Lesson Planning and Assessment

This week’s lecture and Tutorial for EDFD546 have focused on the importance of lesson planning and the need for effective assessment. This is in line with the requirements of Australian Standards for Professional Teachers, especially the following standards seen below which have been listed together with their specific requirements for graduate level teachers:-

·         Standard 2. Know the content and how to teach it

-          Focus area 2.1 - Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area:

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concepts, substance and structure of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area.

-          Focus area 2.2 - Content selection and organisation:

Organise content into an effective learning and teaching sequence

-          Focus area 2.3 - Curriculum, assessment and reporting:

Use curriculum, assessment and reporting knowledge to design learning sequences and lesson plans

·         Standard 3. Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning

-          Focus area 3.2 - Plan, structure and sequence learning programs:

Plan lesson sequences using knowledge of student learning, content and effective teaching strategies.

·         Standard 5. Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning

-          Focus area 5.1 - Assess student learning:

Demonstrate understanding of assessment strategies, including informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and summative approaches to assess student learning.

As pre-service teachers, learning effective lesson planning strategies is of vital importance. Lesson planning is essential in our role as teachers in order for us to not just make certain our required syllabus content is being covered and the required teaching standards are being met. It means we can plan for not only informative but engaging and authentic learning experiences which cater to our students’ varying learning needs. It helps us make certain we employ the most relevant and effective teaching and learning strategies appropriate to the type of learning experience we want to create for our students. It assures we structure our allocated lesson time appropriately to the type of learning we wish to occur.

Assessment is a vital part of our role as teachers. It can assist us in gaging where our students are at in their learning journey, what they already know, what gaps there are in their knowledge, and what our students still need to learn. Informal assessment allows teachers to gage student knowledge throughout the learning process, both prior to, during and following the introduction of new subject matter. The results of formal assessment provide students with an indicator of their understanding of any given topic and allows for teachers to provide important critical feedback with helpful strategies to improve student learning. Most importantly, assessment allows us to know whether we are effectively conveying the required syllabus content knowledge and employing the best possible teaching and learning strategies to maximise the learning potential of each of our students.

I am very thankful for this week’s formal introduction to the very vital importance of planning and assessment. Although I did have some prior knowledge in this subject area, there are always new ways of looking at and new perspectives and approaches to take into account when considering lesson planning and assessment. As with any concepts associated with teaching and learning, this is why our own ongoing life-long learning as teachers is essential to us being the most relevant and effective educators we can be.