Lesson Planning (Elementary, Middle Years)

Evaluating the materials you use in your teaching is an essential and often complicated step in the process of designing learning. Even items that have been purchased by the Library to support teaching and learning need to be evaluated prior to being selected for use in your lessons. The following are all factors that may influence your decision to select certain learning resources:

• Relevance to the curriculum

• Alignment with identified goals and learning outcomes for your unit or lesson

• Suitability to grade level and/or individual students in your class

• Credibility, intention, and biases of the author/creator/publisher

• Accessibility of the resource

• Publication date and currency

• Format of resource

• Copyright and fair dealing considerations

The following resources may assist you in effectively selecting and evaluating learning resources:

• Focused Education Resources (formerly BCERAC):
  • Selecting Learning Resources for the Classroom
  • Evaluating, Selecting and Acquiring Learning Resources: A Guide 
  • K-12 Evaluated Resource Collection
    • Items in this collection are open for anyone to browse, but you can ask your school advisor or teacher librarian about school/district access to the full resource evaluations.
  • Social Considerations Infographic
    • This one page PDF document visually depicts the different interests that should be kept in mind when choosing resources.
• UBC Education Library: Evaluation and Selection Criteria for Children’s and Young Adult Fiction
• School District Learning Resource Policies
  • If you are not already aware of your school district's policies and procedures pertaining to learning resources, we encourage you to seek out this information. Policy documents are accessible through school district websites.
  • For example, see what Abbotsford School District says about the use of learning resources in their procedure for Learning Resources (AP 210) or what Surrey School District says in Policy #8800: Learning Resources. 

• Province of BC: Continuing our Learning Journey (Module 3) - Finding and Using Authentic First Peoples Resources [video]
• FNESC: Authentic First Peoples Resources for Use in K-9 Classrooms
  • This PDF document is a list of authentic resources to be used in class. The resources here have passed through an evaluation process, giving educators some level of confidence in their application in classrooms across BC. The appendix in the document includes an explanation and sample of the form used to select authentic resources. This form may prove helpful in selecting additional authentic First Nations resources to use in class.

Canadian copyright and fair dealing guidelines will impact the learning resources you can select and the ways in which you can use them in your teaching. The following resources can assist you in understanding and abiding by copyright guidelines:

• Council of Ministers of Education, Canada: Teachers & Copyright: Fair Dealing Decision Tool 

• Council of Ministers of Education, Canada: Copyright Matters! Some Key Questions & Answers for Teachers (4th ed.)