COURSE OUTLINES & LESSON PLANS

Preparation & Planning: In Gods Church, we refer to the Plan of God something that the Father and Son have been preparing for and anticipating since the beginning of time. We are part of that plan and we are to learn to plan, just as our Creator plans. - (2006) Living Leadership Course (p. 103). John 14:2-3: V2 In my Fathers house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. V3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. One of lifes most painful moments comes when we must admit that we didnt do our homework, that we are not prepared. - Merlin Olson Unless a person has trained himself for his chance, the chance will only make him ridiculous. A great occasion is worth to a man exactly what his preparation enables him to make of it. - J.B. Matthews Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation. - Robert Schuller DEPARTMENT HEADS Organizing your department When you are given the responsibility as a Department Head or Activity Head one of the first things you must do is develop a syllabus. Next you must develop a set of lesson plans. You must thoroughly educate yourself in your respective area(s) if you wish to run a quality program. You should know more about your activity than your staff and the campers you will teach (if at all possible). This will give you credibility! Some the ways you can become an expert on the subject are: Read books on the subject. Watch videos on the subject. Take a class. Talk to the experts. Get experience! Practice! Also try to obtain course outlines and lesson plans from those who went before you when possible. If this activity has been a part of camp in the past, do your best to see how it was done. What were the rules? What was taught? Etc., etc.

2 You certainly have the prerogative to run things differently, and improve on what was done in the past, but in most cases you will gain valuable information on how to run your activity. You may also see how other camps are teaching the activity. DEVELOPING A SYLLABUS Syllabus means a label or table of contents. The American Heritage Dictionary defines syllabus as an outline of a course of study. Major Parts of the Syllabus (For our purposes, in the camp setting, the syllabus or course outline should include the following parts): (1) Course information (a) Course title (activity title, or department title) (b) Location of the classroom or where to meet for the activity (c) How long the class meets the number of minutes (2) Instructor information (a) Full name, title (department head, etc.) (b) Staff names (and how many staff needed) (3) Reference materials Sources used to put your activity together. This would include books, videos, etc. used in the preparation of your class. (4) Materials & equipment List any materials or equipment needed to teach your class/activity, or run your department. (5) Course description/objectives A short paragraph describing the general content of the course, and general course goals should be included here. (6) Daily schedule of topics to be covered List the topics you plan to cover in each class (just the headings are all thats necessary). *Putting together the syllabus requires that we have planned the course. WRITING LESSON PLANS Three keys to preparing lesson plans: (1) Put sufficient detail into your lesson plans. Brief outlines, without sufficient detail are worthless once class begins. New or inexperienced teachers tend to forget the little details. Detailed lesson plans allow an instructor to be less nervous, and more confident in front of people. Even if a teacher falters, or forgets something, they can check their notes and get back on track.

3 You can tell that your putting enough effort into your lesson plans when you start to feel like your beating a dead horse. If you feel uncomfortable or unprepared to teach the material go back and add more detail until you feel like youre an expert to the topic. Detailed lesson plans are essential in the event you are unable to teach the class (if youre sick, injured, etc.) Your staff will appreciate the detail in your lesson plans when you provide them with the opportunity to teach the class (or parts of it). Besides, the effort you put into designing and preparing your lesson plans will be useful to you in future years, and for others that come after you. (2) Dont skip planning. We all need lesson plans! Some of us can be tempted to fly by the seat of our pants. This is a very bad idea, no matter how comfortable we feel with the material. Even if weve taught the material before, things change! Remember that even experienced teachers need a few years to develop a nice, solid base of lesson plans to teach from. Dont forget lesson plans should take into account the latest information available on the topic. (3) Assume that the students know nothing. When planning lessons, assume that the campers dont know anything you wont be disappointed. All kidding aside, we all forget things over time. Besides, the information covered will be new to many. Lesson plans exist for several reasons Those reasons include: To ensure that students/campers are taught what they need to know. To prepare for and to attend to individual differences between and among students. To ensure effective and efficient teaching so classroom time is used appropriately. To provide others (substitute teachers, or staff members) with an appropriate instructional plan. To serve as a way for teachers to evaluate their teaching effectiveness. BASIC COMPONENTS OF THE LESSON PLAN AS THEY APPLY TO THE CAMP ACTIVITY SETTING (1) Class/Subject: The subject you are teaching (e.g., Canoeing) (2) Date of Lesson: Actual date on the calendar (e.g., August 3, 2011 Boys dorm #1) (3) Period/Time: The period of the day (e.g., 2nd period Girls dorm #2) Note: List all the dates and times that you will be teaching a particular lesson based on the camp schedule. (4) Topic: The main idea(s) of the lesson (e.g., Lesson #1 Basic strokes)

4 (5) Goals/Objectives: The crux of a good lesson is its objectives. Objectives are what drive the lesson. Everything you do in a lesson must be tied to one or more objectives. Every instructional devise, every teaching resource, and every means of evaluation and assessment must be linked to the lessons objective(s). A well-crafted objective has two components: The audience: The students for whom the objective is intended. The terminal behavior: The anticipated performance. Objectives are built around good verbs. The verbs you use in your lesson objectives should be action verbs or verbs you can use to measure performance. (e.g., Heres example of an objective for a canoeing class: Campers will list the 7 basic strokes learned in class. Or Campers will demonstrate the 7 basic strokes learned in class.) Passive verbs are often immeasurable and make an objective weak. These are a few sample verbs (among hundreds possible). Passive Verbs to Avoid appreciate enjoy believe know Active Verbs to Use add alphabetize assemble assess build calculate collect color compare compute construct debate define design discuss draw explain grow learn like inspect list locate match measure operate place plan point realize understand rate review say select show solve speak write

(7) Assessment: You want the campers to learn, but how will you know if they have learned what you taught them? You need to assess or evaluate how well they have learned the material presented. Many new teachers make the mistake of assuming that assessment is something that always occurs at the end of a lesson. Not so! Effective assessment and evaluation is sprinkled throughout the lesson, from beginning to end. Measuring instruments: Construction of a good test takes careful planning. You must measure the objectives you have established for a specific unit of work. The objectives might be (1) A written or oral exam Assessment options for written or oral exams or quizzes: Multiple choice

5 True/False Short answer Matching (2) Performance assessment skill(s) tests Note: Performance assessment can be built into almost any lesson. It is, in effect, a hands-on form of evaluation allowing students the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding or mastery of important concepts through the manipulation of objects. At camp we can incorporate these concepts into our activities. (e.g. #1: Upon arrival at the second class give an oral, or written, exam to the campers. See if they remembered the rules at your activity. Have they remembered some of the basic concepts?) (e.g. #2: During class three challenge them to a skills test. How many times can they execute the skill in a given time? Or how many points can they score in a given number of attempts?) Be sure to incorporate these types of challenges in your activity/department area. (7) Standards: Generally speaking, a standard is a description of what a student should know and be able to do. Standard based education engages students, not only in the learning process, but also in knowing what is expected of them. Academic or content standards provide a clear description of the knowledge and skill students should be developing through instruction in specific content (or academic) areas. Performance standards describe what it will take for a student to demonstrate mastery of a standard. Note: You do not need to include standards in your lesson plan unless they are readily available. Some national standards have been set in areas of fitness, and flexibility, etc. feel free to include them if available. (8) Resources: In this section of the lesson plan, we list all the materials and resources we will use in teaching the lesson. Some resources include: Printed materials/handouts Equipment or materials needed for each specific class (9) Procedures: This is the body of the lesson plan, the ways in which youll share information with students and the methods youll use to help them assume a measure of mastery of the material. The three major stages of effective lesson planning under the heading Procedures are:

6 A motivational opening The development of the lesson (body) The closing (conclusion)

Note: Your S.P.S. (specific purpose statement) is already stated under goals/objectives. Motivational opening: This stage is critical! This is where you grab the students attention. It may involve asking a thought provoking question, or a demonstration, or use of a prop. The development of the lesson (body): This is the heart of the lesson that portion where you teach and where the students learn. This is where students gain valuable information, manipulate data, and engage in active discovery through total involvement. This part of the lesson man involve: Lecture (keep this short and make it effective) Demonstration (where the staff can demonstrate the desired skills) Hands-on-activities (where they can practice the skills learned) Closure (Conclusion): Effective speakers always follow these three essential rules of a good presentation: Tell the audience what youre going to tell them. Tell them. Tell them what youve told them. Those same rules are important in the well-designed lesson too. Its essential that you have some sort of conclusion. Be sure to summarize the important points. This many be the most valuable 2 to 3 minutes of any lesson. Provide opportunities for students to summarize a lesson as well. This will help to assess how well the learned the material. (10) Evaluation: As you write lessons, include a brief section at the end that allows you to self-evaluate. This will be important when you teach the lesson again. You can also get input from your staff regarding how well the class went. Jot down some notes. It will only make your activity better in the long run. Note: I have found it particularly helpful to sit down with the staff and discuss how they thought the class went immediately after the dorm(s) leave the activity area. Everything is fresh on their mind, and yours, so jot down any notes you could use when you the teach the lesson again. (This only takes a couple of minutes to do.) (11) Adaptations: If you discover that certain students exhibit exceptional talents and skills you will need to make accommodations or create specialized learning opportunities for them. Provide ideas and recommendations for dealing with these individuals in this section. Note: Some campers will have been to camp several times lets make sure to provide advanced training or challenging situations for these individuals.