Mini-Lessons REALLY Work!
Mini-Lessons Should Be:
 |
| Mini-Lesson ~ Short |
Short:
Exactly how long should I plan for my mini-lesson? A good rule of thumb for planning for the time I should spend on a mini-lesson is 1 minute for each year of the child.
Keep your lessons to the point ~ cut out all the nonessential fluffy stuff! Believe me, I know how difficult this is for us teachers.
For example, if your students are 6 years old, then spend 6 minutes on the mini-lesson. This time will be very short, so make sure that you are extremely well planned!
 |
| Mini-Lesson ~ Sweet |
Sweet:
What do I mean by sweet? By sweet, I mean to make your mini-lesson memorable, interesting, and exciting. Wow!, this will take good planning.
Do something that will hold your student's attention. Examples: pull words out of a bag, sing a quick song, use lots of visuals and graphics, act it out, make a game out of everything, etc.
 |
| Mini-Lesson Successful |
Super Successful:
You will find that spending less time on a much more focused lesson will result in greater learning! It seems crazy, but you will actually be "direct teaching" your whole group for less time and they will learn more. This is so exciting!
Mini + Lesson = AWESOME Learning
Using mini-lessons to teach will give you more time to spend with your students in small groups or guided reading groups. Yes! :)
 |
| Questions About Mini-Lessons |
Questions I had when I started teaching with mini-lessons, as opposed to "maxi-lessons."
*What about read alouds? How will I be able to read an entire book in that short amount of time? .....simple..... Read part of the book. It isn't absolutely necessary to read the entire book or text in one sitting. You can even read the book over a period of a week or read only a portion of the book and move on...
How will I have enough time to teach everything in such a short amount of time? .....simple..... You MUST be well planned and prepared. Without a focused lesson, you really won't have a lesson.
TIP: Post your focus on the board so that you will be able to stick with it!
I need more! What is another idea for being able to teach everything in a shorter amount of time? .....simple..... Plan to break a larger lesson down into 3 or 4 mini-lessons. You will be spending less time on direct teaching and I promise you, your kids will learn MORE.
Seems like a miracle. A wonderful, wonderful miracle! :)
What questions or concerns do you have about mini-lessons?
jen :)
