The Structure Of A Mini-Lesson

 

Let's face it.  Some days your class gets shortened due to an assembly, a fire drill, or you want to use a mini lesson so your students have more time to work on the activity you have planned.  You might be scheduling a math workshop today or you might use the mini lesson as a way of chunking the topic or concept.  For maximum benefit, it is important to create a structured mini lesson.

When you use a structured mini lesson, you have everything you need to make it relatable to your students so they learn better.  Each mini lesson should consist of four parts.  

The first part is the connection.  This is where you take time to connect the material in this lesson with what they have learned previously, seen, or experienced.  In other words, you are taking time to activate prior knowledge so they see a connection between the new material and previously learned topics or concepts.  This section is not going to take very long, perhaps a minute or two to set the stage.

The second part is the teaching point  or the main point of the lesson. This is where you as the teacher models or uses thinking aloud, to model the strategy or concept you want the students to learn.  The teacher might use trigger sentences such as "Notice how......." or "Please pay attention to......".  This would be the "I do" part of a lesson.  In other words, this is where the teacher shows the students. If you have a substitute and still want to do the mini lesson or want to change things up, you can use a video clip of yourself or someone else teaching that specific skill.  The nice thing about the videos is students can rewatch any part they need to see again. They can also watch them at home should they need extra help and their parents can see what is happening in class.

The third part is where the students try it in what is referred to as active engagement.  This is the brief guided practice part of the lesson and shouldn't take very long, perhaps 5 minutes. This is an opportunity for the teacher to determine who understood it and who needs a bit more work.  In this section, the students might try out what they just learned, or they might talk about how they would do something.  Students might restate the lesson or steps shown, or they might have a partner talk to review what was taught. 

The final stage is where teachers prepare students to apply what they learned to individual practice. It is the closing part of the lesson.  This shouldn't last more than a minute or two.    So the mini lesson has an opening, the lesson, a quick practice, and a closing.  It is important to plan what goes in each section so your lesson is complete.

For the best results, limit the amount of student talk because this is just a short lesson. In the opening, rather than asking questions, use the KWL, anticipation guide, or word splashes to remind them of what they learned previously.  Rather than over explaining during the lesson, repeat the important teaching point throughout the mini lesson. Make sure you use think aloud, modeling, or just show them so they get the point.

In addition, always match the activity with the teaching point so it is targeted.  Always, use the contexts students are used to when talking about problem solving. You want to spend time on the guided element so you can work one on one with the students who need it most.  When you plan for you mini-lessons set up a short lesson with each section and fill in what you will do for the opening, teaching point, active engagement and closing with notes of how you want to talk about each area to get you started.  

So mini-lessons are easy to set up, have four sections, and are easy to plan.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.