Blue Prints: The Outline to Lesson Planning

Lets talk blue prints. Blue prints are created to show an outline for the foundation of a building. A blue print is vital to the success of a structure. Unit and Lesson plans are our teaching blue prints, used to help develop a successful plan for for instruction. As educators we are given dimensions in which we should teach, ensuring that all students gain knowledge in each content area.

Developing a Plan: "Planning for instruction is key to becoming an effective teacher" (Newcomb. 1993). To ensure students are gaining useful knowledge as an educator we must be purposeful in developing our teaching plan. This means we must set clear goals for ourselves and our students.

Drawing it out: As we develop unit and lesson plans we need to keep Blooms Taxonomy in mind. Each area of instruction must be based around one of Bloom's levels of learning. This means we need to understand where each student's learning level is, as well as start with the basics and work our way out for all students. Lessons plan should start with a development around key knowledge and build upon to to higher levels of thinking.

Building: There should be a strong structure of unit and lesson plans to build knowledge from, however the building plans must be flexible. Students must have a say in what they are learning to continue interest. The teacher must also be willing to make adaptations around the students learning needs. The blue print should always be present to set the guidelines but lines can be moved to meet those needs. 

 As I start to develop my own blue prints I must keep all steps of the process in mind. Most importantly I must be purposeful in each step of the process to ensure my students are benefiting from my lessons. 

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Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of teaching agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. Note: Chapter 5, Planning for Instruction (26 pages)

 Mctighe, J. & Wiggins, G. (2012). Understanding by design framework. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/UbD_WhitePaper0312.pdf

 West Virginia University, (2010.). Bloom’s taxonomy. Retrieved from http://community.wvu.edu/~lsmong/Articulate%20Blooms%20Wheel/blooms_wheel.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.


 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.West Virginia University, (2010.). Bloom’s taxonomy. Retrieved from http://community.wvu.edu/~lsmong/Articulate%20Blooms%20Wheel/blooms_wheel.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.West Virginia University, (2010.). Bloom’s taxonomy. Retrieved from http://community.wvu.edu/~lsmong/Articulate%20Blooms%20Wheel/blooms_wheel.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.





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