How to Plan a Lesson

If you're new to teaching, I hope this blog post is practical for you.

Many of you are beginning your first foray into teaching students this week. You're likely feeling a bit nervous and have a million questions buzzing around your head. What if it isn't engaging? What if you get blank stares? What if students disrespect you or argue with you? What if students haven't done the reading? What if you forget to say a really important due date or expectation and you have to make crazy revisions to the schedule? What if, in the middle of lecturing, a pelican flies into the room and drops a fish on your head?

Here's the funny (and meta) thing about it: this is all very similar to the anxieties your students feel about entering an oral communication class in which they will be required to deliver presentations to your classmates. Based on my experience with that, I can tell you two lessons:

1) You're in no worse a position than your students; and
2) Those butterflies never go away--they just, in the words of my speech mentor Judy Santacaterina, "learn to fly in formation." The adrenaline remains, but it becomes more of a rush: the way riding a roller coaster goes from being terrifying the first time to being something fun you want to keep doing.

As for your students' speeches, the difference between a trainwreck hot mess of a first lesson and an engaging rumination on the power of communication in our daily lives lies in preparation. Below is a tutorial on how I approach planning, although I'll stress that everybody handles it differently!

Begin with the End in Mind

That's some K-12 jargon I learned right there, but it's as useful in thinking about a college classroom as it is in high school. Before you start planning, you need to ask yourself: What exactly do students need to get out of this lesson? Where are there gaps in their thinking I need to help them overcome? What skills should we practice and in this class period?

In response to these questions, I will begin by writing objectives. Let me be clear, though: I don't mean objectives in the K-12 sense of "Students will know this on the test." Yea, I want students to do well on the test, but in a course as subjective and complex as the study of human communication, I'm thinking way bigger than that. Unlike secondary education, where the goal is often to make sure students "get" some specific piece of information down, in a communication course the goal should often be quite the opposite: to help students see the ambiguity or complexity of a topic; to reframe their taken-for-granted assumptions in a new light. And I'm also a big proponent of the thinking that a great discussion is an outcome we should always strive for, no matter the goals of that particular class.

A lot of the objectives already provided in our instructor's manual focus on simple comprehension (what students need to get out of their own independent reading). The class period needs to be dedicated to bigger-picture objectives like these.

As I consider my objectives for Chapter 2: Foundations of Verbal Language, I'm asking myself the following questions:

1) What particular concepts might need extra remediation?
2) What communication concepts can we demonstrate through classroom interaction?
3) What assumptions about communication might students need to abandon or let go?
4) Where are matters more complicated than they appear at first glance?
5) What skills on upcoming assessments might students need to practice?

And, as I navigate the chapter, I'm prioritizing the following concepts:

1) The subjectivity of language: Several concepts in the chapter deal with this theme, from the discussion about inferences we often unwittingly make about words to the difference between denotative and connotative meanings. Also present is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis about how a person's language shapes a person's way of comprehending the world around them. Note that I'm not interested in defining these words for students and making them think up examples--that'd be a boring lesson and a waste of their time. I'm interested in the deeper issue--

Objective 1: Helping students recognize, in the day-to-day words they use, the way subjective interpretations, inferences, cultural differences, and connotative meanings influence (and distort) the way language is perceived.

2) The variety present within a single language: Spinning off of the previous concept, students need to grasp the complexity of the English language itself. There are a few sub-components of this area students need to understand: the differences between standard and non-standard English (and the excellent arguments to be had about when it's okay to violate the "rules" of a language!); the way we comprehend people (and are comprehended) based on regional dialect differences; and the way language evolves as an organic organism, spinning off into slang, office speak, text message speak, and the little interpersonal languages between friends.

Objective 2: Students will deliberate about the origins, evolution, and "binding rules" of the English language, leaving the discussion with a more intricate understanding of how these concepts have influenced their own language usage.

Incidentally, building class around these two objectives allows us to go from the micro level (individual words and symbols) to the macro level (the evolution of language).

Now I know what I want students to learn, which will both guide me in deciding on activities as well as in designing discussion questions.

Non-Objectives

I only have an hour and fifteen minutes. There are a few things I have chosen to exclude (you may decide differently! That's fine--as long as you have rationale!). Here are some of those things, and why I am not dwelling on them:

Learning Symbols: When I consider the two theories of language formation in the book and what I want students to do with them, I honestly feel like the most important thing they need to get is the ability to apply and explain these concepts on their own. Don't get me wrong: There could be an entire class on how human beings "get" language, and there are plenty of potential discussions here--but I don't think it's the most vital avenue today. Rather than spend class time on these, I will simply remind students that this content is important, and possibly quiz them in a later class on the concepts.

The Origins of Language: I think the chapter does a perfectly reasonable job of giving a brief overview of this idea. No need to dwell further--as much as I'd love to talk about a zillion theories. They call it "cutting" things from the lesson because it hurts to do so.

The Cybernetic Process: Again, the chapter does this justice. It provides practical, concrete examples. Students may simply be tested over this as a labeling exercise--it is up to me to reinforce the expectation that they know this!

Lesson Structure

Just as we provide students with a format to follow in their Informative Briefing and Persuasive Speech, an easy way to wrap your head around teaching is to give yourself a basic format to follow. One of the most challenging things about teaching is that overwhelming feeling of figure out how 75 minutes will pass--that sounds like an immense length of time!

You will need to find your own structure or outline, but to share with you, I will be (loosely) following this structure every class period:

I) Opening prompt
As I take roll, students will react to a brief prompt, question, or quotation on the PowerPoint.

II) Announcements/collect assignments
Class will begin with a few quick housekeeping announcements.

III) Discussion questions
I will lead a quick discussion around the prompt on the board, leading into the lesson.

IV) Brief lecture
I will briefly lecture to address a relatively complex concept that won't be addressed in any activities.
This addresses one of the minor/less important objectives decided on for the day.

V) Activity: Directions & Resources
I will give directions for a first activity; we will then work through it together.
This addresses one of the major objectives decided on for the day.

VI) Discussion questions
We will debrief/discuss the first activity, weaving in concepts from the chapter.

VII) Activity: Directions & Resources
I will give directions for a second activity; we will, again, work through it together.
This addresses one of the major objectives decided on for the day.

VIII) Discussion questions
We will debrief/discuss the second activity, weaving in concepts from the chapter

IX) Announcements/assignments/reminders
I will close the lesson with reminders, assignments, and announcements

Once I have this structure or template laid out in front of me, planning becomes a very simple manner of figuring out what to plug in where. This outline tells me what I need to create or find. Time can vary based on the complexity of what I'm teaching. And of course, I can always subtract the lecture or add more activities depending on what I want to cover. The lesson below, for instance, will contain more small activities.

My Lesson Plan for Chapter 2: Foundations of Verbal Language


I) Opening prompt

Based on your reading, how would you define language? Feel free to use a metaphor or analogy, or come up with a dictionary-style definition. You can work with a partner.

II) Announcements/collect assignments
1) Remind students of the need to come to class prepared: reading completed!
2) Reinforce: Mid-term covers concepts covered in class and concepts in the reading!

III) Discussion questions
Beginning question: What is language? How would we define it?
What would our thought look like without language?
Why do you think people started using language?
React to this quotation:
Ludwig Wittgenstein: Our language can be seen as an ancient city: a maze of little streets and squares, of old and new houses, and of houses with additions from various periods; and this surrounded by a multitude of new boroughs with straight regular streets and uniform houses. 
In what ways is our language like the city Wittgenstein describes?
Segue: Contextualize this in the discussion of verbal language that is to come today: language controls our lives; we interact with the world through symbols; vital to begin our study of communication through this lens

IV) Brief lecture/application of ideas from chapter
Reminder: Students need to study sections on cybernetic process; theories of language formation

As a lecturer, I want to get students applying concepts to situations. So, I've provided two quick applications here.

1) Two-valued orientation: Definition; Where do we see two-valued orientations at play in this election?

Deeper discussion (I'm still kicking around whether I'll actually do this or not; it might be a bit too advanced for the students. I'll get a read on them the first day): Where do our two-valued orientations come from? Students will receive the following excerpt from C. Jan Swearingen's Rhetoric & Irony: Western Literacy and Western Lies (p. 21):

Students will discuss with their partners: Why do we teach children this way? How does this shape the way they learn language? Is this to blame for our two-valued orientations toward politics, toward culture? Why or why not?

2) Cybernetic process: Quick walk-through; Verbal quiz: I show you an object; walk me through the process your head goes through.

V) Activities: Semantics and Perception
This section is broken into two small activities [Both available in the Instructor's Manual]:
1) Tear a piece of paper into three pieces. On the first, draw a gross bug; on the second, a food you hate; on the third, write the name of your mother. I'll instruct students to stamp on one, then the other, then the other.  We'll use this to have a quick discussion about how words evoke meaning.

2) Write down: random word association. What do you think of when you hear...
Pink
Grass
M&M
Love
Nickelback
Strange
Mitt Romney
Freedom

Partner discussion: What different connotations arose with each word? What in your personal history led you to think of the association you did?

Alternately: I may structure this as the PEP speeches Dr. W discussed at orientation, to give students some impromptu speaking practice.

VI) Activities: Cultural Dimensions of Language

1) What is your dialect? I had students access a massive dialect map at the end of last class period. They were to look up their regional dialect and consider the way that they speak, where that language came from, and how it differs from their peers. I will begin by explaining my dialect: Mid-western; I say the word "warsh," I get y'all from my time in Southern Illinois; I can't say the word "wolf" to save my life, I pronounce "war" as "wahrr" instead of "wore." We'll share a few of these, then move into a more pressing question: What does all of this mean?

How have differences in language affected you in your interactions with others, or in your professional environments?

Stephen Colbert on speaking with a southern accent: “At a very young age, I decided I was not gonna have a southern accent. Because people, when I was a kid watching TV, if you wanted to use a shorthand that someone was stupid, you gave the character a southern accent.”

Should we make judgments about people based on how they use language and its formality?
Looking at the textbook: Is it fair that users of "standard English" win out in job interviews?

Dave Chappelle interview clip: "Every African American knows two languages: Street... and job interview."
Should people need to "code switch?"

Do you agree with Strunk and White, of The Elements of Style, who argue that there are "principal requirements of plain English style?" Or does it matter if you play by the rules if you are understood?

A brief debate may be held if the class is evenly split on this topic.

3) Sapir-Whorf: The way a culture thinks is structured by the language they use. Here's a concrete example of this. I will share with students the various usages of time highlighted by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in their book Metaphors We Live By:


"You're wasting my time.
This gadget will save you hours.
I don't have the time to give you.
How do you spend your time these days?
That flat tire cost me an hour.
I've invested a lot of time in her.
I don't have enough time to spare for that.
You're running out of time.
You need to budget your time.
Put aside some time for ping pong.
Is that worth your while?
Do you have much time left?
He's living on borrowed time.
You don't use your time profitably.
I lost a lot of time when I got sick.
Thank you for your time."

Full group debrief: What are the effects of the way our culture talks about time? How does the "money" metaphor influence our way of thinking about the time we have?
Partner discussion: Imagine how a culture would be different that used the following metaphors for time:
- Time is cooking
- Time is traveling
- Time is storage containers
- Time is writing
- Time is conversation


VII) Closing discussion
Ludwig Wittgenstein: "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."
How would we think if we did not have language? What would thought look like? How would we interact with the world?

VIII) Announcements/assignments/reminders
Before next class....
1) Know your group members for your group presentation assignment (groups of four!)
2) Read Chapter 3 in Berko, et. al.
3) Watch the Paul Ekman video on YouTube that I shared on ELMS (the science of lie detection) to supplement the nonverbal unit

In Conclusion...

Lesson planning doesn't need to be a headache. You just need to go about it with a clear structure and approach that works for you and that strategically hits the major ideas that need to be discussed in that day's lesson.