Thinking it through - Terry Haydn

Why there is sometimes a problem

These materials seek to address the difficulties, which many trainee history teachers experience in ‘thinking through’ their lesson planning from the initial statement of an objective or outcome right through to the confirmation that all, or most, of the pupils have achieved the intended outcome.

At first sight this might seem straightforward, even obvious, but the experiences of tutors, mentors and indeed HMI in their recent round of inspections has shown that this is a recurrent and prevailing problem throughout the country. At their worst lesson plans have one, vague statement of content or objectives which have little connection to the rest of the lesson plan or to what actually takes place. The lack of clarity about what the lesson is intending to achieve leads to a lack of emphasis and clarity of explanation of the key points of the lesson. Furthermore, any evaluation of what the pupils may have gained from the lesson is equally flawed by the vagueness of the planning.

The problems are fourfold. Difficulties exist in

the articulation of precise and varied objectives;
the linking of an objective or outcome to specific phases and tasks within the lesson;
the assessment of whether an objective or outcome has been achieved and
planning either to remedy any limited achievement or to reinforce the learning that has taken place.

In other words, there is a need for the trainee teacher to ‘think it through’, addressing all these stages.

‘Thinking it through’ will greatly improve the quality of the learning you provide. It will help the emphasis and focus of your lessons, the clarity of your explanations, the sharpness of your lesson conclusions, the validity of your formative assessment and the appropriateness of your responses to that formative assessment. Follow the links below to work through the materials.

Some exemplar lesson plans