There are many ways to write a lesson plan. Some instructional designers develop their plans from scratch, while others borrow contents from other plans. Some carefully write out all the details for their lesson, while others use a brief outline. Your approach to writing your lesson plans will depend on these factors:

• Subject matter expertise in the topic you are teaching
• Your experience in delivering this training,
• The style of teaching, and
• The learner profile of your class.

There is no single formula for writing lesson plans, so we have listed one of the most generic one for you.

Identify the Learning Outcome(s)

When creating lesson plans, always keep your destination in mind. Where do you want your learners to end up? If the lessons are very long, consider how to link those daily learning outcomes to the final learning outcome. Ask yourself, how will each activity prepare the learners in achieving the learning outcomes, and use them at the beginning of each topic to set the benchmark:

Your learning outcomes should be SMART as well!

Sequence Your Learning Outcome(s)

While sequencing your learning outcome(s), consider how each one builds onto another. How might one learning outcome prepare the learner for learning another?

Also, think about your learners’ prior learning based on their profiles. Given the information they might already have, which learning outcome would be best learnt at which point? Do we stack the lessons based on ‘easy to difficult’ sequences or based on ‘real-life’ sequences?

Finally, also determine how your sequencing will help the learner prepare for their assessment (if applicable).

Ascertain the Duration for Your Learning Outcome(s)

While sequencing your learning outcomes, be mindful of the amount of time allocated for each lesson(s). Based on the overall learning outcome for the entire lesson, determine how much time you will need to spend addressing each topic. Keep in mind that a single lesson might address only one or two learning outcome(s). Some of these goals will be easily met, while others will present a challenge for learners. You may decide to build in extra time to review concepts that are more challenging, and strengthen the recap component.

Try to be flexible, but remain within a reasonable time frame.

Develop Learning Activities to Meet Learning Outcome(s)

Once you've sequenced your lesson(s) and ascertain the duration for each learning outcome, the next step is to create learning activities that will help learners meet each learning outcome. Decide which learning activities are most relevant to your desired objectives. Take the time to revise existing learning activities and to create new ones that meet the needs of your lesson. You may also combine activities or eliminate some that seem less related to the final learning outcome.

Two questions that you should always keep in mind when constructing activities are: "What do my learners might already know that will help them in the activity and anchor their learning?” And, "What activities will best help the learners meet a desired learning outcome?”

Find out more here.

Check for Understanding

The final step is to make time for assessing learners' learning. This can be done through formative or summative assessment(s).

Intervention along the way can help you learn what learners are struggling with. Homeworks, quizzes and short writing exercises can be performed to assess your learners' progress. Instant messaging and e-mail exchanges are other effective means for gauging understanding.

Depending on what you learn from such evaluative assessment, you may need to revise your lesson plans.

Just as learning outcomes, you will need to create a sequence and time frame for your assessment activities. For effective delivery of your lessons, make sure you clearly demarcate and separate learning and assessment.

Have fun creating your lesson plans!

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