Planning Issues
‘THINKING IT THROUGH’
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.
-
Selecting
appropriate objectives/outcomes
-
Examples
of history objectives
-
"Tracking
it through"
-
Assessing
the extent to which objectives have been achieved
Some exemplar lesson plans
-
Battle
of Bosworth Field
-
Understanding
of Evidence
-
Chronology
-
Henry
VIII
-
Tudor
Buildings
Further
Reading
Back to
planning
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to History PGCE
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