THE PLANNING CONTINUUM
Scrivener describes a situation where the teacher has no real idea what he/she is going to do before a lesson starts and where, as a result, the lesson is created moment by moment with the teacher and the learners working with whatever is happening in the room.
He calls this a ´jungle path´ lesson.
This kind of lesson mirrors the
Dogme proposal.
DIFFERENT ALTERNATIVES
A BRIEF ´RUNNING ORDER´
This type of lesson is basic. You can make a note of specific language points or materials that will be used.
This plan has the advantage of being something you can do on the bus in to work or in the staff room five minutes before going into class.
FLOW CHART
Write your procedure notes in sketch boxes.
Show a variety of different possible running orders and routes through the stages by drawing lines between different boxes.
DREAM THROUGH THE LESSON
Don´t write anything.
Repeatedly imagine your way through the lesson.
Think up possible different routes that you might initiate -or that learners might.
See where each leads.
FOCUS ON THE ´CRITICAL LEARNING
MOMENTS´
Before class decide on the a number of specific key things you hope learners will gain from the class.
Decide what the ´critical learning moment´ will probably be. Think through each of these moments very carefully.
HALF-PLAN
Put your energy into planning how your class will do skills work.
Don´t plan any languages systems work.
In class, spontaneously work on language issues as they come up if they are ueful, interesting and appropriate for students.
WHERE´S THE MEAT?
List the main ´teaching points´ for your lesson.
List the inherent ´challenges´ in each of these for the students you´re working with.
Focus 95% of your planning on paying attention to this ´challenge´.
PLAN THE ´CRITICAL TEACHING MOMENTS´
Which instructions, explanations, feedback stages, etc will be ´critical moments´ for you.
Which may need to be prepared in detail in advance?
LESSON IMAGES
Draw sketch pictures of the class at several key moments in the lesson.
Reasons for not using a standard ´aims-plus-procedure´ plan.
You haven´t got the time;
The lesson methodology you wish to use cannot easily be chracterised using this format;
It doesn´t seem an economic or helpful way of describing a lesson´s way of working;
It might restict your freedom to respond to learners in class;
The lesson content and/or aim will emerge during the class rather than being pre-decided;
Your priority is to create a specific atmosphere, a certain type of rapport, etc;
You want to experiment or work on specific aspects of your teaching.
Subtopic
THE JUNGLE PATH
Create the lesson moment by moment in class, with you and learners working with whatever is happening in the room, responding to questions, problems and options as they come up.
You´re working more with the people in the room than with your material or your plan.
The main pre-planning for a lesson of this kind would involve you using your knowledge of the learners and of the available resources to choose some activities and materials.