This growing collection of posts will teach you how to lesson plan quickly, how to create an effective lesson planning system, important factors to consider when planning your lessons, and strategies for daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly lesson planning.

It’s simply not possible to truly affect change without being consistent. Consistency is just as important when it comes to planning. If you want to lessen your stress, improve the effectiveness of your lessons, and help your students meet standards and goals, consistent planning is a must.

Here are 24 self care resources that include tips for getting started with self care, self care strategies for the classroom, and mindfulness books for teachers.

With the start of the school year, it’s difficult to let go of the carefree days of summer for the busyness that going back to school brings. While finding a balance between work and life is difficult for many, it’s particularly difficult for teachers, whose work is not over when the final bell rings. Here are just a few tips to begin mastering home and school life balance.

Taking time to protect your own well-being benefits not only you, but everyone around you. That includes your students. This year, make it a goal to prioritize self care. Here are seven simple ways to get started.

There is a better way to lesson planning. A way that streamlines the process, saves you time, while also boosting rigor. I’m talking about planning backward. This idea might be new to you. If it is, I ask you to keep an open mind, continue reading, and trust me.

Taking time to rest and recharge is so important. I hope you’ve taken that time for yourself during these summer months. Giving yourself time and space to process and reflect on this past school year - as well as time to think about anything but teaching - is essential to your well-being as a teacher. But… there is another gift you need to give yourself during this time away from the classroom - the gift of a smooth start.

Every teacher wants to start the school year feeling prepared, organized, and in control. And that means setting up systems at the beginning of the year so the rest of the year runs smoothly. Today, we’re talking about three systems to put in place now to help start your school year off on the path to success.

One of the best pieces of advice I could give to any teacher is to establish (and stick to) daily classroom routines at the very beginning of the year. Not only will creating routines help you manage all there is to accomplish in the classroom every day, but it also provides much needed structure for your students. Consistent routines are one of the best strategies for avoiding behavior management issues as well. Let me share with you a few tips on how classroom routines benefit you, the best places to have routines, and advice for sticking to them.

Spontaneity can be fun when you’re planning a last minute trip or deciding what to have for dinner. However, it’s not a recipe for success when we’re talking about lesson planning. Planning without having a system in place leads to so much time wasted searching for activities and resources that might fit with what your students need to learn.

There is a better way.

To make lesson planning less time-consuming, less stressful, and infinitely more effective, you need a system. It starts with saying no to planning “Pinterest-style.”

Over the past several years, I’ve talked to hundreds of teachers about lesson planning. We all have to do it and yet so many of us never quite find a way to make the process streamlined or easy. With something so foundational to our work as teachers, establishing a successful routine for lesson planning is paramount to simplifying our jobs as a whole.

The act of lesson planning will never go away - it’s something you’ll always have to do as a teacher. So why not incorporate a few changes now that will streamline the process and save you hours of time later? With these three tips, you can easily cut your planning time in half.

Lesson planning doesn’t need to be a chore. Establishing routines and using a planning approach can go a long way to simplifying your lesson planning process. Here are four simple steps that streamlined my lesson planning process and saved me hours of time.

Planning backward will change what and how you teach. Radically. It will challenge you. It might even frustrate you at first. It will also result in instruction that is cohesive, aligned, and meaningful.

When I started planning backward, using the Understanding by Design® method it transformed my teaching. My lesson planning process and the quality of my instruction as a whole changed dramatically. For the better.

If you’re like me, you love using the “classic” paper and pencil work in the classroom. I don’t mean worksheets, per se, but having students write on paper for assignments. I like digital materials too, but for me I have always liked having students work on paper.

Unfortunately, the pandemic and our new world of virtual teaching has made that nearly impossible. Now, everything is digital, from math tests to writing prompts.

What if we don’t have those materials readily available?

Guess what? You do!

So many of you are scrambling to find resources to send home with your students due to the COVID-19/ coronavirus pandemic. And for parents, many of you are wondering what to do with kids at home.

It’s easy to choose cute over substance when celebrating school holidays. But our students deserve more. Here are three reasons why choosing substance over fluff is always better when celebrating holidays in the upper elementary classroom. Plus help finding teaching resources to bring both meaning and fun when planning holiday activities throughout the year.