How to Create a Personalised Online Tutoring Lesson Plan
A good online tutoring lesson plan provides a session structure without making it too rigid
Each student has different goals, prior knowledge, learning needs and areas for improvement, so having a flexible lesson plan can help keep a tutor on track while also allowing flexibility to the session based on the student's understanding and pace.
1. Identify the Student's Goal
The first step to creating a lesson plan is to understand what the student's goal is for the session
The goal can be:
To understand a difficult topic
Complete an assignment
Prepare for an exam
Practice a certain skill
Practise challenging questions
A good goal will guide the tutor on what they should focus their session on.
2. Understand the Student's Current Level
Before teaching a new concept, a tutor should have a brief understanding of the student's current knowledge level
A few short questions, examples or practice questions can help determine knowledge gaps.
This helps prevent two potential issues: spending too much time on concepts that the student already understands, and teaching new concepts before the foundational concepts are understood.
3. Divide the Lesson Into Clear Sections
A basic online tutoring session can be divided up like this:
Introduction → Review → New Concept → Practice → Questions → Summary
This can be changed depending on the topic, the goal of the session, and the student's needs.
4. Keep Activities Practical
Avoid an over-focus on explanations
Provide students with opportunities to solve, answer, explain, practice and apply what they are learning. This builds engagement and gives the tutor the opportunity to identify misunderstandings.
5. Leave Time for Questions
Don't fill up the whole session with planned content
Leave room for questions, clarification and unexpected difficulties. A student may need more explanation before moving on to a new topic. A flexible plan means it will be easier to allow extra time for questions.
6. Adapt the Lesson Pace
A personalised lesson plan should allow a tutor to adapt the lesson pace depending on the student.
If a concept is being understood quickly, the tutor can spend less time on it or provide more challenging practice. If a concept is being struggled with, the tutor can spend extra time on it, or revisit a similar concept if they feel the student needs more time to understand.
The lesson plan should support the student: not the other way around.
7. End With a Short Review
Save the last few minutes of the session for a summary or review
Using questions such as:
"What did you learn today?"
"What was the most challenging part?"
"Can you explain this concept to me?"
"What should we revise next?"
This gives the student a chance to reflect, and allows the tutor to prepare for future sessions.
Simple Online Tutoring Lesson Plan Template
Tutors can follow this basic structure for each session:
Goal: what should the student aim to achieve?
Review: what previous knowledge is required?
New Topic: what needs to be taught?
Practice: how will the student apply it?
Questions: what needs clarification?
Summary: what did the student learn?
Next Step: What should the student practice or prepare before their next session?
This can be applied to all subjects, all ages, and across all different learning goals and session lengths.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an online tutoring lesson plan?
An online tutoring lesson plan is a structured plan that helps a tutor to structure a session based on the student's learning goals, prior knowledge, activities, practice, questions and next step.
Should every tutoring session follow the same structure?
While a consistent framework will help tutors to stay consistent, the lesson plan should be modified for every session based on the subject and the student's needs.
How long should an online tutoring lesson plan be?
It doesn't have to be long. A short lesson plan covering the goal, key topics, activities and questions, and next learning step will give tutors enough structure to begin planning their session.
Why should tutors personalise lesson plans?
Personalisation allows a tutor to customise the content, difficulty, pace, explanations and activities based on the student's current learning needs.
What should a tutor do if the planned lesson takes longer than the allocated time?
Identify the most important learning objective, revise the other activities and carry any unfinished activities into a future session. Don't rush through an important learning objective just to finish the lesson plan.
Final Thoughts
A good lesson plan provides structure for the tutor while also having the flexibility to meet the student's needs. The most useful lesson plan for tutors isn't necessarily the most detailed one. It's the one that ensures the session still focuses on the student's learning goal, knowledge, practice and progress. By planning with flexibility, tutors can make their online sessions more productive and more personalised.
