Kathleen Watts

Understanding your students and their abilities is a crucial aspect of lesson planning. Creating enough content so the majority of the class is not overwhelmed or bored is necessary for the class to run smoothly. This will change with every class you teach! 

A baseline test prior to beginning the course or a particular subject is a good idea to assess what basic knowledge the student already has. This will allow the instructor to adjust the curriculum based on student needs.

Lesson planning keeps the teacher on track to complete course goals and can also be used to review course material later in the course.

Constructing a good lesson plan will give an organized framework for a teacher to utilize throughout the day. Adjustments to the plan can be made for the following day to help keep the teacher on track and within curriculum goals.

Implementation of a question bank with various question styles is crucial to gauge an accurate assessment of acquired knowledge. Each course should contain assessments with different question types to evaluate learning outcomes.

Ungraded assessments can be just as beneficial as graded testing. A daily ungraded question can guide the instructor as to how the class is retaining the current material. This can result in a change of lesson plan to either review previous material or move on to a new subject.

Asking appropriate questions and formulating encouraging responses will enable your class to discuss material in a stress free environment. This will allow memorization of new material through discussion which often builds upon material that was discussed in lecture but may not fully be processed by some students. Many times students learn through paraphrased answers by their peers. By initiating a question and answer forum, students can review information in a different format.

In order to teach a variety of learning styles it is mandatory to vary your teaching approach. By rotating teaching methods you will incorporate all students into the learning environment. This can include bringing interactive games and projects within your lecture halls in order to gain memory retention.