DEVELOPING LESSON PLANS: In developing lesson plan formats, two things are paramount: extraordinarily careful documentation and room left for possible changes. Sloppy accounting of the direction your class will be going is worse than none. And documentation that doesnt have leeway for change is almost instantly obsolete. The types of plan formats generally used are the: outline, sentence outline, narrative outline, narrative. The primary difference is in the amount of information and narrative in the body of the presentation. Your plan for a presentation should be at least a sentence outline or preferably a narrative outline.

READING LESSON PLANS: All maps have common information, called the legend, which tells you how to read them. The lesson plan should also have a legend (the cover sheet) which tells the trainer what the learning environment will be. The cover sheet includes the course title, the lesson title, the length of time for the lesson, the target audience, the performance objectives, the evaluation procedures, and the equipment and supplies needed for you and your students. Although your department may have a specific format for this information the purpose is more important than the format.

MAKING INFORMATIVE LESSON PLANS: --The course title or lesson title should accurately reflect the content of the lesson or course and be stated simply. --The length of time for the lesson should include time required for lesson presentation and suggested time, date, and hour at which lesson delivery would be most effective. --The target population entry shgould answer several questions. What skill level will the trainees have? Is the content appropriate for the audience? Will the audience be homogeneous, or a mixed group of people with different backgrounds, ages, and job skills?