5.2 Learning through small steps

You may have noticed while reading the section ‘Lesson planning’ of the TESSA key resource ‘Planning and preparing your lessons [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] ’, that It is important to break down subjects and topics to be dealt with in lessons into sections that can fit into a lesson time.

It often occurs that the portion of the subject or theme selected for one lesson is complex, because it is composed of several elements, or because it asks for new competencies or knowledge, but also because children acquire new competencies or knowledge in differently sized bites. Therefore, it is necessary to break down their teaching–learning into small steps that are well articulated and logically organised. This will allow all pupils to attain the objectives of the lesson.

Activity 21: One step at a time

This activity will provide teachers with examples of the steps in planning lessons.

  • Download from the TESSA website Section 4 of Module 3 of Life Skills (Primary) and read Case study 1.
  • While reading the case study, make notes on: 1) The objectives of the activity proposed by the teacher 2) The different activities/steps that the pupils will go through to reach the objective.

You should also consider one or more activities that will enable you to evaluate whether the pupils have learned, what and how much they have learned. For more information, please consult the chapter ‘Assessment and feedback’ in this toolkit .

5.1 Differentiated goals

5.3 A directory of activities