Some Useful Ideas for Organizing Lessons
What does a lesson look like? Some students are visual learners. They need a concrete object
or an image to help them understand what is usually described using words. Teachers can also be
visual learners” as well. I like to use the following pictures to represent the structure of a lesson.
Newspaper Story—The Inverted Pyramid
In basic journalism classes, a newspaper article is described as an “inverted pyramid.” An introductory
paragraph summarizes the major points of the story. In the rest of the paragraphs, information is presented
in descending order of importance. Stories are written this way so that editors, or at the last minute, word
processors (they used to be called typesetters), can eliminate material from the bottom up depending on the
space available for the article.
© Taylor & Francis 2013
Regular Lesson Pyramid
Try to picture a lesson as a “modified pyramid.” An introductory activity establishes the context for the
lesson. The first or primary activities introduce the major points students will be learning. Secondary
activities introduce supportive information organized in descending order of importance. If a lesson
proceeds quickly, they get included. When time gets tight, these activities can be eliminated from the
bottom up. Unlike the inverted pyramid, the summary activity is crucial because it allows students to
summarize major points. Wherever you are in the lesson, at the “two-minute warning” you move to your
final activity.
© Taylor & Francis 2013
Modified Lesson Pyramid
No two classes are alike. Life always manages to intervene in the classroom. If you have an early
morning class or one just after lunch or gym, students are going to wander in late. If you wait for them to
arrive, more of them will just come late, so you have to start teaching at the bell. So that latecomers know
what the class is doing, I change the “picture.” Instead of starting the lesson at the beginning, I start in the
“middle” with an extended introductory activity using supportive information. When enough students
arrive, I swing into the primary activities, establishing the context of the lesson and introducing the major
points. Once again we proceed to secondary activities, and at the “two-minute warning,” move to the final
activity.
© Taylor & Francis 2013
The Perfect “Brain” Storm
In the sample streamlined high school social studies lesson plan on the lives and hopes of enslaved
Africans in the American South, I suggest having students brainstorm a list of ideas on the front board
about ways we can we learn about the ideas and feelings of ordinary people from the past. Many teachers
like to begin a lesson by having students “brainstorm” or list what they already know, or think they know.
The “K-W-L approach” provides a useful structure for organizing brainstorming. After students list “what we
know,” they evaluate the list for missing pieces and contradictory statements, and then construct a new list,
“what we want to know.” At the conclusion of a lesson (final activity) or a unit, students return to their initial
lists and construct a final list, “what we learned.”
© Taylor & Francis 2013