Designs



		EDL725 : The Class : Rating Scales : Designs : Designs

Designs and Plans Instruction

A mentor teacher received this lesson plan just prior to a classroom observation. It was poorly organized and lacked meaningful objectives.

At the very least the teacher needs to specify clear and relevant outcomes, procedures, and assessment criteria.

A well stated objective should include four components: the performance, the product, the conditions, and the criterion. It may also include degree of mastery and method of evaluation. Well-developed lesson plans are considered essential for student teachers and beginning teachers. Unlike their mentors, they do not intuitively know what they want their students to know, to understand, or to do. They tend to focus on content. Their brains do not have a ready-made template for outcomes, procedures, and assessment. In order for this planning behavior to develop into a habit, it must begin with t structured lesson plan and performance objectives. For example: Given a set of pictures, the student w ill be able to place the pictures in proper sequence with no more that one error.

The "Designs and Plans Instruction" rating scale emphasizes the importance of lesson design and planning for instruction. It should include the following elements.

This rating scale contains behaviors and indicators that are discrete rather than hierarchical. As such the evaluator may check as many indicators as are demonstrated for each behavior as in the example below.

The numbers at the top of the scale are indicators of competence over time.
* Level 1 – Teacher has not yet developed or used this skill.
* Level 2 – Teacher is beginning to incorporate this in his/her repertoire.
* Level 3 – Teacher uses this skill appropriately and competently.
* Level 4 – Teacher uses this consistently with a high degree of competence.

Planning is so important that most principals require teachers to submit weekly lesson plans.

In order to determine the level of cognitive development, one need only look at the verb in each objective. It all the verbs indicate thinking at the knowledge level, and then it is safe to assume that this lesson is not intended to develop critical thinking skills. The most commonly used taxonomy developed by Bloom et al (1956) and Kratwohl (1964) includes three separate domains of learning: the cognitive, the affective, and the psychomotor. Learning outcomes in the cognitive domain are concerned with imparting knowledge and thinking skills ranging from the simple to the complex even with content as easy as Goldilocks.

Again, the verbs in the objectives drive the level of thinking that the teacher intends. To teach at the higher levels of critical thinking, teachers must use verbs at the application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation levels. Beyond that there are a variety of valid teaching methods and strategies such as the following:

To complete this Topic successfully, please complete the following activities in the order shown below:

MAJOR ASSIGNMENT: Designs and Plans Instruction

FEEDBACK: What Topic Value

Once you have completed these activities you should:

Go on to Creates and Maintains a Learning Environment
or
Go back to Rating Scales

E-mail Dr. Gloria Smith at gjs8@jan.ucc.nau.edu
or call (480) 854-7673