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Lesson Planet Review Guidelines

Lesson Planet makes it easy for educators to search from over 400,000+ teacher-reviewed online lesson plans and worksheets that are posted on the Web. Each of these lesson plans has been evaluated and rated by an experienced and credentialed K-12 teacher. Each Lesson Planet teacher reviewers is specially trained to review, summarize and rate each online lesson plan according to the review guidelines listed below. Lesson Planet reviewers also assign an overall rating for each lesson plan based on the Lesson Planet: Lesson Plan Rating Criteria Rubric.

Lesson Plan Rating Criteria Rubric

5-Exemplary 4-Proficient 3-Partially Proficient 2-Minimally Proficient 1-Not Proficient
Instructional Design and Layout
  • Thoroughly explains and/or explicitly incorporates best teaching practices and methodologies 1 throughout the learning process
  • Design is comprehensive 2 and sequentially formatted as a fully functional teaching and/or learning tool
  • Thoroughly outlines an innovative, practical approach to learning a specific skill or concept
  • Clearly and/or consistently incorporates best teaching practices 1 throughout the learning process
  • Design is complete and clearly formatted as a functional teaching and/or learning tool
  • Clearly outlines an innovative or practical approach to learning a specific skill or concept
  • Incorporates best teaching practices 1 at some points throughout the learning process
  • Design is mostly complete and partially formatted as a functional teaching and/or learning tool
  • Includes a somewhat innovative or practical approach to learning a specific skill or concept
  • Incorporates best teaching practices 1 at few points throughout the learning process
  • Design is minimally complete and minimally formatted as a functional teaching tool
  • Includes a minimally innovative or practical approach to learning a specific skill or concept
  • Does not incorporate best teaching practices 1
  • Design is incomplete and formatting does not work as a functional teaching tool
  • Includes neither an innovative nor practical approach to learning a specific skill or concept
Content & Learning Objective
  • Thoroughly and clearly stated or implied objective or purpose
  • Thoroughly supports students in developing and/or achieving specific, targeted, and/or measurable skills or learning objectives
  • Thoroughly explains and includes all details necessary for students to achieve and extend beyond learning objectives
  • Clearly stated or implied objective or purpose
  • Sufficiently supports students in developing and/or achieving specific, targeted, and/or measurable skills or learning objectives
  • Clearly includes all components 2 necessary for students to achieve learning objectives
  • Somewhat clear objective or purpose
  • Partially supports students in developing somewhat specific, targeted, and/or measurable skills or learning objectives
  • Includes most components 2 necessary for students to achieve learning objectives
  • Unclear objective or purpose
  • Minimally supports students in developing specific, targeted, and/or measurable skills or learning objectives
  • Includes few components 2 necessary for students to achieve learning objectives
  • No stated or implied objective or purpose
  • Does not support students in developing specific, targeted, and/or measurable skills learning objectives
  • Includes no components 2 necessary for students to achieve learning objectives
Engagement
  • Thoroughly stimulating and engaging 3 materials and/or activities provided throughout learning process
  • Thoroughly stimulates in-depth critical and/or creative thinking 4 throughout the learning process
  • Sufficiently stimulating and/or engaging 3 activities and/or materials provided throughout learning process
  • Clearly stimulates critical and/or creative thinking 4 through most of the learning process
  • Somewhat stimulating and engaging 3 activities and/or materials provided at some points during learning process
  • Makes a clear attempt to stimulate somewhat critical or creative thinking 4 in some parts of the learning process
  • Minimally stimulating or engaging 3 activities and/or materials provided rarely, if at all, during the learning process
  • Makes little attempt to stimulate critical or creative thinking 4 in any part of the learning process
  • The resource provides neither stimulating nor engaging 3 activities and/or materials during the learning process
  • Does not attempt to stimulate critical or creative thinking 4 in any part of the learning process
Language Conventions
  • Virtually free of grammatical errors, including punctuation, spelling, and/or capitalization
  • 3-5 grammatical errors including punctuation, spelling, and/or capitalization.
  • 7-10 grammatical errors, including punctuation, spelling, and/or capitalization.
  • 10-15 grammatical errors, including punctuation, spelling, and/or capitalization.
  • Frequent grammatical errors, including punctuation, spelling, and/or capitalization errors

*Resources should be rated in context of other similar resources

  1. Best Teaching Practice

    Best teaching practices are research-based instructional practices. They build upon background knowledge and skills. They may incorporate innovative approaches to learning, current research and trends in education, opportunities for multiple modes of learning, or technology.

    Some best teaching practices and methodologies often includes:

    • Discovery Learning
    • Constructivist Learning
    • Tiered Instruction
    • Cooperative Learning
    • Differentiated Instruction
    • Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development

  2. Comprehensive Design

    A comprehensive design incorporates all materials, resources, and procedural components necessary to achieving the learning objective.

    A complete lesson would include the following components:

    • Clearly stated objective/SWBAT (Students will be able to...)
    • Clear procedure/teaching process of events
    • Materials list/resources; resources if applicable should include book/story title, web links, attached printables/handouts, video title/link, etc.
    • Clear statement of standards addressed in the lesson
    • Anticipatory set
    • Direct Instruction
    • Guided Practice
    • Independent Practice
    • Rubric/assessment tool or criteria which reflects the student's progress toward the stated objective/standard
    • Accommodations, modifications, differentiation, and/or extensions
    • Cross curricular connections to the lesson

  3. Engaging

    Engaging resources involve ways to maintain interest, attention and enthusiasm.

    Resources should have multiple methods to engage learners and expect that students are involved and kept on–task. Resources should ensure that Acquisition / Application / Assimilation and Adaptation tasks are consistent and set with high expectations. When students are engaged in the learning process, real achievement takes place, and their chances to excel at what they do increase. Examples can include hands-on learning or regard of multiple intelligences.

  4. Critical and Creative thinking

    Creative thinking is described as making and communicating connections to: think of many possibilities; think and experience in various ways and use different points of view; think of new and unusual possibilities; and guide in generating and selecting alternatives. Critical thinking is described as analyzing and developing possibilities to: compare and contrast many ideas; improve and refine ideas; make effective decisions and judgments; and provide a sound foundation for effective action. (Isaksen and Treffinger, 1985).

    Critical thinking is supported by such methodologies as:

    • Bloom's Taxonomy
    • Socratic Discussion
    • ICLE's Rigor and Relevance Framework
    • Complex Instruction
    • Cooperative Learning