One Sentence Lesson Plans and the Importance of Why

I subscribe to a really interesting education blog called Inside Todd's Brain

In his latest blog Todd links to an interesting article on simplified lesson plans with a focus on students' understanding of "why" they are learning something. Although this is aimed at university level it resonated with me with regard to making a core subject like English meaningful. 

To summarise:

The what

First, what do you want your students to know (or be able to do) by the end of class? Here, you identify the skill or the content to be learned.

The how 

Next, how will students reach this goal?

The why

Finally, why are students learning this?

The why is particularly important because it drives interest in learning. For example, when teaching about validity of sources the article suggests introducing the topic by getting the students to think about buying a usb flash drive. 

The template:
In this class, students will be able to [accomplish Outcome X] by [using Method Y]so that [they will be helped in Z way]

My example for English:
In this class, students will be able to identify metaphors by describing the two things that are compared, so that they are better at reading between the lines.


Comments

  1. Is there a limit to the number of times you're allowed to say 'because it will be in your exam' to Year 12s as the 'why'?

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