WEEK4

**Summary of the fourth lecture on lesson planning Author: Haining Lu**  Today’s lecture was mainly on lesson planning. The La Trobe Lesson Plan Format was introduced to us by Mr. Sanders.

This was a very informative and useful lecture as we were all very curious about how exactly a lesson plan looks like.

At the beginning, Mr. Sanders talked about the structure of VELS. What are the domains, which is further divided into dimensions? What are learning focus and standards? What are progression points? Etc.

Then we looked at the template in detail. We learnt that each lesson should have a specific learning purpose and we should identify this learning purpose in VELS documents, mostly in progression points. For each class, there is an engagement stage where the topic is introduced and a pulling together stage where what is learnt in each lesson is summarised and reinforced. We, as teachers, should consider group set up and materials needed in the class before each lesson. Because the real situation in each class is often unpredictable, teachers need to be prepared as much as possible and also be flexible in real situation. Image: http://www.profile-comments.com/images/teacher/images/a-good-teacher.jpg ** In this week's workshop, we 've covered the matters of Lesson Plans. The workshop was initiated by Corri's description of a Maths activity and then we put our ideas on how to create a lesson plan based on this activity. We found people have different views of creating their personal lesson plans even if we faced to the same object. For instance, we listed varieties of learning purpose as follow:
 * Reflection on the 4th Week Workshop ** 
 * Author: Zhao Wei Peng (Bon)

Developing skills of Communication Team building Visualizing at maths concept How to use maths language Connecting activity with maths pattern Hypothesis and Problem Solving ... Despite that lesson planes could be different, however the key is almost the same. As Rochelle mentioned later in the tutorial, how could teachers unpack the potential knowledge of a student is most important. We should think about whether the lesson plan is effective to different individuals or not. Is the activity designed in our lesson plan related to students' daily life? Does it develop students' learning skills or engage them to the whole classsetting learning environment? And also, lesson plan is not teachers' script. Never "read" your plan when you teaching in the class. Good teachers must be the ones who procede the plan flexibly and naturally in their class.

Reading:Bloom’s Taxonomy Author:Akie Yoshida**
 * Bon**
 * WEEK4

Bloom researched thousands of questions asked by teachers, categorized them, and arranged the categories into a taxonomy. Cognitive learning, one of the three domains from Bloom’s Taxonomy, stresses intellectual outcomes. He clarified six levels within the cognitive domain. The six levels are as follows: Knowledge: This is a stating point that includes both the acquisition of information and the ability to recall information when needed. Comprehension: This is the basic level of understanding. It involves the ability to know what is being communicated in order to make use of the information. Application: This is the ability to use a learned skill in a new situation. Analysis: This is the ability to break content into components in order to identify parts, see relationships among them, and recognize organizational principles. Synthesis: This is the ability to combine existing elements in order to create something original. Evaluation: This is the ability to make a judgment about the value of something by using a standard.

It is important for all teachers to make the intention of questions clear, which will enhance students’ cognitive skills.

General thought Eileen Gomes #15790901

I believe that this week overall brought great insight for future teaching. The lecture helped us focus on the VELS teaching cirriculum and the importance of teaching in Australia. The website gives detailed struture on the grade levels and ways of teaching. Another helpful teaching practice was also introduced, lesson planning. The lesson plans play a great role in teaching at any grade level. The structure for each lesson plan is a basic organizational tool all teachers must bring into their daily routine. In my opinion, the break down in lesson planning is the core of a good teaching method. No matter what course/subject taught, lesson planning is a well balanced system to help teachers oragnize their teaching plans best for their students. I now know that teachers do not have it easy. I never thought they did. There is alot of hard work put into a daily teaching rountine. The stereotypes based around teachers are all false. Teachers DO NOT have it easy. Teachers jobs are based on structure, organization and responsiblity. There is alot of advance planning and basic duties a teacher needs to detain. They are the ones firmly molding the lives of their observers and sending strong educational messages across.