills from their peers while exposing themselves to the prompting that they may need to create their own thoughts and ideas. The idea of using a more knowledgeable other to elevate learning is based on the idea of the “zone of Proximal Development” (ZPD) and Scaffolding which are ideas that fall into the Social Constructivist theory, coined by Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky’s Social Constructivist Theory is rooted in the idea that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. It was thought by Vygotsky that development and learning will progress when children struggle with problems in their “Zone of Proximal Development” (ZPD). The ZPD is said to be the area between their current developmental level, where the child can solve problems independently, and the level of development the child could achieve with support from others, such as a teacher or a more knowledgeable other.

Next, the lesson plan has the students participating in a read aloud activity where the teacher will read the story “Zero” to the class. In a read aloud, the teacher reads to the whole class, building on students’ existing skills while introducing different types of literature and new concepts, in this case the idea of self-worth and inclusion. Read aloud’s model fluent and expressive reading, develops comprehension and critical thinking strategies, gives the students the ability to make text-to-self and text-to-text connections, visualize stories, and formulate questions all while building the students listening skills. Within this read aloud activity the teacher has predetermined a number of questions in which the students will reflect on throughout the story. Through the use of these guided questions the teacher is implementing aspects of Vygotsky’s Social Constructivist Theory, as the teacher is acting as a facilitator and is modifying the students’ interactions and assisting in monitoring their understanding through socially constructed discussions. Using these strategies the teacher is able to establish links between the students understanding and the more complete meaning. The read aloud portion of the lesson plan also allows the teacher to scaffold the students learning through providing the class with questions to help the students create text-to-self and text-to-text connections, commenting on answers using different wording, and by restating answers in different ways to encourage critical thinking and meaning making. The ideas of Jean Piaget and his Developmental Theory of learning are also prevalent in the read aloud portion of the lesson plan. Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory is rooted in the belief that intelligence is developed in a step-by-step manner. Piaget believed that all people pass through the same four stages (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operations) and that a specific level of development must be achieved before a child can learn new information. For instance, students who are in a grade 4/5-combination class, such as the students in the “Zero” lesson plan class, are said to be at the Concrete Operational stage of development, which encompass’ children aged 7-11. By this stage children are no longer egocentric and are able to understand different viewpoints and empathize with others, however, they are not yet able to think abstractly and hypothetically. Learning to listen thoughtfully and sensitively to their peers and respect a variety of differing views will help to move the students towards achieving the formal operational stage in which they are almost able to reach. Piaget’s theory also encourages students to learn from their peers, which they are able to do when listening and responding to the questions during the read aloud. This is especially relevant for children in the 2-7 age range, but can apply to students of all ages. Since different students excel at different areas of knowledge learning from listening to peers also provides scaffolding in their ZPDs.

At this point the lesson plan recognizes the need for a brain break. Brain breaks are a 2- 3 minute break away from the topic currently being taught.  These breaks are especially important when dealing with tough subject matter, such as self worth and inclusion, as it gives a couple of minutes for the student to relax while relieving the tensions of complex lessons.

The final component of this lesson plan is an activity in which the student’s draw a self-portrait by tracing their hands and feet as a base for the picture. The portrait will highlight activities that they are good at, characteristics of their personality they are proud of, and things that make them unique. The students will also be required to include a minimum of 6 words that they feel are representative of their self-worth on their portraits. The lesson plan states that the students will work together to brainstorm words that they may be able to use on their portrait which acts as another example of scaffolding the children’s knowledge. The lesson plan also notes that the teacher is to show a completed example of the activity. When doing this it is important to make sure that the students understand that each and everyone’s portrait will look different, as it will be representative of themselves. The lesson plan also includes aspects of the New London Group’s Multiliteracy Theory as the children are being encourage to engage with multiple form of literacy, such as listening to and viewing pictures within a story (audio and visual), reflecting on and sharing answers to guided questions (linguistic), and creating a portrait using descriptive words to enhance the picture.

When writing a lesson plan, it is important to be as detailed and organized as possible and to keep educational learning theories at forefront of every decision mad