I always work from a lesson plan and highly recommend that teachers use them. Let me give you my thoughts...

First, the school, school board or Ministry of Education where you are teaching may require them.

They are also useful for schools and teachers to show to parents whenever there is a question about how and what a student is learning.

Also, the lesson plan provides the teacher with a track to run on. Once a plan is in place, it can be used over and over again with future classes and much less preparation time. It is always easier to rework an existing lesson than to start from scratch.

My plan is a simple one-page affair with the following headings:

1. Date
This is self-explanatory and can be helpful later when reviewing or gauging how long certain topics take to teach.

2. Objective
You should have a reason to teach every lesson. This will fit in with your overall syllabus. Are you teaching possessive pronouns? descriptive adjectives? Past perfect tense?

3. Type of Activity
How are you teaching: Lecture? Reading? Writing? Quiz?

4. Material Used
If using a text, you would note the pages. You will also record any handout or other material you use such as an article from a magazine, newspaper, CD, other text or Internet.

5. Pre/post Comments
This is where you make notes that will help you in the future. Was the lesson effective? Does it need changes? Was it too long, too short or just about right? What went wrong? What went right? What would you change?

If you are stricken with an illness and cannot teach for one or more days, having a lesson plan will really help a substitute teacher to step in and carry on in you place. S/he will know exactly where you are, what you were planning to teach and what materials you were going to use. In other words, a lesson plan allows for continuity. Without a plan, the substitute teacher probably will literally be flying by the seat of his or her pants. I can tell you from experience that teachers do become rather good at doing that out of necessity but a lesson plan really make life easier for a subbing teacher.

Lesson plans are especially valuable if you have different or multiple classes or if you teach different subjects. They go a long way to keeping track of where you are with each class.

How detailed should lesson plans be? I know one sciences teacher who does a minute-by-minute plan and sticks rigidly to it. He has taught Chemistry and Physics for so long that he knows just how long he needs to cover material. My plan is not nearly as detailed. I just note down the basics I need to remember where I am and what I plan to do. Think of it as writing notes for a speech. You don't have to write out the whole speech, just guidelines and key points.

Teachers don't always have the time they would like to have for preparation and lesson plans can maximize what little time the do have. Of course, like people in general, some teachers are better organized than others. Those are the ones who are comfortable with lesson plans. Unorganized teachers tend to be the ones who need LPs the most but are often the ones who procrastinate.

It can take time to get used to completing these plans because they do take time. But, there is an advantage to undertaking this task. It makes you stop and reflect on what you have been teaching; what you will teach next, and how it fits into the overall scheme of things.

Dr. Robert Taylor has been teaching English in Thailand for close to ten years. He also teaches the online TESOL course for Sunbridge Institute of English http://www.teachesl.org

If you would like a template for my lesson plan, email me at rwftaylor@gmail.com and I'll be happy to send you one.

Dr. Robert W. F. Taylor