Sep 12, 2008 5:43 PM
Experienced educators understand that lesson planning is an integral component of classroom management. But building a library of successful lesson plans takes several years of teaching the same grade and subject, and time to develop a deeper understanding of the curriculum. The Internet offers a vast resource for you to build your lesson plan library quickly and to help refresh the lessons already in your repertoire.
A Google search for “lesson plans” generates more than 9 million returns. But several lesson plan sources keep rising to the top because of the depth and breadth of the resources they provide.
The Teachers Network, a New York City-based nonprofit with an international scope, is loaded with lesson plans, videos, online courses and grant information for teachers. It has a lesson plans for new teachers written by new teachers and it has lesson plans written by veteran teachers. There is an extensive library of topics and the most-viewed lesson plans are highlighted right on the front page.
One sample lesson, “If Your Mom Has Big Feet, Will You Have Them, Too?” is about inheriting genetic traits. In this lesson contributed by first-year high school biology teacher Chloe Prentoulis, students note their own traits and after picking a partner try to determine whose traits will be passed on to their offspring. No doubt some youngsters will be surprised by the images of the offspring they create. The lesson plan includes reference to the state standards it meets and some tips from the teacher’s personal experience.
The Teachers Network Web site is organized by subject, grade level and topic, and is easy to use. Because the library includes so many lessons by New York City-based educators, it may be one of the best sources for you to use. It also has an extensive library of special education lesson plans.
TeachersFirst.com is a beautifully designed and organized site. What seems at first like a simple menu opens into a deep drop-down catalog of resources. Lesson plans are presented in a matrix of classroom resources that can be searched by grade level, keyword and holiday. There are also a lot of extras like Weekly Brain Twisters, Dates that Matter, and daily puzzles like Sudoku Mini and Rotonym. One standout is Interactive Raven, which includes hypertext and flash to teach poetry while reading Edgar Allen Poe’s poem. There’s a new unit on the Olympics that features the 2008 event in Beijing with links to the official Olympic committee site so you can download posters for your classroom.
Try this Web site for any subject and level and you are sure to find just about everything you need. Remember to take a look at to read reviews of current software and classroom technology. This is definitely a site that you will use throughout your career. One caveat that you should consider is that the lessons come from around the United States; therefore, some may not be appropriate for an urban school system like New York City’s.
Two other excellent Web sites for lesson plannnig are www.thinkfinity.org and www.thinkfinityNY.org. The UFT Teacher Center collaborates with Thinkfinity NY and Beyond. The lesson plans in ThinkfinityNY are based on New York State standards and are written by K-12 teachers. The Web site features student materials, interactive tools, and links to Web sites in seven academic disciplines.
Make sure you also bookmark Education World, the Gateway to Educational Materials (GEM) and EdSitement from the National Endowment for the Humanities. These sites offer extensive libraries of lesson plans and other education information and resources.
Don’t get complacent just because you can quickly find an excellent lesson plan online. You still have to tailor the contents to the level of your students and perfect the delivery of the subject. Lessons can still turn out to be unsatisfactory even though the lesson plan seems perfect.
This column only scratches the surface of lesson plan Web sites and lists some of New York City teachers’ favorites. If you would like to share your favorite lesson plan source online, send an e-mail to wstamatis (at) nyc.rr.com.