Children must be taught how to think, not what to think

We have come a long way from traditional education, also known as conventional or classical education. The teacher was the centre of the teaching learning process. We were tasked with absorbing information and recalling facts, formulas, and concepts by rote memory. The curriculum is standardised with little room for variation, with strict rules and routines. The silver lining, of course, was that we had sports, music, and other clubs every week, which provided us with a lot of respite from these strict rules and routines and offered us the opportunities for talent development and socialisation.

 Very prestigious teaching schools like mine have emphasised student-centred, interactive, collaborative, and technology-based learning since the eighties.

An interactive lesson plan includes the following elements:

• Recognise measurable goals: At the end of the teaching learning process, the child will be able to define, describe, explain, and recall
• Build activities like discussions, games, and hands-on tasks to keep students engaged
• Build interactive activities like teacher-student, student-student, the student guide mentor team
• Use multimedia and technology tools to support activities

The lesson plan 

• Set smart learning objectives which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
• Plan multiple short interactive activities throughout the teaching learning process, to keep the student engaged.
• Create different activities, such as group discussions, presentations, games or experiments related to the topic to promote active participation
• Engage students in talking and doing, rather than listening. Include guide mentor roles
• Change rooms or surroundings, or take them outside 
• Use educational apps and tools to present concepts
• Allow them to practice

Follow up

• Recap to analyse and assess what worked well
• Reflect on what could be improved
• Use it to refine future lesson plans