{"id":1609,"date":"2026-02-12T15:50:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T20:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/?p=1609"},"modified":"2026-02-12T15:50:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T20:50:27","slug":"lesson-planning-strategies-to-deepen-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/teaching\/lesson-planning-strategies-to-deepen-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesson Planning Strategies to Deepen Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lesson Planning Strategies Article.<\/a> Excerpts below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we want students to move beyond simply showing up and memorizing course content to deeply understanding and confidently applying it, we need to apply essential principles for absorbing, retaining, and using new information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing from learning science models and my own teaching experience, this advice can elevate your sessions to support students\u2019 long-term success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Get students\u2019 full attention\u00a0
If we want our students to learn effectively, we need to help them create and maintain mental space for focused learning.\u00a0One way to do that is to\u00a0minimize distractions<\/a>. Try beginning class by inviting students to clear their minds. Simply ask them to close their eyes for a moment and take deep breaths or prompt them to reflect on a question like \u201cWhat do you need to put aside to participate fully today?\u201d Once students are more present, you\u2019ll want to\u00a0spark their interest<\/a>\u00a0in the day\u2019s topic right away. You can use a provocative statement or headline, a rhetorical question, an interesting statistic, a demonstration, or a quick poll.These opening moments signal to the brain, \u201cPay attention.\u201d<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u00a02. Use what they already know\u00a0
To effectively move information to students\u2019 long-term memory, it\u2019s important to\u00a0connect learnings to pre-established neural pathways<\/a>. This helps them make sense of new content more quickly and creates deeper pathways for accessing knowledge later.Questions like \u201cWhat do you already know about . . .?\u201d or \u201cHow have you experienced . . .?\u201d can connect new material to things that are already familiar to students, like past content, readings or cases, their lived experiences, and world events.These connections can deepen comprehension, strengthen recall, and build the neural pathways that make learning last.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u00a03. Get their emotions involved\u00a0
Emotionally charged experiences<\/a>\u00a0stick in memory far better than neutral ones.\u00a0Decades ago, for instance, I took a course called Education in the Nuclear Age. On the first day, the instructor dropped a single metal pellet into a bowl. That pellet, he said, represented how much nuclear weaponry was used during the bombing of Hiroshima. Then, he slowly poured a whole bucket of pellets into the dish. The thunderous sound represented the world\u2019s current nuclear arsenal. I can still remember the rush of emotions I felt.\u00a0If you remember a similar moment from your education, it\u2019s likely because it triggered some feelings.\u00a0Storytelling is a great way to weave emotion into your instruction, whether those stories are from you or from guest speakers, media, or the learners themselves.\u00a0Simulations<\/a>,\u00a0case studies<\/a>, dramatic demonstrations, music, and art also carry emotional weight.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u00a04. Make content manageable\u00a0
As educators, we want to share all the knowledge we can. But to prevent cognitive overload for students, we need to identify what\u2019s essential for mastering course concepts and make optional readings of the rest.\u00a0Once you\u2019ve done that, turn to class structure.\u00a0Spacing out content<\/a>\u00a0in shorter, more frequent sessions gives students time to absorb and then retrieve information. If longer sessions are necessary, break content into digestible chunks.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0From passive learning to active understanding\u00a0
We can no longer rely on the richness of our subject matter alone to engage learners. Information is abundant; what\u2019s scarce is meaningful instruction that helps learners connect, remember, and apply it.\u00a0Integrating proven principles of adult learning and common threads from key instructional models can bridge that gap and lead to deep, lasting understanding.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lesson Planning Strategies Article. Excerpts below. If we want students to move beyond simply showing up and memorizing course content to deeply understanding and confidently applying it, we need to apply essential principles for absorbing, retaining, and using new information. Drawing from learning science models and my own teaching experience, this advice can elevate your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-teaching"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kathryn Byrnes","author_link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/author\/kbyrnes\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/baldwin-clt-teaching-times\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}