Enhancing Lesson Plans Found Online, Essay Example

Three things a teacher must include in his or her lesson plan are; demographics, culture, and stimulation. These are the bench marks of education.

Educators realized that when demographics and culture, are not included in the lesson plan, the teacher is not reaching all the students. There are many children living in America who have never seen snow or ridden in an underground public transportation. There are students from other countries and culture who do not understand the American culture and find themselves at a disadvantage when demographics and culture are not considered. Consequently, educators got together and decided that the curriculum must include demographics and culture. From there teacher were encouraged to include these factors in their lesson plan.

“Springtime” This is a lesson plan for Pre-K, taken from scholastic.com. The teacher introduces the book to students to find out how much they can orally stretch their imagination by just looking at the illustrations on the cover of the book. Mabel Segan (1988) says: “Good illustrations can contribute to the overall development of the child by stimulating his imagination, arousing his perception, developing his potential. Art can help a young child to discover his own identity and cultural heritage.” Children could also be taken for a walk, look and listen to the return of spring; the singing of the birds and the return of the butterflies. The winter chart should have already been in place. With their prior knowledge, they would be able to compare and contrast spring and winter.

The second lesson plan seems a little tedious for kindergarten, even for grade one. The rhyming words should follow a pattern; remember even though children might be the same age, they do not comprehend at the same level. It would be more interesting if they were placed in sentences, and if they ended with the same letters. “Boat” and “coat” are a good example. This is a kindergarten class and this is their introduction to rhyming words.

The third lesson plan is rather interesting, it is incomplete. It has no objective, yet the stimulation is obvious. The children will be talking about this lesson maybe for years. It is a lesson that stimulates the students; they do not even realize that they are learning. This is more fun than recess; especially if they get a chance to pup those balloons. This simple lesson can go on all afternoon or morning. Wetzel (2012) say:

Project Based Learning – student learning benefits both academically and personally from their involvement in project based learning. Student participation in actual real-world learning activities encourages them to do their best work and see the relevance of science and math in their daily lives.

The website, Instructional Strategies online says there are many forms of simulations. Games, role-play, or activities that acts as metaphor, are types of elements that stimulations can be produced. Anything can be used to produced stimulation as long as the stimulant has context. “The primary distinctions between a game and a “sim” are the nonlinear nature and the controlled ambiguity. Students must make decisions within its context.” The goal of using stimulants is not to win, but to make sure that students gain knowledge and understanding.

Gone are the days when knowledge was just repetition. Teaching and the attainment of education has changed; and educators are using what teachers of the nineteen century would call abominable.. Unless teachers are willing to apply demographics, culture, and stimulation to their lesson plans, they will realize that their classrooms are dull and unproductive.

Work Cited

Teaching strategies Online. (n.d.) web. 4 April, 2010

Wetzel, David R. “Teaching Science and Math: Resources and Strategies for K-12 Science and Math Teachers” 4 April, 2010. web.4 April, 2012

Segun, Mabel. “The Importance of Illustrations in Children’s Books” In Illustrating for Children. Ibadan: Clan, 1988. P.26. Print