Lesson Plan Design Elements
Pacific University School of Learning and Teaching

1. Title: What is the title of your lesson?

2. Name: Your name Date: Current Date.

3. Grade level/Subject/Context: What is the grade and subject, or developmental level of the students? How does this lesson fit into the larger unit structure? What previous lessons support or provide a foundation for this lesson? What are the relevant time frame dimensions (class length, season, location…). Be thorough.

4. TIP Critical Question: What is the critical question that this unit of study is helping you address?

5. Standards: What Oregon, Common Core, or national standards is the lesson designed to address? Include ELPA standards to consider English learners.

6. Learning Targets: What learning targets correspond with the relevant standards and will be shared with the students?

7. Content Objectives: Carefully construct 1-3 specific content objectives (describes what the students will learn) that reflect a taxonomic range across a group of lessons. Make sure that the objectives you develop align with the standards, match the quality of learning you envision, and correspond with the learning targets as well as the assessments that you design.

8. Language objectives: Carefully construct 1-3 specific language objectives that indicate the way in which students will demonstrate learning of the content by writing, speaking or using language. These Language objectives should align with ELPA standards for English Learners.

9. Student Assessment: In what ways will students demonstrate their learning? What will you do to assess the students’ attainments of the objectives? Keep in mind the utility of authentic assessments. Across a number of lessons, work for a thoughtful and utilitarian mix of formative and summative assessments (where appropriate). Be sure that the assess dimensions of interest correspond to the objectives that you have constructed.

10. Materials/Preparation: Note the lesson materials you and students will use during the lesson and how you will prepare the classroom before the class to seamlessly support learning. Note technology, clean-up tools and any environmental considerations.

11. Differentiation Strategies: Describe the strategies that you will use for supporting the diversity of learners in your class. While your unit and lesson should be framed within a context of universal design for learning, how will you provide specific accommodations for those needing extra support, and extensions for high-ability students. When appropriate describe environments, content, process, and the products.


Sequence of Activities (not an item listed on your lesson plan) The sequence of activities within a lesson should be appropriate for the lesson objectives and lead toward attainment of those objectives. The sequence of lessons should clearly build toward attainment of the overall learning goals. Here are some suggested lesson design elements: You might include teacher language or action notes in italics.

12. Lesson Introduction/Set: (time)
An intentional opening of the lesson in which you help learners know what they will be learning and why this is worth learning; It should be clear how students are drawn into the lesson and helped to see the purpose and the connection with prior learning. This could be a discrepant event, hook, anticipatory set… What intriguing question could you pose or activity could you do that will raise their curiosity or create a constructive disequilibrium?

13 Communication of Learning Targets: (time)
This is the part of the plan where you describe how you will share the purpose or learning targets of the lesson with students. What approach will you use?

14. Learning Activities: (time for each)
What is the organized flow of activities that you have planned and how much time is allotted for each activity? Lessons might include a variety of learning activities depending on if its pedagogical intent. These might include elements such as teacher-led activities, student-led activities, individual work, small group work, modeling, gathering resources, exploring materials, etc. It is also critical to include means for checking for students’ understanding and providing feedback to students about their progress towards attaining the objectives. Be sure to include ideas for creative extensions and/or differentiations for those with special needs. Include a description of the use of technology to facilitate and/or inspire student learning and creativity. Note how you may need to extend learning opportunities for students who are able to go beyond the basic lesson concepts.

15. Closure: (time)
Intentional synergistic tying together of the lesson with and by students. How do you plan to end, have students summarize, or wrap up the lesson in such a manner that it fosters understanding or higher level thinking about lesson concepts. How can you bring the lesson full circle back to the intriguing introduction? How will you promote reflection, understanding, and self-evaluation?

16. Field Notes: The field notes are a written analysis of learning outcomes and processes. Let the following questions guide your analysis: What elements of the lesson worked and what aspects of the lesson will you change if you were to teach this lesson again? In what ways were the students engaged throughout the lesson? In what ways did your lesson meet the needs of all students? Describe the evidence of student learning? What resources promoted student learning? In what ways did you use technology to facilitate and inspire student learning and/or creativity? What elements of classroom behavioral guidance need attention? What and how are you learning about your Critical Question (and how is this connected to all other responses to the above questions)? In this section problematize more than summarize.