Instructional Planning

Instruction, properly conceived, is an effort to assist in shaping growth. Many events and experiences in an adult learner's life also shape growth. By imaginatively incorporating the learner's experiences into instructional planning, it is possible to optimize learning. Designing learning experiences or instructional activities to build on prior experiences while meeting the adult learner's goals and needs and achieving the learning standards is what instruction is all about. An example of such planning is illustrated below.

The major purpose of the lesson in the following example is to enhance reading and writing skills utilizing an interest area for the learners, but it also speaks to the learning standard for health education, physical education, and family and consumer sciences on maintaining a safe and healthy environment.

Students have told their instructor, Marianne, of their interest in the health and safety of their children. According to the English language arts learning standards, Marianne knows that learners need lots of opportunities to read and write a wide variety of texts based on learners’ interests. Marianne is also aware of the Health Promotion for Adult Literacy Students: An Empowering Approach curriculum and its latest module on child safety.

She decides to present a few options of reading activities to her students:

• choose one topic from the list to read about as a group,
• all read different materials about the same topic, or
• read about any one of the topics at the same time.

The adult learners decide to read the same material about child wellness and safety. To give students an opportunity to see different kinds of texts and to allow students some choice, Marianne asks the students to pick one item from the selection she has assembled on the topic of child health and safety: newspaper articles, brochure, simple short story, or a segment of the student workbook on child safety.

Marianne recalls that students should prepare for reading by activating their prior knowledge, again an English language arts learning standard. Before students begin reading, she says to them, “Tell me what you already know about child safety.” She then records their responses on a flip chart, using a simple graphic organizer to make it clear. She draws a circle with the words “child safety” in it. Radiating from the circle are the students’ responses.

After reading the material of their choice, Marianne leads a discussion on child health and safety. Using the sample lessons from the health promotion module, she plans further activities to reinforce the concepts.