Many teachers begin with a vague notion of the lesson’s concept and jump straight into selecting activities. However, a well-designed lesson plan should start with the goals: what you want the students to know when you finish. Like any goals, these must be explicit and assessable. Rather than “Students will understand decimals and percent,” try “Students will demonstrate an understanding of adding decimals and finding a percentage of the total 85 percent of the time.”
It may seem counterintuitive to decide how to test students’ learning before you figure out how to teach the concepts, but the format of the assessment drives the activities selection and the format of practicing. If you expect to use a task-based assessment for your decimals and percent lesson, such as creating a budget for a class party, then a worksheet of numeric equations doesn’t allow learners to practice what they will be performing.
This is the easiest point at which to go astray. As you select activities for your lesson, link them directly to a specific lesson objective. If you can’t find a connection, save the activity for when you have a few minutes of unexpected time, or use it during the enrichment part of the lesson. Always keep the finish line -- the goals and assessment -- in sight as you plan. This is also the stage at which you decide what materials, such as manipulatives, you need to complete the activities.
As you select activities, remember that students must be engaged to be learning, so start with a “hook” to draw them in. In her presentations to teachers, Madeline Hunter called this the “anticipatory set.” Leading questions, games, hypothetical discussions, even field trips or reflective journal writing bring the students into the lesson by giving them a reason to want to know more. This is a great time to head off that old “When will I ever need to know this?” by showing them a practical application right at the start. For example, start your decimals and percent lesson by asking small groups to brainstorm a list of when they've seen decimals or percents in the past 24 hours.
Check frequently to make certain your activities and presentation strategies are moving toward the objectives, rather than simply entertaining. Presenting concepts in multiple modalities provides several opportunities to master the materials as students see, hear and interact with concepts. Using real-life examples also assists with comprehension, and hands-on activities, rather than teacher talk, keeps students actively engaged.
Don't ask students to use new concepts independently until they master the objectives, because only perfect, or correct, practice makes perfect. Allowing students to work together on authentic applications not only provides additional rehearsal for assessment but also gives valuable practice in collaboration. For the fractions and percent lesson, for example, provide the group with catalogs and sales flyers, along with a spending limit, and let them create a new school wardrobe, adding the prices and calculating sales tax and shipping costs. Only when you are sure that students fully comprehend the concepts should you administer your assessment tool.
The final part of planning a basic math lesson is to decide how you will review and reteach any areas that the assessment shows were not mastered. Now is also the time for independent practice, either in class or as homework, when you are confident that the practice will be reinforcing correct ideas instead of confusion.