Anatomy of a Lesson

The new principal is giving very detailed information on exactly what he wants to the point, he even covered the anatomy of a lesson, something I haven't seen since my teacher training days.

I have no idea why he chose the version he did but it was one that broke things down as far as time but he did.  The packet he gave us also listed activities for each stage but no details on how to use them in math and some seemed rather inappropriate.

The one he chose stated the lesson should be 20% devoted to assessment and activating prior knowledge or students show they know and understand the objective of the lesson.  This might include a warm-up, play give one - get one, or other activity.  In order to have my students een check out the objective, I write it on the board as an "I can" statement and have them write it in their notebooks so it is there.

Then another 20% should be devoted to teacher input which is where the teacher provides direct instruction, differentiates instruction, scaffolds instruction, graphic organizer, or other type of instruction.  This is the part where student manipulate the information given into some form.

Following this 45% of the lesson is where the students actually manipulate the material provided by the teacher through think-pair-share, gallery walks, written or verbal responses, etc. It is well known that students need to a way to process the information and practice so they develop better understanding.

The final 15% is when the teacher identifies student success or where they show they know the material through the use of tests, quizzes, exit tickets, etc.  This is not what I learned when I was back in teachers training.

I was taught you have some sort of bell ringer or warm-up for the first five to ten minutes so students immediately started working while the teacher greets students, takes roll, does lunch count and any other house keeping chores.  The next stage depended on where you were in the process.  It might be an exploratory activity to activate prior knowledge while helping to connect to the new topic.  It might be a lecture or something similar followed by guided practice before letting them practice individually. At some point, it would be time to assess if they learned it.

So now I'm trying to reconcile the principals idea of what a lesson should be with what I've learned over the years. I hope to reach a point where I'm able to balance what I know works with what he wants.

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.