A Lesson Plan That Works

Before this class, I have never even heard of an ASSURE lesson plan. According to Culatta, "the ASSURE model is an ISD (Instructional Systems Design) process that was modified to be used by teachers in the regular classroom. The ISD process is one in which teachers and trainers can use to design and develop the most appropriate learning environment for their students." I must admit though, that this lesson plan works. 

I believe that everything has room for improvement. As for my lesson plan, I think that it would be wonderful if the students were to be put into groups, since cooperative learning works great with the Elementary level. In addition, I would make the grading a bit different. I would create 2 grading rubrics - one for collecting the data and creating the graph and the other rubric for the presentation itself.

After this lesson, I think it would be great to work with chocolate bars. Since kids love chocolate and that is their go-to source of a snack, I think they would be interested in collecting the data and finding out if what they are consuming is good or bad for them in the long run. As long as the students are interested and having fun with the lesson, they would not think of it as work. 

As I have mentioned earlier, I think that in revising my lesson plan, I would make a better way to grade my students while engaged in this project. Since they are putting hard work into it, I will make the project worth more for them. My evaluation is tied in with my lesson objectives by 3 categories: the collecting of data, making of the bar graph, and the Prezi presentation of the project. These were my initial lesson objectives and so they will be graded in how well and prepared they have done on this lesson.

As a result of this project, I have learned that not all lesson plans will lead to succession. As stated by another educator, "a lesson plan from a lesson that went really well is like a personal award certificate. And since lesson planning helps you keep track of what works and what doesn't work, your lesson plans will get better and better, feeding into and renewing that sense of success and accomplishment."

We can only learn from our mistakes and become better teachers by evaluating our lessons and revising them when needed. 

References:

The ASSURE Model. (Video file). Retrieved from
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sUyxjyNoUI 

Panoptical. (2012, July 26). Making a Difference: The Official Blog of Teach and Learn Georgia.          (Weblog - The Importance of Lesson Planning). Retrieved from
     https://teachandlearnwithgeorgia.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/the-importance-of-lesson-planning/

R. Culatta. (2013). Instructional Design. Retrieved from
     http://www.instructionaldesign.org/models/assure.html