FIG. 3.4 Planning high school-level mini-lessons.
Cliches usually contain an element of truth. There is always a first time. Everyone starts as
a beginner. No one improves without practice.
While you try to figure out what will work and to develop your own particular class-
room style, it is helpful to build lessons up from their component parts and practice pre-
senting mini-lessons either for colleagues in secondary education classes or for small
groups of students. Essentially, a mini-lesson is a piece of a lesson, usually consisting of
only one activity. Working on one part of a lesson, a particular idea, teaching skill, or ap-
proach, allows you to focus in on an area you need to strengthen or something you want
to experiment with.
However, even though you will be designing and teaching only a part of a lesson, you
need to keep in mind a vision of the lesson as a whole and where this piece fits in. As you
prepare a mini-lesson the following are some things you need to continually consider:·Who are my students(both socially and academically)?
·What are my goals(short-term goals for this activity and lesson and long-term
goals for an entire unit and curriculum)?
·What are my strategiesto help this particular group of students achieve these
short-term and long-term goals?
·What materialsdo I have available?
·How will I assessthe success of my strategies in achieving my goals?SUBJECT: ________________________________________ GRADE LEVEL: __________
LESSON AIM OR TOPIC:____________________________________________________
GOALS (Concepts, content, and/or skills developed in this mini-lesson):_________
· ________________________________________________________________________
· ________________________________________________________________________
· ________________________________________________________________________
MATERIALS: _______________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY (To establish context and motivate student interest): __
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
TRANSITION (Shift from the introductory activity to the body of the lesson): ______
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
ASSESSMENT (Criteria I will use to evaluate the mini-lesson): __________________
__________________________________________________________________________98 CHAPTER 3