Lesson Plans

Lesson plans are guidelines which provide a direction to our work with children. A well thought out lesson plan for a week would reflect the flow of activities for each day. Choosing the lesson plan theme itself requires a lot of thinking. Have I let the children guide me while choosing a theme? What are the questions being asked by children? What are the observations being shared by them? What are the observations that I have made about my children? What is it that they share during the Circle time? Do I need to address certain learning needs or group issues? Is there a need to create linkages between the last week's theme and the theme for the next week?

The session on' What is Inclusion' in our weekly Friday meeting left me wondering about the need to sensitise children about inclusion in classrooms. Also how can it be facilitated thoughtfully and sensitively. It further led me to think whether 'Inclusion' could be a theme that could be taken up with the children. Beginning with inclusion within me, inclusion in the environment, inclusion in language, Maths, Science, Art, Music, Sports, elements within me, emotions and so much more. I could create a lesson plan and sensitively facilitate inclusion in my classroom.

The aim of my lesson plan would be - relating to what is inclusion and creating sensitivity about inclusion around me. Next step would be to work on the lesson plan.

The aims of a lesson plan should be few, lesson plan should be simple and a lot of focus should be on how we would create a context for our theme. What are the experiences we would provide to our children and how would we bring the conceptual clarity.

Some points to be kept in mind while working on a lesson plan:

* Is is integrated?

* Are we looking at individual levels?

* Are we giving challenges? /Taking children forward

* Is there scope for exploration?

* Is our research thorough?

Reflecting on the lesson plan after its implementation helps in understanding what is it that I have achieved with my children through this lesson plan. It helps in identifying the gaps and planning for the next week.