LESSON PLANNING - HERBARTIAN STEPS IN LESSON PLANNING

Good lesson planning is the key to successful teaching. Lesson planning in advance has a futuristic implication which permits a teacher to anticipate pupil’s reactions, & by using these reactions to prepare adequately in order to avoid foreseeable difficulties. It helps a teacher manager her time effectively.

Definitions

A lesson plan is actually a plan of action. – Lester B Stands

Lesson plan is the outline of the important points of a lesson arranged in the order in which they are to be presented to students by the teacher. – C.V.Good

A lesson reflects & clarifies the teacher about ‘why to teach’ (objectives), ‘what to teach’ (content), & ‘how to teach’ (methods & learning experiences), & ‘how to evaluate’ (evaluation procedure). All these are the essentials of teaching & learning.

Advantages of lesson planning

·         Lesson planning makes the work regular, well organized & systematic.

·         It enhances the self confidence & self reliance of the teacher.

·         It facilitates appropriate use of aids at appropriate places.

·         It saves time, energy & resources because of good planning.

·         Lesson planning establishes proper connection between different lessons of study, thus ensuring continuity in the teaching – learning.

·         The student’s interest can be retained by planning suitable activities & assignments, according to the mental level of the students.

·         Lesson planning helps & accelerates the achievement of desired objectives of teaching that lesson.

Criteria of a good lesson plan

·         A good lesson plan should have the following features:

·         Instructional objectives must be very clear.

·         Content must be covered as per the objectives.

·         Method of teaching should be properly written & used, as per the need of contents & level of pupils.

·         Learning experiences to be given & the instructional aids to be used must be clearly mentioned.

·         Procedure of formative, diagnostic & summative evaluation must be well planned in the lesson.

Steps involved in lesson planning

J.F.Herbart suggested six formal steps for the development of a lesson plan (Herbartian plan). They are:

·         Introduction / Motivation

·         Presentation

·         Comparison / Association

·         Generalization

·         Application

·         Recapitulation

Introduction / Motivation – Every child should be made ready to learn before the presentation of the content. In the first step the teacher primarily does the following function:

Draws learner’s attention & arouses their motivation, curiosity, interest & readiness to learn through discussion or demonstration.

Tests their previous knowledge & experiences & the ability to receive or imbibe the current content to be delivered soon.

Creates a fruitful teaching – learning environment in the class.

Presentation – The teacher presents new ideas & concepts to the student & explains them very well so that the students could learn them easily. Both the teacher & the students should participate actively in the lesson. The teacher should use the required teaching aids like model, charts, activities, film, supported by discussion & explanation to let the students comprehend the topic well. The teacher should use sound communication, questioning, explanation, reinforcement, stimuli variation skills & other skills of teaching. He should also develop black board summary alongside. The whole presentation should be made interactive, interesting, comprehensive & joyful.

Comparison / Association – Following are done at this step:

Students are given examples which they have to observe carefully & compare with other sets of examples & facts.

Students are made to relate the concepts discussed with their daily lives or with the contents they have learned in other subjects.

Teachers are also associate the contents with their daily life situations or correlate them with other topics or subjects.

A few definitions or generalizations are induced from the students.

Teachers use relevant examples explicitly to explain main ideas.

Generalization – The chief aim of any lesson is to get the students generalize the concepts. This involves reflective thinking on the part of the learners. The teacher puts new & alternate questions & examples to help students arrive at answers, conclusions, & generalizations on their own. The teacher with appropriate questions can draw out various scientific principles, conclusions & formulas. The students are made to find the solutions of related problems of their own. Thus the students get new knowledge to apply in new situation.

Application – The students are encouraged to apply the newly acquired concepts, rules, formulas, laws, etc. in their day to day life situations. The teacher also tests the validity of the generalizations arrived at by the students. When the pupils apply this acquired knowledge then it stays with them permanent.

Recapitulation – This is the final step in which the teacher summarizes the complete lesson & tests students understanding & comprehension power by putting some suitable direct & indirect questions to them. The students may be evaluated through written or oral test, objective or subjective test or by performance test depending on the learning experiences given.