Lesson Planning

Let's be honest, we've all had sessions that may or may not have been a bust! Those rough sessions usually happen in circumstances where there just wasn't enough time to think through the lesson plan. As SLPs this happens more frequently than we'd like as our caseloads get bigger and the paperwork piles up.

I know I'm not only one who has occasionally whipped up a language lesson out of thin air. It's an SLPs super power. We are trained to adapt with each child in each circumstance. Those skills we worked so hard to develop make us uncannily trained to wing it. However, I think maybe winging it should be the back up plan, instead of THE plan. But this year, I'm determined to make every session count. Little steps, like making simple lesson plans, will make a big difference in my week.

One thing I have never had time for with my huge caseloads was thoroughly planning out each session. Well, it's not likely that I'll ever have all the time I really need to plan every session, but I want to make sure that I at least make a plan, however simple, for each session.

I've been researching some teaching strategies this summer. I feel like SLP master's programs should offer more general teaching technique classes, but maybe I'll get on that soapbox later.


After some research on  lesson planning here are the things I want to include in each brief lesson plan:

1. What am I going to TEACH today? And WHY is it important for my student?
2. What is the student going to DO to explore the concept and apply it during the session?
3. What materials and/or games will I use?
4. What STRATEGIES am I teaching my student so this will be useful in other contexts?
5. What am I doing to ensure GENERALIZATION into other contexts?

There were so many things I wanted to include in my lesson plans but I need to be realistic about my time constraints. I feel like giving each of these five things a 30 second walk through will make my lessons much more effective.

Here is the form I made to implement my lesson planning goal. It's hard to read but the sections say:

• Lesson:
• Exploration & Application Activity
• Materials
• Strategies to help student apply this is school, at home, or with friends
• Homework or Generalization Activities