4.0 ASSURE Model

ASSURE Model was founded and introduced by Heinich, Molanda and Russell back in 1989 as

mentioned by Chin Yoon Poh in her book published in 2009. ASSURE takes the meaning of to

make certain of something to happen according to Oxford Mini Dictionary (2013). ASSURE

model was introduced in order to help educators and especially teachers in ensuring the

effectiveness of their lesson plans. Most teachers understand that integrating technology into

the curriculum is the best way to make a positive difference in the classroom. While many

specific strategies can be used to add technology to the mix, the following model which is,

ASSURE model is one example of how to integrate technology into your future lessons chosen

effectively.

The ASSURE model is a six-step Instructional Systems Design (ISD) as explained by Michalak

(2011) in her online journal that the model is intended to help teachers utilize technology and

media in the classroom. Moroever, ASSURE is a way to ensure that the learning environment is

appropriate for students. ASSURE can be used in lesson plans to improve your own teaching

and your students’ learning while using technology. The ASSURE acronym stands for these

important components:

A- Analyze Learners

S- State Objectives

S- Select Instructional Methods, Media, and Materials

U- Utilize Media and Materials

R- Require Learner Participation

E- Evaluate and Revise

4.1 Why do we use it?

The ASSURE model is a fantastic way to plan effective, media-rich lessons. ASSURE is based

on Robert Gagne’s “Events of Instruction” as noted by Bush (2012). The model is

Constructivism-based and in other words, it is a framework that assumes passive learners will

not learn at their best but learners must be actively participating in their own learning, interacting

with their environment and peers. Hence, the integreation of technology into the lesson will

surely help to motivate the students to engage better in their learning and the lesson. ASSURE

 also recognizes the different learning styles of all students where the teacher is required to

understand the needs and wants of the students while preparing the lesson.

4.2 Lesson Plan Elaboration

My lesson plan was pre-planned based on the ASSURE model. These are some explanations

and elaborations on how the ASSURE steps are integrated and asserted into my lesson plan.

Some images are included for further and better understandings. The ASSURE model is divided

into 6 steps which each step is represented by the acronym of the word.

Step 1: The first ‘A’ stands for- Analyse the leaner

In this step the teacher is required to know and understand who the students are, their level of

proficiency in the subject matter, their interests, their needs and wants, their age. Hence, these

information are all included in the very beginning part of my lesson plan where I am required to

mention the number of students, their level of proficiency and also the focus of the lesson.

These are very important to ensure the lesson goes smoothly and the students are able to

learn, understand and achieve the objectives stated.

Furthermore, learning with student interests in mind, teachers can increase student motivation

and learning. Additionally, by understanding the varying literacy strengths and habits of our

students we can identify what Vygotsky calls their "zone of proximal development" where

literacy opportunities are not too hard as to frustrate or too easy to bore but just challenging

enough to promote student learning as disclosed by Wilder (2012) in his journal.

Picture 1

Picture 1 above has a few highlighted phrases as evidence of using ASSURE model step one in

understanding the students and the details of the lesson. Besides that it is the duty of the

teacher to get to know her students regarding their family background, their culture in order to

really understand who they are.

Step 2: The second ‘S’ stands for- State the objectives

The next step is to know what state objective you are going to teach and what do you want your

students to know by the end of the lesson? Looking ahead at your learning outcomes is very

important in order to have a proper lesson. The lesson objectives are very vital to ensure the

lesson goes smoothly and the students are able to learn, understand and achieve the objectives

as stated.

When figuring out the lesson objectives, there are a couple of things a teacher need to bare in

mind as implied by Williams (2007) in his article such as what do you want them to do? The

behavior or capability needs to be demonstrated as learner performance, an observable,

measurable behavior, or a real-world skill. For an instance, during an English language lesson,

a teacher should demonstrate an action verb to help the students understand better. What the

teacher expects od the students to be able to do at the end of the lesson should be specific,

reaslistic and achievable in order to not confuse the young minds and instead help them to

reach beyond the classroom knowledge.

 

Picture 2

Picture 2 indicates the appointed lesson objectives of my lesson plan. As you can see, the

lesson objectives that I have chosen are specific, simple and achievable for students of year

three. Besides that, I also include exactly what the learners need to demonstrate.

Step 3: The third ‘S’ stands for- Select, modify, design methods, media and materials

This is the step where the teacher will build a bridge between the students and the objectives.

The teacher needs to decide what method he or she will use mainly. It could be an individual

work, group work, a field trip or even a video presentation. Next question should be, what media

will you use? Are you going to use photos, multimedia, radio, a computer? Or are you using

store bought materials, getting an outside resource to provide materials, modifying something

you already have, or making something from scratch? The teacher has to decide all of these in

order ot have a smooth running planning.

In addition, the stage of selecting instructional methods, media, and materials cannot be

overlooked. It is truly important to choose methods and materials that will appropriately meet the

state objectives that you are teaching during the lesson. This requires a lot of planning and

preparation on the teacher’s part as mentioned by Williams (2007). Materials also need to be

bought or borrowed ahead of time, which requires preparation. This may be a little tedious,

strenous and tiring byut very rewarding when everything comes into place. 

Picture 3

Picture 3 in the previous page shows the teaching aids, materials and media chosen for the

lesson plan. It is also important to select and list them all so that you can see the overall of what

you need to prepare beforehand. Organizational skills for a teacher are tremendously helpful to

conduct an effective lesson.

Step 4: The fourth ‘U’ stands for- Utilize methods, media and materials

Step four is where the teacher plans on how you to implement the media and materials chosen

in the previous stage. Basically, describe in detail how you are going to implement the materials

and the media chosen to be used in your lesson. This is to help your learners meet the lesson's

objective. 

In order to utilize materials correctly and thoroughly, there are several steps to creating good

student-centered instruction as layed out by Williams (2007).

1.      The teacher needs to preview the material. You must never use anything in class you

haven’t thoroughly check. You do not want to bring in any sensitive issues or materials.

Picture 4

2.      Next, the teacher should also prepare the materials before the lesson. Do make sure that

you have everything you need and that it all works. You do not want any surprises during

your lesson.

3.     Then, you must also prepare the environment. This is where the teacher may set up the

classroom so that whatever activity that you’re doing will work in the space you have.

Besides, setting the environment also means that you have control.

4.      Afterward, you should prepare the learners with information or a come guidelines before

gearing into the lesson. Please give the students an overview or explain some ideas and

concepts of the lesson and also come clean with how they will be evaluated up front.

5.      Last but not leats, provide a creative, fun yet educational learning experience. Teaching is

simply high theatre. The teacher’s showmanship is part of the job. Do bare in mind that teaching

and learning should be an experience not an ordeal, so let your students learn and have fun at

the same time.

Picture 5

Therefore, utilizing these media and materials is very important to preview or use media and

materials before your lesson, especially when using technology facilities such as smartboard,

document camera, streaming video. This is to make sure everything works appropriately on the

lesson day.

Step 5: The fifth ‘R’ stands for- Require learner participation

Now, a teacher will describe and picture mentally how he or she is going to get each learner

"actively and individually involved in the lesson prepared. For a quick instane, games, group

work, are presentations are stated in the lesson plan.

However, teachers need to take note that the method of “sage on the stage is gone”. This

means, that teachers should avoid “chalk and talk” where he or she only preaches, lectures and

explaing minus the role-play, demonstartion and all the innovative way of teaching. Remember,

that our roles as teachers in the classroom today is as one of a guide of the students on the

side, especially with technology connected lessons, the teacher needs to allow the students to

experience learning hands-on and so forth. All activities should provide opportunities to

manipulate the information and allow time for practice during the demonstration of the skill of the

studnets involved. 

Thus, requiring learners to participate is absolutely an essential part of any lesson. To require

students to be actively involved in the lesson will not only engage students, but will also help

them retain what they are learning as commented by Peprah (2004). Some ways to do this are

to incorporate cooperative learning structures, questioning, having discussions, or creating fun,

hands-on activities.

Picture 6

Picture 6 shows the eveidence of how I have planned and picture mentally on studen’s

participation and engagement during the lesson. This part is one of the most important task

during the lesson planning as I need to understand the student’s level and at the same time, I

need to foresee what would they enjoy and what they do not. Hence, with all the considerations

in my mind, I have decided on a few ways of how I want the learnes to response such as saying

the words aloud and practising dialogue with their peers.

Step 6: The sixth ‘E’ stands for- Evaluate and revise

In this final step, a teacher will describe how in the future to measure wheteher the lesson

objectives are met or not. Besides that, the teacher also need to evaluate whether the methods

and media selected are efcetive during the lesson. Here are some other questions the teacher

need to answer at the end of his or her lesson as outlined by Wilder (2012).

1. Evaluate students’ performance:

First of all, the teacher need to determine whether or not the students have met the lesson's

objective.Then, the evaluation should match the objective. Some objectives can be adequately

assessed with a pen and paper test. On the other hand,if the objectives call for demonstrating a

process, creating a product, or developing an attitude, the evaluation will frequently require

observing the behavior in action dring the lesson.

2. Evaluate media components:

Secondly, the teacher also need to determine the effectiveness of the media selected and used

during the lesson. This would require total honesty and real reflection from the teacher to admit

if she has succeeded or not.

3. Evaluate instructor performance:

Finally, the teacher also need to be honest with oneself regarding his or her own performance

as as a guidance, instructor or facilitator. Some questions that the teacher should ask is “Was I

effective?” , “Could I do better?” or “ How to improve this?”

Picture 7 shows on how I plan to evaluate the student’s level of understanding by completing a

worksheet. This worksheet shows the format of a dialogue between a waiter and a customer, in

line with the topic of the lesson “Delicious Food”. Thus, the worksheet given allows the students

to practice the dialogue format. Then, later on, the students are to be paired and prepare a

simple dialogue based on the format given before.

Last but not least, I also require the students to present their own script and dialogue at the front

after some time of practice. This is to allow the students to demonstarte their abilities and

practice public speaking in a small scale.I believe that with such practice, it will help to increase

their confidence and at the same time, brush their ability to speak. Mind you, this is a language

class and what is a language class without practising and speaking the target language in the

lesson.

Picture 7

5.0 Conclusion

Technology has caused a revolutionary change in the classroom and teaching methods all over

the world. This term grows along with advancements made in the field of education. With the

increased use of technology in education ,the methods and aids used for learning and teaching

have drastically changed in the past few years.

Hence, in order for educators and teachers especially to keep up with the ever changing

advancements, ASSURE model seems like a ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ for many teachers

out there. It is what most teachers should be using when designing their lesson plans.  This

model is a lot like our lesson plans, with objectives, materials, and evaluation, but it goes a step

or two further.  It actually shows you how to incorporate technology into our lesson plans.  Since

technology is up and coming in schools, I believe that the incorporation of ASSSURE model

would benefit all teachers and future teachers. No doubt that all students like and enjoy using

technology therefore, incorporating technology into our lesson plans will only benefit us and the

students.