The seven elements, in order

Madeline Hunter Lesson Plan Template

Objective and purpose, anticipatory set, input, modeling, check for understanding, guided practice, independent practice, closure. One box each, stacked in the order they happen in the room, on one page.

Direct instruction, step by step

Madeline Hunter lesson plan template

Portrait Madeline Hunter lesson plan as a stack of eight labelled boxes from objective and purpose down to closure and materials

Word Google Docs

Madeline Hunter Lesson Plan — Word & Google Docs

Objective and purpose, anticipatory set, input, modeling, check for understanding, guided practice, independent practice, closure — in that order.

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PDF

Madeline Hunter Lesson Plan — fillable PDF

One page, portrait. Type into the fields or print it blank and handwrite.

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Specifications: US Letter, 8.5 × 11 inches. Word files are editable .docx that open in Word 2007 through Microsoft 365, including Word for Mac; the Google Docs link makes a copy in your own Drive; the PDF has real form fields and prints as plain hairline boxes when blank. Free to use in as many classes as you like, no account, no watermark.

Why it is laid out this way

About the madeline hunter template

Hunter's elements are the backbone of direct instruction and still the format many teacher-prep programs teach first. The sequence is the content: an anticipatory set to focus attention, input and modeling so students see it done, a check for understanding before anyone practises, guided practice with the teacher close, independent practice without, and closure that has students state what they learned.

Published versions list seven or eight elements depending on whether standards and materials are counted; this sheet carries all of them, with materials beside closure at the foot. It is based on Hunter's elements of lesson design as set out in Mastery Teaching (1982).

Questions teachers ask

Madeline Hunter lesson plans, answered

Do I have to use every element every day?

Hunter herself said no — the elements are decisions to make, not boxes to fill, and a review lesson might have no new input at all. Leave a box empty rather than inventing content for it. The sheet is a checklist for the decisions.

What goes in the anticipatory set?

A short activity that connects to what students already know and makes them want the lesson — a question, a demonstration, a quick problem. Two to five minutes. It is not the objective statement; that comes next.

Is this the same as a direct instruction lesson plan?

Close enough that the terms are often used together. Hunter's model is the best-known direct instruction format; the gradual release template in this section is the other common one, organized by who is doing the work rather than by the sequence of teacher moves.