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It is recognised that effective teaching involves planning. When we plan a lesson as

teachers we decide what to teach and how to teach it.
Part APlanning is a method that educators use to produce effective teaching and in turn this
allows students to achieve the results that an educator would classify as successful. There are
four factors that influence the way in which a teacher would decide to undertake planning,
varying from professional requirements to the way in which students learn. The syllabus is one
of these factors, which can be classified as a specific evaluation of a teachers ability to teach
specific skills and knowledge (AITSL, 2016). A teachers ability to read and implement a
syllabus within a classroom affects how effective their planning is and how effective they are as
an educator. Along with the syllabus, planning is influenced by the Australian Professional
Standards for Teachers; which are a set of guidelines provided for educators in order to ensure
they are of a certain standard of knowledge and skill level in order to teach children efficiently.
This in turn affects how a teacher would plan lessons through the standards that are set for them
in terms of the knowledge they must possess in order to teach the subject material and create
lessons around this prior knowledge and skills. A teacher must be able to evaluate how much
prior knowledge and what sort of skills their students possess as well, and an efficient way to
learn this is through previous assessment data. By viewing this, an educator can select certain
areas that students are lacking or need improvement in and plan their lessons around these
struggles that students are experiencing. In certain circumstances, a childs previous assessment
data will not indicate their current level of ability, as diverse learning needs such as literacy
levels and learning disabilities are prevalent within schools. A teacher must incorporate a childs
diverse learning needs into a lesson plan when planning out how they intend to convey their
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content. All of these four factors are crucial in influencing how an educator would use planning
in order to create an effective teaching environment.
Syllabus is crucial in planning as it is the guidelines by which a teacher is evaluated on
their ability to plan a lesson in order to ensure effective teaching. A syllabus according to the
Board of Studies Teaching and Educational Standards (BOSTES, 2016) clarifies that a syllabus
is the be all and end all for teachers; stating that any material taught that is not included within
this syllabus will not be recognized and thus will not be tested by any public examination, which
includes HSC and NAPLAN testing (BOSTES, 2016). Educators cannot base any lessons on any
information that is not included within the syllabus as to do this would only set their students at a
disadvantage of absorbing any knowledge that will not be useful to them either later on in their
schooling or in upcoming assessments and examinations. The syllabus plays a crucial role in
lesson planning, deciding what educators should incorporate into their lessons and when certain
content should be taught within each subject.
The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, much like the syllabus, is a way in
which educators have a form of guidelines with which they follow. While the syllabus controls
what sort of the content an educator must teach, these standards enforce what sort of a
knowledge a teacher must know in order to teach certain content to children (AISTL, 2016).
These teachers must have a certain level or knowledge and skills before theyre considered at an
adequate level to teach the content; which in turn affects how planning a lesson would take place.
A teacher who has no prior knowledge or experience in a certain area will need this and it
becomes within their responsibilities to learn this knowledge before incorporating it within their
lesson plan. There are obvious standards that must be met such as know the content before it is
allowed to be taught but other standards that are not so common are also involved in these
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teaching standards for educators; these lesser known standards include assessing student
learning, consulting parents/guardians and teaching in an engaging way. The Australian
Professional Standards for Teachers assist in helping a teacher incorporate planning that works
for not only themselves but for their students as well and by following all of the standards set a
plan can be changed and improved to better incorporate the idea of planning in order to promote
effective teaching.
Previous assessment data can also assist in planning in order to produce effective
teaching. By producing this data, a teacher can plan around their students strengths and
weaknesses by choosing aspects of the syllabus that a number of students have struggled and
incorporating these into a lesson plan. They allow teachers to diagnose what areas of learning
students are lacking in but allow them to see flaws within their own lesson plans and process
which aspects of their teaching they need to improve upon. As teachers are the main influences
for what a student will learn within a classroom they must use this data in order to create a
learning plan that will benefit the identification of what they teach well and what requires a
different or new emphasis (Helen Timperly, 2011, pg. 3). By using this previous assessment
data an educator has a better idea of what areas the class as a whole needs improvement or extra
assistance with, but also what the educator can improve on in terms of teaching ability and
engagement towards the class; using this data to improve upon their planning skills to encourage
effective teaching.
Diverse learning needs must also be considered in planning in order to produce effective
teaching. Diverse learning needs includes students with learning disabilities as well as catering to
children of different literacy levels. Students with learning disabilities must be fit into a lesson
plan in a certain way so they are not singled out but at the same time catered to in such a way
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that will appeal to their particular learning limitations (Gibson, Frank, 2011, pg. 134). The same
can be said for children of different literacy levels and there are three of these levels; basic level,
middle level and self-learning level (ACCU, 2011) which signify the sort of reading a student
will be capable of reading, understanding and analyzing. These literacy levels insinuate what
type of reading can be given to a student and what can be expected of the student in terms of
interpreting the work they are given. This is also a factor that must be incorporated into planning
for teachers as a teacher must select tasks appropriate to their students capabilities and the
lesson plan must be formulated to cater to the classroom literacy level as a whole. As a teacher
there is an obligation to include every student in a lesson plan regardless of their confinements,
and a lesson plan must reflect this in order to reflect effective teaching strategies.

Part BThe science lesson plan included involves only three of the four factors found within
planning and use this to inform the lesson plan, only leaving out previous assessment data. The
students are expected to select key terms and ideas from their textbooks and take notes that relate
to the syllabus materials in groups first or as a whole class depending on what the educator feels
is more appropriate. In this science lesson plan the subject matter involves conserving and
maintaining quality and sustainability of the environment for a stage 5 year 9 classroom. The
educator has arranged the lesson into steps in order to convey the content that is planned on
being taught in order to produce effective teaching. By using the National Professional Standards
for Teachers and the syllabus as a basis for the lesson plan, the educator has created a focused
plan that has multiple learning outcomes that they wish to achieve within the lesson. By having
two separate options in how to teach the class, either having groups or a whole class activity, the
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educator has involved diverse learning needs within their lesson plan in order to encourage
participation from the whole class. The science lesson plan is an example of three of the four
factors mentioned above informing how an educator will plan out their lesson in order to carry
out effective teaching.
They syllabus informs this lesson plan entirely in content and in what order the educator should
teach the content. Teachers need a framework in order to be successful and effective teachers for
students, by planning lessons this is one way that this goal can be accomplished and the syllabus
provides a framework by which a teacher can follow to ensure learning outcomes are achieved
(Jana Hess, 2013). The educator clearly states at the start of the lesson plan what outcomes of the
syllabus are being referenced and this in turn determines what content is selected and taught
within the lesson. By implementing the syllabus within the lesson plan the entire class is directed
in order to fulfill the Knowledge and Understanding topic that is currently in use for this stage
5/year 9 classroom. This science lesson plan is shaped by the syllabus and informs the content
that will be taught within the lesson.
This lesson plan is also informed and guided by the National Professional Standards for
Teachers. The educator who has created this lesson plan follows most if not all of the standards
that are expected of teachers and has incorporated these into the way that they have decided to
teach the class. The lesson plan promotes various styles of teaching such as group work,
individual interpretation and traditional teaching in order to show that it is evident the educator
understands that students learn in different ways and must provide a safe, encouraging learning
environment for students. By the way in which the learning plan has been arranged the educator
knows which outcomes the students should achieve within this lesson and has clearly set out the
desired answers for the students as a checklist so he can oversee his students while they find the
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answers within the textbooks for themselves; indicating he knows the content he is teaching and
can pass this knowledge onto his students if the need arises. This ties into the assessment and
providing feedback teaching standard wherein the educator can observe the classroom and can
identify which students excel learning one way and guide them on the correct track for future
classes in order to progress their studies. The National Professional Standards for Teachers has
informed this lesson plan through the educators use of a large number of standards in order to
create a lesson plan that adheres to all of the guidelines set for teachers in order to practice
effective teaching.
The last factor that informs this lesson plan is diverse learning needs among students. Certain
students may have limitations such as learning disabilities that will inhibit them from keeping up
with their fellow classmates and the learning plan a teacher creates must be able to accommodate
these children and allow them to participate within a classroom (Bakken, 2013, pg. 22). The
learning plan has been created in such a way that any children with special needs or
considerations will still be able to participate normally within a classroom without needing any
noticeable assistance. By having groups of peers and student lead discussion the educator has
placed faith in students to be able to write ideas in groups and in front of the entire class that will
resonate with children that need special attention within a class as it will come from their own
words and not the teachers, which may have language too confusing for the student. Using a
lesson plan to include a child in classroom activities is an ideal way to assist the student without
letting the child feel as if they are different from anyone else in the classroom, and this lesson
plan is influenced by this idea as it encourages student interaction as well as whole class public
speaking in order to find another, more modernized method for teaching the syllabus to students.

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Although previous assessment data is not mentioned or utilized within the lesson plan
that does not mean that it cannot be used within this lesson plan. By examining previous
assessment data, a teacher can assess prior knowledge that the class has received schooling in as
well as how certain students within the class will cope with specific information. A teacher can
use this information in order to produce realistic goals and targets for the class to accomplish
rather than setting goals that are unattainable given the class dynamic (Rebecca Alber, 2011).
This lesson plan could benefit from this previous assessment data as children who came last in
the past few exams or assessments could be impacted by those who came in the top percentage
of the class and these children may voice concerns to their peers and receive assistance that
maybe the teacher could not by putting it into terms they can understand better. Out of the four
factors that influence planning, this could be considered the weakest however there are still
benefits that go along with including previous assessment data into this lesson plan.

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Lesson Plan

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References

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2016)

http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/standards/list.
Accessed 20/3/16-24/3/16.
ACCU. (2011). Level of Literacy Skills. http://www.accu.or.jp/litdbase/material/level.htm.
Accessed 20/3/16-25/3/16.
Alber, R. (2011) 3 Ways Student Data Can Inform Your Teaching. Edutopia.
Bakken, J., Obiakor, Festus E, & Rotatori, Anthony F. (2013). Learning Disabilities (Advances
in Special Education). Bradford: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW. (2016). Syllabuses.
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabuses/ Accessed 21/3/16-23/3/16.
Marsh, C., Clarke, Maggie, author, & Pittaway, Sharon, author. (2014). Marsh's becoming a
teacher (Sixth ed.). Frenchs Forest, A: Pearson Education Australia.
Frank, M., & Gibson, E. (2011). Overcoming Memory Limitations in Rule Learning. Language
Learning and Development, 7(2), 130-148.
Hess, Jana L., & Whittington, M. Susie. (2013). Developing an effective course syllabus:
September 2013.(NACTA Reprint)(Report). NACTA Journal,57(3), 67.
Saunders, Keith. (2012). Realizing the power of professional learning - By Helen Timperley.
(Report). British Journal of Educational Technology, 43, E70.

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