Based on the critical examination of existing models of the psychological analysis of the lesson (PAL), we suggest a model of PAL, developed from the positions of the activity approach (A.N. Leontiev, P.Ya. Galperin, N.F. Talysina, V.V. Davydov, D.B. Elkonin). As the critical review shows, the basic models of the PAL in traditional didactics are related to the evaluation of the degree of implementation in the lesson of conditions for the effective functioning of students' mental processes. This model is based on the idea of a quality lesson as a lesson that maximizes the use of various types of mental processes (processes of thinking, memory, attention, imagination, etc.). From the point of view of the activity approach, psychological analysis should presuppose an assessment of the extent to which the activities that children realize in the lesson are adequate to the goals of the lesson set by the teacher. So a quality lesson is a lesson in which students carry out activities psychologically adequate to the goals set. The article proposes five criteria for the PAL, which correspond to the principles of the activity approach: 1) the specifics of setting the objectives of the lesson, 2) the adequacy of the actions performed by the students, the stated goals; 3) the features of action means, 4) the features of control and feedback and 5) the features of assessing the performance of students' actions. An example of a lesson analysis scheme developed on the basis of the proposed model is given.