Ep 96 // How to Make Your Next Lesson Plan Ridiculously Amazing!
Inside This Week’s Episode: — Successful lessons don’t just happen. They are designed with intention and created to be align with best teaching practices. If you’re wondering what exactly makes up a successful lesson - then stick around because I’m spelling it all out in this podcast episode!
All successful Lessons have a few things in common.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been guilty more than once of making myself the star of the show - meaning - as a teacher - I often made the lessons more about me.
Me — standing in front of the classroom with my anchor charts, doing all the talking, inviting minimal participation. When I did invite participation, I was sure to call on those students that I know would have the answers.
Guilty, as charged.
But - I’ve noticed, and I’m sure YOU’VE noticed that the days of standing in front of the classroom while students just listen and absorb just don’t work.
And to be honest - it likely never worked, we just didn’t know any better. It may have worked for some students - the ones that can learn in basically any environment — but for the students that needed to be more engaged, more interactive - not so much.
So, today, I want to explore 6 components or elements of a successful lesson.
Links & Resources Mentioned in the Episode
EPISODE 94: 3 Tips for Increasing Student Success (That You Can Start Using TODAY!)
POST: Giving Students More Choice in the Classroom
LINKtivity: 5 Regions of the United States
Join the LINKtivity Learning Membership and get access to my entire vault of LINKtivity Interactive Learning Guides - Click HERE to join.
the 6 components of a successful lesson
Let me first give you the list of the 6 components so that you know what’s coming, and then we’ll dive deep into each one. The 6 components of a successful lesson are:
student independence
engaging visuals
self-paced
Student choice
technology
multimedia
Component #1: Successful Lessons often include student independence
So - what do I mean by this? Well - it’s kind of the opposite of the picture I painted earlier: the teacher always doing the work, doing the talking in the front of the class.
A lesson that offers student independence, gives students just what they need (directions, modeling, modifications, etc)... but then allows students to do the work.
It may be an unpopular opinion, but teachers don’t actually need to be doing all the teaching. There are so many other ways that students can learn and consume new information that DOESN’T come from the teacher directly - but rather through discovery.
When students are given the opportunity to discover new information on their own they buy-in to the process. They learn the process of - well, learning!
They take more ownership of their learning and they learn to be seekers of knowledge - which ultimately is one of the main purposes of education.
Component #2: successful lessons include engaging visuals.
All students can benefit from engaging visuals. This one you are likely already doing, but its worth noting. And it’s also worth noting that these visuals should vary.
For example, if you’re teaching about the Civil War in social studies you can include a variety of visuals to help students fully understand the concepts. These visuals might include things like timeline graphics so students can see how all the events and battles line up. Or visuals like real photographs of the time period. Or newspaper articles, artifacts, or a T-chart showing the differences between the North and the South during that time, and yes - even clip art.
You never know what kinds of visuals will connect with students. Switching up your visuals and keeping them fresh will keep students engaged and interested.
Visuals reiterate what they are learning. They reinforce things that they might be hearing or reading about. It adds another layer of understanding.
Component #3: successful lessons allow students to be self-paced.
I don’t have to tell you that your students are all on different levels. And for some students, they simply can’t keep up with the pace of working with a whole class, or even in a small-group.
On the flip side, sometimes the pace of the class is much too slow for a student - which then just leads to a whole host of issues: they get bored, act out….you know how it is.
For many students to succeed, often they just need to slow down! And in some cases, they need to speed up. In both cases, we can provide more opportunities for students to go at their own pace - whatever that pace may be.
If we allow students to work through an activity in a pace that works for them, we will give our students the space they need to take ownership of their learning and to make sense of what they are learning in their own time.
We still need to provide the necessary support and guidance to get them started - but then we need to empower students to go from there.
Creating a lesson that includes elements of self-paced leads me to my next component…
Component #4: successful lessons Include more student choice.
Student choice has been a hot topic in classrooms lately, and for good reason. We know that when students feel that they have a choice (and one of those choices is the pace at which they work, like I just mentioned), they are more motivated.
And who wouldn’t be? No one likes to be told what to do, and how to do it …all the time. Sometimes we need that, but other times, providing a looser environment that puts students in the driver seat is important too.
Student choice often gets misunderstood. I think it’s misunderstood because of the rise of choice boards in the classroom. When we hear student choice, we automatically think of choice boards that give students a set of 9 or so activities to choose from to show their learning.
I love choice boards, I think they are great and are ONE way to offer choice.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Giving Students More Choice in the Classroom
But it doesn’t always have to be that involved or complicated. Choice can be as simple as allowing students to choose where they learn in the classroom. Do they have to sit at their seats? Or can they grab a carpet square or go sit in the bean bag chair? It may seem like a simple choice - but you and I both know how excited kids with these simple options.
It could be as simple as giving them choice in who they work with.
It could be as simple as giving them a choice in the order that they complete something.
LINKtivity® Interactive Learning Guides are a perfect example of this. In most LINKtivities there are several categories that offer different options to choose from. In most cases it doesn’t matter what order they go in.
I have a LINKtivity about the 5 Regions of the United States where they can pick whichever region they want to travel to first.
Maybe they want to travel to the northeast region and explore NYC first - or maybe they want to watch a video of a plane flying over Washington D.C. — They have the choice. And when they have the choice, they have bought-in to the process of learning.
Think about ways that you can offer more choice in your lessons. And before you offer choice, establish routines and procedures in the classroom for carrying out that choice. When you’ve set the foundation of routines and procedures in your classroom it sets you up for success in all areas of the classroom.
Component #5: successful lessons Include Technology.
Now, the self-paced and student choice components of a successful lesson will only work if students are engaged and WANT to keep learning.
That’s where my last two components come into play. They are almost one in the same, but not completely, so that’s what I’ve kept them separate.
The second to last component is the use of technology and the last component is multimedia.
Let’s first tackle technology. I might get some push back on this, but I believe that using technology in the classroom should no longer be an option.
Most schools have access to at least SOME technology on a regular basis.
The simple truth is: our students need to know how to use technology. When they get into middle school, high school, and when they get jobs out in the real world - they will almost definitely be asked to use technology. So we need to provide learning experiences that include technology.
Successful lessons incorporate technology where appropriate so that students learn, not only know how to navigate websites or online activities, but they also learn how to be good digital citizens and learn to be responsible in their use of technology.
For those who work with younger students at the elementary level, now is the time to begin that tech journey with students in a controlled and safe environment so that they become comfortable with it, learn basic features and functions, and so on.
Through technology we can open our students’ worlds wide open. They can use things like Google Earth to not just read about things like the Egyptian pyramids, but actually to see them in 3-D.
We can use technology to not just talk about the weather and climate, but to watch videos of what severe weather actually looks like. The opportunities are truly endless.
The use of technology in the classroom leads me to the last component of a successful lesson…
Component #6: Successful Lessons include multimedia instruction
Technology makes multimedia instruction possible.
A simple definition of multimedia is a form of communication that combines different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to traditional media which featured little to no interaction from users, such as printed material.
We need multimedia elements in our lessons. Multimedia content allows students to learn something new and explore it from all angles. They aren’t just reading about rocks and minerals in a textbook, they are seeing real photos, or watching eye-catching videos, or hearing audio clips about it. Through multimedia they can gain a complete understanding about something.
Learning about multimedia has been huge for me lately. I’ve really dug into the research here because it 1000% percent supports what I’m trying to do with LINKtivities.
I don’t just want LINKtivities to be cool - I want them to be research-based, backed up by best practices in a 21st century classroom, and truly be what’s best for students.
So, I’m actually going to put a pin in our conversion about multimedia because next week I’ll continue the conversation all about multimedia instruction and how we can really up our teaching game using multimedia.
I’m incredibly excited to dive into this topic with you more and I hope it will get you equally excited for what’s possible in your classroom using multimedia combined with all the other components of a successful lesson that we’ve talked about here today.
all six components of a successful lesson - wrapped into one?!
Yep! I don’t want to be all talk and no action… I’m putting the work behind the passion.
If you’ve been around for a while here at The Classroom Nook headquarters, then you have heard me talk about LINKtivity® Interactive Learning Guides.
If you’re unfamiliar with LINKtivities - think of them like a multimedia, self-paced, student controlled, and engaging EDU-venture. (Do those descriptors sound familiar? Because they should! They are the exact components that make up a lesson successful that we were just talking about . They are the exact components that I’ve embedded in LINKtivities)
And that's no mistake. They are designed so that students can learn about a new topic or skill - ANY new topic or skill - by exploring videos, texts, graphics, and images.
There’s even audio support to read text within the LINKtivity® to the students - making LINKtivities super accessible for all learners.
Students simply click a single link to bring up their LINKtivity® and start exploring at their own-pace, controlled 100% by the student - therefore increasing motivation, student buy-in - all the good stuff!!
And if all this sounds amazing - I wanted to let you know that the doors to the LINKtivity® Learning Membership where teachers can get access to my entire library of LINKtivities for one low monthly or annual price.
Tap into our LINKtivity library
Did you know that you can get an ALL-ACCESS pass to my entire vault of LINKtivity® Interactive Learning Guides?
You can! Inside the LINKtivity® Learning Membership!
And the best part is - once you’re a member, you not only get access to the LINKtivities already inside the membership, but you will get immediate access to all future LINKtivities added each month to the membership at no extra charge.
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