Teacher Tips: Lesson Planning Made Simple

Every teacher has the same dream. No more lesson plans. Not me, but other teachers. I love lesson planning, however, after turning in 5 pages lesson plans each day for each of my 4 preps for half of a year, I was ready to figure out how to most effectively plan with lots of detail but little effort. Of course, I was required to do the 5 page plan for each day of each prep, but that time in my life passed, and I was quickly able to plan as I saw fit.

Is it possible to take someone who hates lesson planning and turn them into a lesson plan lover? No. Not really. You either have a passion for writing or you don’t, but I do believe one can stop dreading it with every part of their being and, if you are required to turn in your plans, turn them in consistently.

Have a template

This is pretty straight forward. Make sure you have an organized, easy to follow template that hits every piece of what is both expected of you by your administration and helpful to you as a teacher in one concise and simple set up (you can find my year planner here, and day planner here).

Keep it simple

Make sure that your plan is something simple, easy to remember and easy to follow. This will help you organize your thoughts so that you can plan more in the moment rather than spending hours trying to figure out what to do. I know there are a lot of pedagogical thought processes to planning (planning backwards, planning for standards, a question etc), but in my opinion, it is best to have a plan that flows well with your individual teaching mindset. If you like to start with what you want the students to know- start there. If you want to start with a project, build from that. Whatever it is though, it does need to be consistent. Don’t change your template based on the day. Get in a habit. I am not saying that if a great project comes to mind you shouldn’t for that unit start with the project in mind, but you should quickly return to your template.

For example: I wanted (like everyone else) to use Encanto for a unit with my Spanish 1 class. I had that as my first thought, but after I set that as my unit tone, I went to my typical template of thinking through what I want the students to learn in the unit, and then each day, as well as how it fits in with my year goal. I moved forward from there to the end, which happened to be watching the movie and filling out a packet (you can find that lesson and materials here).

Get excited!

Lessons should be fun for you too! Let your character shine through with your lessons, not just the standards! Get to know your students and what they like! Let your weird side out! Have fun with your lessons and show students that learning really can be a good time! Maybe starting with the “fun” activity is your plan of attack (for me it is a mix of both what I want them to learn and the activity). Get a partner to bounce ideas off of. Most importantly, surround yourself with encouraging people. You need hype-men/women. You need someone who is going to get excited with you! And sometimes, you just need a break.

Plan break days

These have always been some of my favorite days. I have a catch up day at least once a quarter for students who got behind at some point. The rest of the students participate in Spanish games (online or from my game bin). This allows me to get to know them, help them with their questions, motivate them to do their work (so they can have fun instead) and have those sit down heart to hearts that always bring about a better year. Relationships are key to having good days at school, and good days are key to planning great lessons! This also gives you a day that you don’t really need to "plan"! Make it a review day, pick a few standards you want to recap with the students, and some premade games they can do!

One of my favorite break days is a movie day- just to let you know, this won’t work for everyone- but in the World Language classroom- it is great! I have a “generic movie packet” that give the students tasks to do during and after the movie. They turn this in for a grade, learn new items, review past items and gives me a great brain break from lesson planning and talking, and students a brain break from new material.

Quick thing to keep in mind- even on “break days” ALWAYS have something educational for the students to do! NEVER get in the habit of having any time for students to do “nothing.” Once you let them do nothing, there is no going back! So, yes, there is some “planning” involved, but feel free to use my generic movie packet template (here), or take a look at my favorite class games (here).

I hope this has given you some hope and encouragement as you face the incoming school year! As always, leave any additional tips you have!