A Quick Checklist for Teachers
How Good is Your Lesson? Evaluating Lesson Effectiveness
What is a good lesson? What is a bad lesson? Here's a checklist to help you evaluate just what you need to improve. But you need to do a few things first.
It is important to stop and think after giving a lesson whether it was a good one or not, and why. This is not in order to indulge in self-congratulation or regrets, but in order to have a basis for your own learning from reflection on experience: this lesson was unsatisfactory, what could I have done to improve it? Or: this lesson was good, what was it exactly that made it?
You've got to Start Somewhere
New teachers need to start somewhere. Waiting until your inspector, mentor or another visitor probably won't help much. Facts remain facts: a teacher needs to reflect if any work is going to be done. Consider how much time out of your time you're willing to invest. Sometimes it can be while you are washing the dishes or taking a walk in the park. Over a long period of time, it will guarentee growth and professional development.
Task: evaluating criteria
Imagine you have just come out of a lesson – whether your own, or one that you have observed – and wish to assess how effective it was. By what criteria will you evaluate it?
Below is a list of criteria I have compiled over the years. You however can add more. Try to prioritize them: the most important in your opinion and the least important. You can, of course, put two or more at the same level if you think they are of the same importance.
- The learners were active all the time.
- The learners were attentive all the time
- The class seemed to be learning the material well
- The learners enjoyed the lesson, were motivated
- The lesson went according to plan
- The learners were engaging with the material
What else can you add to the list?
Extra notes on the criteriaThe learners were active, enjoying, attentive. If learners are active, attentive, enjoying themselves and motivated they are likely to be learning better. On the other hand, it is very possible to activate students effectively and enjoyably and hold their attention for long periods of time in lessons that have little learning or educational value.
The class seemed to be learning the material well. The main goal of a lesson is to bring about learning; the challenge/problem is to actually judge whether learning is in fact taking place.
The lesson went according to plan. A lesson that went according to plan is more likely to be more effective. However, ask yourselves whether the plan was a good one in the first place. A sensitive and flexible teacher will plan with different needs in mind and adapt to various changing circumstances such as students’ needs.
For ESL/EFL teachers
Was English used extensively throughout the entire lesson?It is important to do activities that involve learning English but activities such as explanations have their place in the EFL/ESL classrooms as well.
The learners were coping with the material of the target language.
Before a student can learn the material, the student needs to be engaged with the material. Learning however can only take place is the activities, materials and tasks are ultimately appropriate for the level and age of the learners.
Final Words
Change for a teacher is not an easy thing to do. Teaching is a profession that requires constant introspective if any serious change is to take place. There are times when you will question more or less.
As Gail Sheehy says, " If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living."
