PAL – A Lesson Planning Companion for LBS Practitioners

What is PAL?

The Planning a Lesson website — PAL for short — is a lesson planning companion that’s a little like a conversation with a teaching peer—a peer who has already thought about planning engaging lessons that flow. 

The ideas and materials in this digital space stem from thoughtful questions, robust discussions and the collaborative efforts of the PAL working group.  Thus, PAL is a space to engage with the insights from front-line LBS practitioners just like you, and to garner some handy tips. 

PAL could  also be used as a place to return to for inspiration or to spark discussions around learner-centred approaches and strategies with LBS colleagues.

PAL is

• A new way to look at lesson planning 
• An opportunity to reflect on your practice
• A space for front-line insights, tips and resources

You will find a blended-learning lesson planning flow developed for and by literacy practitioners grounded in research and research-in-practice. It is kitchen tested but flexible enough that you can add your own flavour and refine the process to meet the needs of your evolving practice.

PRE-LESSON:
Anticipating challenges

• Challenges to lesson flow present themselves before the lesson even begins. Technology issues and day-to-day class logistics can impact a lesson.
• Consider the most common pre-lesson challenges that can become bottlenecks to flow and try to turn them into learning opportunities.

THE LESSON:
Planning for learning and lesson flow

• Skills are honed not only through discrete tasks, but through active learning strategies and lesson components that build upon each other for connections to be made. 
• Take a look at planning a lesson where adult learners work with digital tools and each other by way of activities that are purposefully planned.

POST-LESSON:
Taking the learning beyond the class session

• Taking the learning and newly acquired digital skills into the real world, post-lesson, is a way for adult learners to solidify their learning.
• Explore some simple ways to encourage learners to think about their digital wins and reflect on how to apply their new skills beyond the LBS classroom in a meaningful way.