Lesson planning: If you could only remember three things
Goal. Social. Emotional
We all want our students to be motivated, enjoy the learning, and be fully engaged in the tasks. However, planning an engaging lesson is not easy. Every student is different. A learning task that engages one student can be too difficult for another.
It can be very time-consuming to plan an engaging lesson. There are so many details to think about! And even when you have planned a potentially good lesson, remembering all the details can also be challenging.
Have you tried spending the whole night planning an engaging lesson? You wanted to include every student, so you included many details. Then, when you enacted the lesson, you forgot many steps. And as such, the students were not engaged.
Let’s be realistic. We have limited working memory. When the lesson plan has so many details, we cannot remember them all. Therefore, instead of having many details, we should only focus on a few must-haves. Or lesson design principles.
I have three “lesson design principles.” First, the task must have a clear, achievable, yet challenging goal. Second, the task must allow students to work together (Social). Lastly, students must believe they can attain the goal (Emotional).
With these three design principles, boring tasks could become exciting, and difficult tasks may also become “doable.”
Why are they so important?
So why do I think those three principles are so important?
It is not easy to learn any new sports. It is not like we tell them how to do it, and they can do it. If it is so easy, world-class athletes do not need to practice six hours a day, every day.
When our students learn a new sport, they will make mistakes. And they will make a lot of them! If they hardly play any sports, they will make even more mistakes. And when they see others improving faster than they are, they feel lousy.
Our students are only human. Imagine that you just got back your mathematics test paper. You failed by five marks. You were shocked because you thought you had practised a lot. Then, the teacher praised five classmates for getting full marks.
How would you feel? Would you still be motivated to work hard on your mathematics assignment?
Learning is emotional. If we lack confidence, we will not persevere. Learning is also social. If we are not good at the sport, we tend to look at people who have similar abilities. Then we unconsciously follow what they do.
That is why it is so important to build their confidence. Once they are confident, they will do what they think is right. And they will not follow others. For instance, they will persevere, even when others have given up.
Because learning is social, this good work ethic will spread.
Recently, I was teaching a volleyball class. It was the seventh lesson, and I thought it was time to stretch the students. I gave them a goal: to do two-touch (one bump and one set) for at least one complete rally.
As I planned the lesson, I thought, “How difficult can it be?” Having taught them for six lessons, I knew many of them could easily do a two-touch using the set. In that lesson, I merely replaced one of the touches with the bump.
However, the students quickly realised the goal was difficult to achieve! Nobody could accurately bump the ball to their partners. As such, they became frustrated. After three minutes, many students started to give up.
I looked back at the three must-haves. The goal was clear. But evidently, it was too challenging. I also saw the students helping one another. Obviously, they have teamwork. What made them want to give up was their lack of self-belief.
As such, I decided to work on their beliefs. I gathered the class and gave a pep talk.
I said, “It is obvious many of you have given up trying. But look at the time. How long have we tried? I believe it was only five minutes. And you give up? The PE lesson is one hour. What makes you so sure you will not get it in the end?”
To further convince them, I shared a story of a student who did badly in secondary one. But because everyone believed in him, he believed in himself. He kept practising, no matter how many mistakes he made. Eventually, he did very well in the GCE ‘O’ Levels.
After the pep talk, I gave them a few minutes to discuss a “training plan”. They could modify the task to make it more achievable. But they must try their best to achieve the goal.
Surprisingly, everyone was engaged for the next forty minutes. Even during water breaks, everyone helped each other. At the end of the lesson, only one-third of the class achieved the goal. But they were happy because they never gave up!
“All learning is social and emotional.”
— (Knezović, 2020)
We can never be sure our plan will work, but we can always inspire them to try. The three must-haves not only helped me plan better lessons, but they also engaged students whenever tasks were too boring or difficult.
Many studies have shown that clear and achievable goals enhance motivation. The clearer the goal, the more focused we are. And if we set a goal that matches our abilities, we are more likely to be motivated.
Moreover, many motivation theories have always taught us that learning is social and emotional. In the next lesson, observe students’ behaviours. You will likely notice that they learn from one another.
If one student is motivated, the rest of the group will also be motivated. If one student is discussing, the rest of the group will also discuss. And if one student is helpful, the students around him or her will also want to help.
In my volleyball lesson, I believe my pep talk only motivated half the class. However, because half the class decided to persevere, the students around them were also influenced.
Hence, never ignore the social and emotional aspects of the class. At the start, only some students will help. But if you keep affirming those who help and keep reminding them to help, the behaviour will spread.
Putting the three principles into action
Let’s try to use the three design principles in two examples.
Imagine you were teaching a basketball lesson. You wanted to teach chest pass because not every student could do it effectively.
But for some students, chest passes could be boring. As such, you needed to design a task that meaningfully challenges them. To engage every student, try following the three design principles.
First, set a clear, achievable, yet challenging goal. Since everyone is different, the goal has to be flexible. For example, the students must make ten successful passes at a distance which they could not do before.
Having a goal may still not motivate them. They need a safe environment. And they need to feel a sense of belonging. As such, get them to work as a team to meet the learning goal.
Since learning is social, make sure they learn how to work together. Observe the class: Are they helping their friends? Are they encouraging? If you are not satisfied, address the issue. Tell them how everyone feels anxious about learning.
Lastly, get the students to believe in themselves. For instance, you can say, “I know it is not easy to pass at a distance you have never passed before. But I believe you can, and you must believe in yourself!”
Let’s use the principles in another example — A football lesson.
Imagine you are a strong believer in the game-based approach. You believe that students must first develop an appreciation of the game. And once that happens, they will be motivated to know more.
However, starting the lesson with a football game can be challenging. Many students have never used their legs to play any sports before. Asking them to play a game of football can be very stressful.
Following the three principles can reduce their anxieties.
First, your game must have a goal. For example, the goal can be to make three passes in a 3v1 situation. For students who find it easy, allow flexibility. Tell them to make the goal more challenging when they attain the goal.
Again, emphasise teamwork. All students must learn to understand the stress their friends are feeling. They must understand that many of their classmates are not used to playing with their feet.
If the practice keeps breaking down, even the defenders must learn to help. For example, they can act as “passive defenders”. When they see their teammates have better control, they can be more aggressive.
The students must know that the purpose of any drill is to improve. If some of them hardly touch the ball, they can never improve. If this carries on, the strong will become stronger, and the weak will become weaker.
Lastly, do not forget to make them believe in themselves. And they must believe in their friends. I feel the emotional aspect of any lesson is hardly talked about. But that is probably the most important.
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.”
― Henry Ford
If you do not think you can, they will not try. And mistakes further reinforce that belief. As such, do not let the students have any negative thoughts about themselves. Keep affirming their effort. And keep telling them to believe in themselves.
Regularly observe the whole class. Are they motivated? Are they working as a team? If some are not, gather the class. Then, talk to them. Convince them that they MUST believe in themselves and work as a team.
Conclusion
I always wonder why, in PE lessons, students are not motivated to play a basketball game. But when they are in an inter-class basketball competition, they would be super motivated!
Why are they motivated in one setting, but not in another?
In the basketball competition, there were no fanciful tasks, differentiated instruction (DI), or music — just a normal 3v3 basketball game. And they are motivated?
That is because in the inter-class competition, there was a clear goal; the students wanted to work together to win the match (Social), and they really wanted to win (Emotional)!
Think of a lesson that you do not feel good about. Then, ask yourself these three questions: “Was the learning goal clear, achievable, yet challenging?”, “Did I ask them to work as a team to achieve the goal?”, and “Do they believe they can?”
Then, think of a lesson that you felt good about. Then, ask yourself the same three questions. I believe you would agree to at least two of the three.
We have limited working memory. As such, let’s not blame ourselves if we cannot remember a detailed lesson plan. Many teachers also struggled with this! The best advice I received as a teacher was to keep our lesson plan simple. And believe we can!
