Lesson Planning with Purpose

When teachers and students are both engaged in the educational enterprise, every day has the potential to be transformative. Lesson Planning with Purpose takes readers on a journey through many pathways to engaging and meaningful educational experiences. The text first discusses perceptive teaching: the belief that teachers must know themselves and their students while cultivating culturally sensitive, safe, and inviting spaces for learning for all students. Next, five unique approaches to lesson planning are explored: behaviorist, constructivist, aesthetic, ecological, and integrated social–emotional learning. Each chapter provides the rationale for the approach, its theoretical background, practical applications, and critiques and considerations. Chapters end with a sample lesson that can be compared across approaches.

Book Features:

• A comprehensive examination of multiple approaches to lesson planning.
• Guidance for teachers on when to choose various approaches, as well as how they might mix and match and blend ideas.
• User-friendly lesson plan templates, sample lessons, and discussion questions.
• An appendix with lesson plan examples written by practicing teachers across content areas and age groups.

Christy McConnell is professor of foundations and curriculum studies at the University of Northern Colorado. Bradley Conrad is associate professor of education at Capital University, Columbus, Ohio. P. Bruce Uhrmacher is professor of research methods and statistics and curriculum and instruction in the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver.

“ Lesson Planning with Purpose: Five Approaches to Curriculum Design reminds readers that curriculum is only as useful as the actual effect it has on students. The work makes a strong case for the idea that when teaching is contextualized, connected, and culturally responsive, ‘every day has the potential to be transformative.’ The book’s solid theoretical underpinnings make it ideal for educators who employ an eclectic approach to teaching yet find themselves lacking a unified theory to justify their choices. Its unique, think-aloud approach also offers abundant practical guidance in lesson planning for classroom practitioners. Experienced teachers and methods professors will find the book invaluable, and its impact will ripple through the perspectives, practices, and lesson plans of all those who read it.”

—Teachers College Record

“Analyzing pedagogies, trying out approaches aligned with them, and assessing student response and performance are parts of the process of becoming a perceptive, growth-forward teacher. McConnell, Conrad, and Uhrmacher raise and address these components of teacher lesson planning practices that serve the development of both teachers and students. They encourage teachers to unleash their own unique creativity, and they support them with templates for launching purposeful lesson planning that, in turn, serves to foster and extend the creative energies of students.”
—From the Foreword by Jacqueline Grennon Brooks, Hofstra University

“Finally, a book that approaches lesson planning with the complexity it deserves! McConnell, Conrad, and Uhrmacher’s five-approach exploration of curriculum design is one of the most nuanced and thoughtful works on curriculum I’ve seen to date. This book treats teachers as at once artists and intellectuals, curious and thoughtful, masters of their craft and eternal learners. As a result, readers will no doubt wrest lesson planning from the technocrats’ hold and return the wild and wonderful to education.”
—Joel Westheimer, University of Ottawa

Contents (Tentative)

Foreword Jacqueline Grennon Brooks

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Planning with Purpose
Curriculum Lens
Overview of the Five Approaches to Lesson Planning
General Tips to Make Each Approach Successful
Teachers as Artists
What Does It Mean to Plan with Purpose?
How to Use This Book
About Us

2. Perceptive Teaching: Who I Am and What I Do
Teaching is Never a Neutral Act
What is Culture? What is Multicultural Education?
What is Culturally Responsive Pedagogy?
Educational Psychologists’ Contributions to Multiculturalism
Qualities of Perceptive Teaching
Who I Am: Open-Minded, Aware, Caring, Authentic
What I Do: Personalize the Experience, Teach the Whole Person, Teach with Intention, Develop Autonomy
Discussion
Discussion Questions

3. The Behaviorist Approach to Lesson Planning:—Skill Development
Rationale
Theoretical Background
Practical Application: Lesson Plan Formats
Learning Aims: Behavioral Objectives with ABCD Format
Assessment and Evaluation
Classroom Interactions and Roles
Lesson Plan Comparison: The Behaviorist Approach to Teaching Metaphor
Critiques and Considerations
Discussion Questions

4. The Constructivist Approach to Lesson Planning:—Individualized Meaning Making
Rationale
Theoretical Background
Practical Application: Lesson Plan Formats
Learning Aims: Emergent Understandings
Assessment and Evaluation
Classroom Interactions and Roles
Lesson Plan Comparison: The Constructivist Approach to Teaching Metaphor
Critiques and Considerations
Discussion Questions

5. The Aesthetic Approach to Lesson Planning:—Sensory Rich, Memorable Experiences
Rationale
Theoretical Background
Practical Application: Lesson Plan Formats
Learning Aims: Expressive Objectives
Assessment and Evaluation: Critique: Evaluate, Assess, Reflect
Classroom Interactions and Roles
Lesson Plan Comparison: The Aesthetic Approach to Teaching Metaphor
Critiques and Considerations
Discussion Questions

6. The Ecological Approach to Lesson Planning:—Real World Relevance and Connections
Rationale
Theoretical Background
Ecomindedness and Place-based Curriculum Together
Practical Application: Lesson Plan Formats
Learning Aims: Experience-Based Objectives (EBOs)
Lesson Plan Examples
Assessment and Evaluation
Classroom Interactions and Roles
Lesson Plan Comparison: The Ecological Approach to Teaching Metaphor
Critiques and Considerations
Discussion Questions

7. The Integrated Social Emotional Learning Approach to Lesson Planning:— Relationship Building and Holistic Development
Rationale
Theoretical Background
Practical Application: Lesson Plan Formats
Learning Aims: Integrated Social Emotional & Individual SEL Objectives
Assessment and Evaluation
Classroom Interactions and Roles
Lesson Plan Comparison: The Integrated Social Emotional Learning Approach to Teaching Metaphor
Critiques and Considerations
Discussion Questions

8. Planning with Purpose Summary and Extensions
The Five Approaches to Lesson Planning
Paying Attention to Context: Perceptive Teaching
Blending Approaches
Another Word on Lesson Planning
Unit Planning
Unit Plans Using a Single Approach
Bringing it all Together Separately

Appendix A: Behaviorist Lesson Plan Template and Examples
Appendix B: Constructivist Lesson Plan Template and Examples
Appendix C: Aesthetic Lesson Plan Template and Examples
Appendix D: Ecological Lesson Plan Templates (Ecomindedness and Place-Based) and Examples
Appendix E: Integrated Social Emotional Learning (ISEL) Lesson Plan Template and Examples
Appendix F: Biographical Statements for Lesson Plan Examples
References
Index
About the Authors

2023 Society of Professors of Education (SPE) Outstanding Book Award Honorable Mention

2021 American Association for Teaching and Curriculum (AATC) O.L. Davis Outstanding Book Award