Lesson

A lesson is a structured period of time where learning occurs. It involves one or more students (also called pupils or learners in some circumstances) being taught by a teacher or instructor. A lesson may be either one section of a textbook (which, apart from the printed page, can also include multimedia) or, more frequently, a short period of time during which learners are taught about a particular subject or taught how to perform a particular activity. Lessons are generally taught in a classroom but may instead take place in a situated learning environment.

Lesson plan

Teachers and instructors usually have a lesson plan which dictates the structure of the teaching. A group of lessons may be linked together in a unit plan or scheme or work. The detail of the plan may vary with some being a simple list of what is going to be taught in a lesson with others working including much more detail, such as a time plan and the learning aims and objectives. Student teachers and beginning teachers are usually advised to put a great amount of detail into the written plan. This ensures that the plan will be cohesive, that all the components of a successful lesson are taken care of, and that one has a checklist to ensure that practicalities are taken care of (e.g, resources, scheduling, and classroom management considerations). Furthermore, beginning teachers are often advised to script some sections for themselves, such as questions they might ask the students in order to get a discussion going at the begining of the lesson. The expectation is that the teachers can and should depart from the script when appropriate; improvisation is definately encouraged and the fact of having written it out in advance ensures that an adequate amount of thought has been put into it ahead of time. Another reason for including a great amount of detail is that tudent teachers are often required to submit lesson plans in advance to their mentor teachers or professors in order to receive feedback on their ideas. When creating the lesson plan it is usual to look at the following:

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• The aims and objectives of the lesson
• The number of attendees and the student-teacher ratio
• The previous knowledge of the learners (which may or may not be the same for all) and how this will be activated at the start of the lesson
• The motivation of the learners (school students, for example, have no choice but to attend so the teacher must build some kind of motivation into the lesson)
• The time required for each section of teaching and learning
• The resources required and available
• Catering for the different needs (cultural diferences, learning styles, special needs) of the individuals
• How the lesson is to be evaluated.