Design Proposal: Part 2 - Lesson

Design Proposal Part 2: Lesson

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Please open your copy of the Design Guide, and turn your attention to Part 2: Lesson Links to an external site.. Now that you’ve outlined important foundational information related to your lesson within the Lesson Description, it is time to create a draft plan of the lesson itself.

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As you’ll remember from Modules 3, we reviewed Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction and the WIPPEA framework (Warm-Up, Introduction, Presentation, Practice, Evaluation, and Application) and for lesson plan design. The Lesson section of the Design Guide provides guiding prompts for each of the sections below. In Module 5, you’ll use this lesson plan to create a prototype lesson with the needed educational resources that adult basic education instructors can use with their learners.

Learning Objectives

In Module 2, we reviewed how to write ABCD learning objectives that mapped back to the standards of learning for adult basic education. As was covered in Modules 2 and 3, learning objectives are written statements of what you expect learners should be able to do after completing the lesson. Carefully articulated learning objectives will guide you on what to include in the lesson.

In this space on you Design Proposal, list the lesson learning objectives that you’ll use to address the standards you identified in previous section. Learning objectives are not just a list of topics, but describe knowledge, skills, and attitudes learners should develop by completing the lesson. Each objective should be specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic. For our deliverables on this project, a guideline is to have no more than 3 learning objectives per lesson.

Lesson Topics

As covered in Module 2 of the course, the lesson topic list informs the learner about what is covered in the lesson. These topics are context and content specific and ground the lesson in subject matter that is associated with the subject and educational standard have you chosen. The topic area will help to frame your lesson, and should be relevant to your adult learners. When selecting a lesson topic, think about your learners, and what real-world topics would be interesting and relevant to them. Provide a list of topics for the lesson as a bulleted list.

Context Summary

The context summary should frame how the lesson relates to the field of study and the academic curriculum of their program. Write a short paragraph or two that provides context for the content of the lesson.

Relevance to Practice

Write a short paragraph or two reinforcing the importance of key issues addressed in the lesson, the relevance to the learners, and professional practice. For example, “a, b, and c impact x, and are relevant because …”

Key Terms and Concepts

Provide an alphabetical list of the major terms and concepts that will be discussed in the lesson. Include definitions of terms that are:

Important to achievement of the learning objectives
Unfamiliar to learners who might not have previous knowledge about the topic of discussion

Instructional Strategies and Activities

Now that you have outlined important foundational information related to your lesson, it is time to create a draft plan of the lesson itself (i.e. the instructional strategies and activities the instructor will implement within the lesson). As you’ll remember from Modules 3, we reviewed Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction and the WIPPEA lesson framework (Warm-Up, Introduction, Presentation, Practice, Assessment, and Application) for guidance on lesson design. The components of this framework are outlined below, and in Part 2 of the Design Guide where guiding questions and prompts for each of the sections are offered to assist you as you design your instructional activities and strategies.

Using the outline below and the information covered in Module 3, create a written draft plan for your lesson that integrates the steps in the WIPPEA lesson framework and Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction. Be sure to keep all other aspects of the Design Guide in mind while working on this section to ensure that you are meeting the desired objectives, staying within your articulated lesson scope, and meeting the needs of your defined audience. This section should focus on the design and sequencing of activities and materials to guide and support your learners as they progress through the lesson to achieve the learning objectives.

The instructional activities you develop should focus on what the learner will be doing during the lesson. This is where you can let your creativity shine by designing activities that will engage your learners with the content. Your goal should be to avoid the instructional "shovel-ware" trap of presenting a lot of content, and then quizzing the learners for the extent of their recall of what was just presented.

While we all know from our experiences as students we can learn in a range of conditions, we believe that it is our role as designers to create experiences that offer the learner opportunities to deeply engage with the subject matter, with the instructor, and / or peers. This is your chance to get creative and to think long and hard about the instructional experiences you are designing for your learners. Think about how your learners’ histories might affect how they perceive and engage with your instruction. In addition to contemplating potential obstacles your learners may face, also think about ways to draw on the rich life experiences of your learners within the scenarios and exercises you develop. Our best advice as you prepare this section is to require the learners to do more than simply receive a presentation and take a quiz. This is your opportunity to get creative, and apply your knowledge and experience as designers!

For additional guidance, please refer to the following resources:

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education. (2011). Just Write! Guide Links to an external site.. Washington, DC: Author, p. 79-81.
Gigante, L. (2012), What do Common Core State Standards have to do with me and my classroom lesson? Links to an external site., presentation at CASAS National Summer Institute 2012

	Instructional Strategy and Activity Description
Warm-Up	Create an activity that reviews previously learned content to begin a new lesson. Create an activity to focus on the topic to be taught.
Introduction	Create an activity to focus learners’ attention on the new lesson. Describe the purpose by stating and writing the objective. Describe the content and benefits by relating the objective to learners' lives. Assess learners' prior knowledge of the new material by asking questions.
Presentation / Modeling / Demonstration	Create an activity to introduce new vocabulary. Introduce new information with a variety of strategies using visuals, description, explanation, written text. Check for level of learner understanding by asking questions, using polls, etc. (comprehension check)
Guided Practice	Model the activity or skill that learners are to practice the activity or skill. Monitor learner practice by moving around the room Provide an immediate feedback of the activity to learners.
Evaluation	Create an activity to assess each learner’s attainment of the objective. Assess using oral, written or applied performance assessments. Create an activity that helps learners reflect about their learning and/or the strategies used to teach the lesson.
Application, Closure, Connection	Provide an activity that requires learners to apply the learning beyond the lesson and connect to their own lives. Provide an activity to transfer the skills to a new situation.

Source: Gigante, L. (2012) Links to an external site.