Blog

A proper math lesson plan is integral to the success of any math class. As with any lesson plan, planning for a maths lesson too will ensure that you do not miss out on your lesson priorities, the students receive a concerted tutoring and also get fun out of it. As every designer, architect and engineer will wholeheartedly agree, a wrong blueprint will have the entire project fall flat on its face.

The oft quoted tip about the preparation of a lesson plan for maths involves spacing out the topics so that your pupils get a breather between each.

Knowing how to prepare a lesson plan for math is easy, but what is more important is knowing how to make the plan interesting and lively. A great tip in this regard is to introduce mathematical examples that students can relate to. Infuse some humor and pep up the lessons with something novel. Say, an anecdote about the zero came into being. That is, your lesson plan should have enough zing in it so as not to have the pupils nodding off.

The instructions, to the teachers that is, are loud and clear. Don’t even dream of venturing into the classroom without a comprehensive lesson plan for maths. And as you prepare your math lesson plan, it is worth taking a cue from the Madeline Hunter Lesson Design Model for some handy tips.

The Madeline Hunter Lesson Design Model tips you to get the orientation of your pupils spot on right at the outset. Thus your math lesson plan will require you to give some “anticipatory set”, say in the form of a handout or an illustration so that the students know what actually they will learn. They also need to be made aware of the “purpose” or objective of the maths lesson. Knowing that, what you are learning will stand you in good stead always whets up the interest level in the subject.

The elementary part of the Madeline Hunter Lesson Design Model taken care of, it’s time to take the plunge into the lesson. You have to organize your “input” or the maths concepts you intend to use in the classroom. This also involves the preparation of a time schedule, detailing how much to teach per lesson taking care to ensure that you are not rushing your pupils much or that the lessons have not been reduced to snail’s pace.

As you progress through your maths lessons, following the tips of the Madeline Hunter Lesson Design Model, you will follow a four-pronged strategy: “modeling”, “guided practice”, “to check understanding” and “independent practice”.

These all entail that you have to demonstrate to your students how a particular maths problem can be dealt with and then guide them as they try to tackle it themselves.

Bacon had once said that “practice makes a man perfect”. This is all the more true for maths. So as you prepare your lesson plan for maths, include ample time for rehearsing. And before you finish off the maths lesson, always make an assessment of what your pupils have learnt.

The preparation of a math lesson plan assumes all the more importance if you are teaching an elementary class, for your lesson plan will prepare the grounding for maths. So the onus is on you to prepare a math lesson plan that does not massacre maths in the young minds.