E - Beyond the single lesson

Summary

Lessons don't exist in isolation but instead form the elements in a connected chain of teaching and learning experiences that stretch both back and forward in time, and beyond the bounds of the immediate classroom. Hence, lesson design is also course design: it involves being able to plan beyond the immediate lesson, factoring in regular review and recycling, and integrating out-of-class learning experiences.

• 59 Planning a scheme of work

• 60 Review and recycling

• 61 Retrospective planning

• 62 Negotiated planning

• 63 Homework and self-study

Planning a scheme of work

So far, the focus has been on individual lessons, but lessons form part of a continuity, where several lessons may constitute a unit of work (in the US) or a scheme of work (in the UK). How do you plan beyond the single lesson?

Planning beyond the individual lesson will depend a great deal on the context, including whether the programme is intensive or part-time, whether there is a coursebook and/or syllabus, whether the class is shared with other teachers, and whether any kind of needs analysis (see 5) has been implemented. But, irrespective of the context, there are core considerations that apply to all schemes of work. These are:

• ▪ Coverage: are all the relevant syllabus items included?

• ▪ Purposeful: do the individual lessons build incrementally towards an objective?

• ▪ Variety: is there a sufficient variety of activity-types, interactions, skills focuses, etc.?

• ▪ Balance: is there an even spread of activities and content?

• ▪ Cohesion: do the lessons connect with one another? Do they share a common theme or goal?

The conventional wisdom has it that, when planning a scheme of work, teachers start with an empty grid and simply slot in lessons according to the above criteria. Indeed, certain contexts (such as teaching on a university programme) will require detailed unit plans in advance. And for less experienced teachers, planning units of work – especially collaboratively – is a useful discipline. If so, as with lesson plans, a specification of the unit objectives is a good starting point, along with a strategy for assessing these objectives (see 64). The individual components of the unit can then be sketched in, perhaps using the principle of backward design (see 20).