In my 19 years of teaching, I have had a lot of opportunities to lesson plan. Different schools had different requirements for what they expected of a lesson plan. One principal only required me to keep notes in a giant lesson planning book. He would come in for observations and just check to make sure it was complete.
My worst experience was a district and principal who made us write scripts for lesson plans. This experience would take hours every weekend and she would write comments on them that usually were not helpful. I'm not kidding- these submitted lesson plans averaged 15-20 typed front and back pages each week. Ugh.
My last principal required us to send in typed lesson plans that challenged us to think about differentiation. Her only requirements were that they listed what we were doing and then considered how we would adjust our lessons based on our class. She would write comments and base her observations around what she saw.
Planning Has a Purpose
As I'm sitting here planning for my own students and two demo lessons in schools next week, I'm thinking about the importance of lesson planning and why it should matter. Here's the hard truth: You need to have a plan. Here's why:
The lesson needs to be comprehended: You need to read the Teacher's Guide and pull out the pieces that stick out to you. The best way to process this information is to jot down the key ideas. You can't rely on the book while your students are watching you. You have to be ready to pivot and make decisions throughout the lesson, which means that you know it well.
The lesson needs to have your own flare and personality: You don't want to be working out your bicep muscles by carrying around a Teacher's Guide and reading from it like a script. (No judgement- I've been that teacher in my career.) Doing this shows your students that you need to rely on the book. It also makes it look like anyone can stand up there and teach, even though we know that's not the case.
A lesson plan encourages you to use your craft: As stated above, anyone can read a Teacher's Guide and follow the script. It's the true craft of the teacher who can read they key ideas and match them to what their students are doing. This takes time and practice and even adjusts each year based on the students you have.
These same points are also true for collaborative planning. Many grade levels have one teacher who writes the plans and shares them with the rest of the team. Even though these plans are organized, the person teaching needs to understand the lesson and make modifications for his or her own classroom. No two classes are identical and should be treated as such.
Now that we know WHY we need to plan, let's talk about how to plan quickly and efficiently. It does NOT need to take longer than 10 minutes to plan a lesson, and I'm going to give you my favorite suggestions based on some lessons I'm teaching next week.
Lesson Planning in Just Minutes
Read through the lesson. The first thing you want to do is read through the lesson. I like to study the Student Book pages and jot down anything I notice in my Teacher's Guide. Then, I quickly scan the Teacher's Guide commentary for any teaching tips that might be helpful, especially in the sections I highlighted from the Student Book pages.
Consider your end goal. What do you hope students will be able to do by the end of the lesson? What is considered on grade level, proficient or even to mastery? What tools will you use to help students who are not quite there yet?
Jot down your plan. Finding the right organization for your thoughts is essential. I use a custom lesson plan that I designed for myself based on the key pieces of a Singapore lesson. I write down the problems and expectations I have for the lesson. You can snag my free lesson plan form by entering your email here.
Consider differentiation. Probably the most challenging part of lesson planning is considering how you will meet the needs of various learners in a classroom setting. This truly takes knowledge of content and awareness of your student levels. That's why a plan is especially essential. Nothing is worse than being in the middle of a lesson and truly shocked by the responses from your students. You can see more about differentiation in this blog post here.
See It in Action
Now that we have talked about the key points for lesson planning, I want to invite you to lesson plan with me. I've got two demo lessons next week and am going to share with you my process. First let's look at this Grade 2 example where students will learn to subtract with renaming for the first time in Grade 2 using 2-digit numbers.
A few key points to consider from this video:
How are you planning what you expect to see?
How will you differentiate each problem?
How will you go deeper into a problem? Remember that students who have mastered the concept can give multiple methods to solve, explain it in writing or using visuals and can come up with another problem. Did you remember to include those in your lesson?
Now, for a different type of lesson. Consider this Grade 4 lesson where students will solve word problems involving the addition and subtraction of fractions through the use of bar models.
A few key points to consider from this video:
This is an application based lesson where students apply what they know about word problems and fractions. What happens if students struggle with either of those?
Considering the other side of the previous question, what happens if students move quickly through the lesson? What modifications can be made?
Lesson planning is what makes you a unique teacher and shows your qualified skills. Tap into that power by planning like a pro with these great tools. If you would like to schedule your own planning session with me, I would be happy to work with you! Simply email info@mathwithpurpose.com to begin the process!
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