LESSON PLAN GUIDELINE

SCHOOL: DATE:
NAME: STUDENT NUMBER:

1. Lesson topic
Subject:
Grade:
Previous lesson topic:
Lesson topic:
Next lesson topic:

2. Content
Give a summary of the content that is important for the lesson you are going teach. You can use a
concept map, flow diagram, or paragraphs, depending on your content.

3. Objective and aims

Objective(s) of the lesson:
Objective(s) can be from the cognitive, psychomotor, and/or affective domains.
When formulating objectives, remember they must be SMART, i.e., the objectives must be:
• Specific (use ONE action verb per objective)
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Timed
Subject specific aims or skills to be addressed in the lesson (from your CAPS document):
Select the subject specific aims or skills from the CAPS document. These aims and/or skills must speak
to the objectives.
General aims to be addressed in the lesson (make a tick next to the relevant aim):
Select the General aims that you wish to address in the lesson. Select one or two, but not more. Make
sure that they are aligned to both the objectives and the teaching strategies.
(a) identify and solve problems
(b) engage in critical and creative thinking
(c) communicate effectively using visual, symbolic and/or language skills in various modes
(d) work effectively as individuals and with others as members of a team
(e) collect, analyse, organise and critically evaluate information
(f) use science and technology effectively and critically showing responsibility towards the
environment and the health of others
(g) demonstrate an understanding of the world as a set of related systems

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 4. Knowledge, skills, and values
Key Questions
What are the most
important questions that
learners should be able to
answer at the end of the
lesson?
Skills
What should learners be
able to do at the end of the
lesson?
Values
What do you want learners
to feel / value / appreciate at
the end of the lesson?

5. Classroom context analysis

Discuss the contextual factors that will influence the lesson.

Classroom factors:
Class size, seating arrangement, available resources in the classroom (OHP, white board, number of
textbooks etc.) and in the school (photocopy machine), as well as the availability of electricity (load
shedding?) and Wi-Fi will influence your lesson planning and your lesson presentation.

Learner factors:
Discuss factors that relate to learner diversity and explain how you will address these factors.
When planning a lesson, you must take your learners’ diversity into account. Learner diversity in terms
of culture, mother tongue language, socio-economic background, cognitive development, prior
knowledge etc. all must be considered so that you can make sure that all learners are included and
accommodate in the lesson.

Make sure to also pay attention to barriers to learning that learners might experience.
Discuss possible barriers to learning experienced by learner(s) , e.g., independent reading, writing,
discipline disruptive behaviour, inattention, impulsivity – briefly explain the behaviour that possibly
disrupts the learners’ learning.
Explain how you plan to support / address the barriers listed above, e.g., a learner with severe
disruptive behaviour is placed at the front of the class. The teacher often stands close to learner and
focuses learner on the task; adapt the concluding activity to support a particular learner, e.g., visual
mind-map instead of written paragraphs.

Also consider your learners in relation to the content.

Discuss your learners in relation to the content. Refer to learners’ prior knowledge on the topic, possible
misconceptions that learners might have, possible difficulties that learners might have with the content.
Think about the subject vocabulary and terminology that they will need during this lesson. Also think of
examples that you can use to help them to understand better.

Also comment on factors such as learner discipline, classroom culture, learning culture.

For more information on contextual factors and how they affect teaching and learning, see Jacobs,
Vakalisa and Gawe (2014:96-126)

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 6. Teaching strategy and media
Based on your analysis of the content, key questions, skills and value s and the contextual factors, select a
teaching strategy will be suitable to use in this lesson to achieve the objectives. Remember that the
teaching strategy must suit the content, the learners, and the classroom context. Explain how you are
going to use the strategy (including the various methods and techniques) that you have selected for this
lesson. Substantiate how this teaching strategy (including methods and techniques) will assist learners to
develop the knowledge, skills, and values to achieve the lesson obj ectives.

Also plan what media you will use in the lesson. The media must support the learners’ learning and their
achievement of the objectives. The media must also be at the appropriate developmental level of the
learners. Where applicable, make sure that the media is adapted to accommodate learners’ needs
mentioned under the contextual factors. Explain how you are going to use the media that you have
selected for this lesson. Substantiate how this media will assist learners to develop the knowledge, skills,
and values to achieve the lesson objectives.

For more information on the teaching strategies, see Killen (2015).

7. Teaching and learning activities of the lesson

Sequence the teaching and learning activities in a series of lesson steps so that learners can develop the
knowledge and / or skills and / or values in a logical manner.

Make sure to name the lesson step, to provide a detailed description of what will be done in that lesson
step (what the learners and the teacher must do), and how much time you plan to spend on each lesson
step.

Lesson step Description of lesson step Pacing

1. Introduction Plan an introduction that adheres to the following criteria. 5 minutes

An introduction should
• provide interest and motivation to the learners to
stimulate learning;
• focus learners' attention on the lesson and its objectives
(purposes);
• be convincing so that learners will benefit from the
lesson;
• be “catchy”;
• should link to the prior knowledge and / or previous
lesson; and
• should lead into the presentation of the new knowledge
to be presented in the body of the lesson.

2. Body of the lesson

2.1 (Add more rows depending on your number of steps)

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 3. Conclusion Show how stated objectives are realised by summarising the
main points. The concluding activity should align to the lesson
objective(s).

8. Assessment

8.1. Formative assessment activity

Complete the following table for the formative assessment activity that you plan to use in the lesson:

Teaching and Assessment Assessment Assessment Assessment Assessment Assessment

learning topic task purpose approach method instrument tool
(Form of
assessment)

For more information on how to complete this table, please consult Du Toit, Louw and Jacobs (2016:119 -
132) as well as SAQA (2001,15 - 38)

Include the assessment activity that you will complete with the learners. Remember, the activity must
address your objective, so if you use a textbook, you need to adjust the activity. Attach the activity
(assessment instrument and the assessment tool) to the lesson plan!

8.2. Questioning
Remember that questioning is also a form of formative assessment that happens continuously during the
lesson. Include questions (with the expected answers) that you will ask during the lesson to formatively
assess the learners’ understanding. If you included questions in one of the lesson steps (Teaching and
learning activities of the lesson) please indicate it here. Tell the lecturer where to look!

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 9. Reflection on lesson planning

a. Alignment
Your lesson plan should be constructively aligned. That means that the objectives, content, learning
activities and assessment should all be aligned. You can’t assess something that you haven’t taught! To
make sure that your lesson is aligned, answer the following questions. If you can’t answer them
successfully, your lesson plan is not aligned, and you need to go back and fix it.

• What should learners be able to demonstrate at the end of a learning experience? (refer to your
objectives (Section 3) and key questions, skills, and values (Section 4))
• Which most suitable teaching and learning activities will enable learner engagement to attain the
learning objectives? (refer to the teaching strategies (Section 6) and teaching and learning
activities (Section 7))
• How will the successful attainment of the learning objectives be determined? (refer to the
assessment activities (Section 8))

For more information on constructive alignment, refer to Du Toit, Louw and Jacobs (2016:131)

b. Teacher-learner participation
Plot an “X” on the diagram below to show how you envisage the teacher-learner participation of your
lesson. By referring to Bernstein’s model of classification (How specialised is time, text and space?) and
framing (Who is in control of the selection, sequencing, pacing, evaluation and hierarchical rules?),
SUBSTANTIATE why you have plotted the cross where you did.
Teacher- centred Learner- centred

For more information on classification (the specialisation of time, text, and space) and framing (who is on
control of the selection, sequencing, pacing and evaluation and hierarchical rules) refer to Hoadley and
Jansen (2014:124-136)

10. Reflection on lesson presentation

Try to answer the following questions as honestly as possible :

• What have I done well?

• What were the challenges experienced – why?
• How could the challenge(s) be addressed?
• What would I do differently next time?

For more information on reflection, refer to Killen (2015:119-133) and Rusznyak (2022).

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Sources:

Anderson, L.W. and Krathwohl, D.R., 2001. A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A
revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives: complete edition . Addison Wesley
Longman, Inc.
Du Toit, E., Louw, L.P. and Jacobs, L. eds., 2016. Help, I'm a Student Teacher!: Skills Development for
Teaching Practice. Van Schaik.
Hoadley, U. and Jansen, J.D., 2014. Curriculum: Organizing knowledge for the classroom. 3rd ed.
Oxford University Press Southern Africa.
Jacobs, M., Vakalisa, N.C.G. and Gawe, N. eds., 2014. Teaching-learning dynamics. Pearson Education
South Africa.
Killen, R., 2015. Teaching strategies for quality teaching and learning. 2nd ed. Juta and Company Ltd.
Krathwohl D, R., 2002. A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy: An Overview, Theory into Practice, 41:4,
212-218, DOI: 10.1207/s15430421tip4104_2
Rusznyak, L. and Walton, E., 2011. Lesson planning guidelines for student teachers: A scaffold for the
development of pedagogical content knowledge. Education as change, 15(2), pp.271-285.
Rusznyak, L., 2022. Using Semantic Pathways to Reveal the" Depth" of Pre -Service Teachers'
Reflections. Education as Change, 26(1), pp.1-24.

The South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). 2001. Criteria and Guidelines for Assessment of
NQF Registered Unit standards and Qualifications. Pretoria. South Africa.

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