How to Write Lesson Plans Quicker
I get three weeks worth of lesson plans done in an hour and a half. These are just the plans that I turn in, not necessarily all of the activities that my students do in my class. I’ve been a teacher for five years, but this time constraint does include two new preps that I have this year. The reason I can get my lesson plans done more quickly is because I have a plan.
I have been using a particular plan for planning out my lessons for five years, and I’m able to get things done very quickly and very effectively. Want to save time on lesson plans? You need a plan! I use the All Star Planning Method, which can be converted into about 5 different steps.
Organizing your Standards
I literally chopped mine into pieces with a scissor. Then these standards get organized into units based on the particular topic to which they belong. This is important because typically, standards can’t be taught in the order listed. Many times, you can better organize a course if you know your particular school and students and their strengths. You also have strengths as a teacher. Try to put each standard into a unit of study.
Sequencing the Units
You should have some units put together. Now is the time to consider where they fit with respect to each other. Look at what your students should have learned last year, and what they already know. Put review units first, easy units second and hard units last. Try to organize them so that one unit can flow into the next. The idea is to make the course feel smooth, and not so choppy. If it’s choppy, the kids get “academic whiplash” which can make it hard for them to see connections.
Writing Unit Plans
You’ve narrowed down your standards into a much shorter list of things that need to be taught together. Use your standards to write a lesson – not the other way around. The standards are not a syllabus, so it’s important to look at the lesson sequence and units with a personal lens.
Organize your lessons so that one lesson flows into the next. The unit will move more smoothly. You need to reteach less, and the kids learn better. Lesson sequencing is important, but can change. In fact, this is the thing that I change more often than anything else in my planning each year.
Writing Lesson Plans
My lesson plans feel like cheating. Once the unit plans are written, you never need to look at your standards again! And you pretty much get to copy and paste all of the clerical stuff out of the unit plan. Then you decide how you are going to teach that particular topic on that particular day. Last, you either create or curate the activity that your students will do. The goal is to upgrade a few of these each year. You don’t have to have a “fireworks” lesson each day. You can’t satisfy every student on every day.
Keep a variety of lesson plan templates. If you have just a few types of activities that you use in your classroom, you can create a template for each.
Getting your Classroom organized on your system
When your curriculum is organized with a lesson code you use this code on EVERYTHING. This helps your students and their families and guidance keep up with what’s going on in your classroom. Kids will learn the material better when they can see the connections among lessons.
You can learn more about the basics of the All Star Planning method here.
If you’re ready to jump all in and save time on lesson plans. Learn the total ins and outs of the All Star Planning method. You can take the full course here.
