Cut Your Lesson Planning Time in Half with These Three Steps
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.
How to Cut Your Lesson Planning Time in Half
Start with the end in mind
I know. This sounds backwards from how you typically plan. But trust me - it’s the best way. Especially if you’re trying to streamline your lesson planning process and save yourself some time.
If you are the type of teacher who plans one day at a time and spends most of your time finding activities to fill your blocks - you’re doing it wrong. This is the most time consuming approach out there - and it’s the least effective if you’re looking to spark true engagement from your students.
Instead - begin with the end. Planning with the end in mind will move you from the day-to-day planning grind and coverage-focused thinking. It also streamlines your monthly plans so you aren’t spending time looking for resources that don’t fit your overall goals.
Start with a year-long instructional plan that maps the standards and content you’re required to teach each year. Then move on to monthly units that focus on a central theme or specific type of content such as one genre.
Before you recreate the wheel and begin creating these plans for yourself, check with your building instructional coach or team lead to see if a year-long pacing chart exists for your grade or content area. Most buildings do.
Once you have your monthly units, you’ll need to develop weekly and daily plans. To start, ask yourself these questions:
What are my overall goals for this unit?
What is it I want my students to be able to know and do by the end of this unit?
How will I know when they’ve reached these goals?
The answers to these questions will help you create assessments of all types that you’ll use throughout your unit to determine students’ progress. Once you know your assessment measures, you can plan learning activities that align and will help students succeed.
You’ll find that every part of your instruction is aligned to your year end goals. You save time and your students are more successful. It’s a win-win
Have a structured system for organizing your teaching resources
If you’ve known me for any length of time, you know that I am all about organization. I firmly believe that getting organized is the first step in making everything easier - especially as a teacher.
Saving time lesson planning is no different. If you don’t have all of your planning materials organized - you’re wasting valuable time. Don’t waste any more time searching for that one worksheet or that one book you desperately want to use next week. Instead, create a system that tracks all of your instructional resources so you’ll always know what you have and where to find it.
Yes, it might take you some time up front to create such a system. But the end result will save you dozens of hours in the long run.
To begin, purge old, outdated, or poor-quality resources. The less stuff you have overall, the less you have to organize and track. So getting rid of items you don’t use is a great first step to getting organized.
Next, choose a system that works for you. I highly recommend a digital system so that you have access to your materials no matter where you plan. Having digital spreadsheets and files means you can plan anywhere, which is great in a pinch. I use systems like Google Sheets™ and Trello to keep all of my plans and resources organized.
To help you get started, I’ve giving you the digital resource tracker included in my Planned Just So™ course, a short video explaining the reason why I chose to use a digital library (rather than a printable version), and a video teaching you how to use the tracker.
You can download a copy of this resource tracker in The Treasury. Not a member yet? No problem! You can sign up here.
Work with a partner
Whenever possible, work with a partner to share the load. Splitting any type of work with someone else will always save you time, so this step alone has the potential of cutting your planning time in half. I know this may sound like common sense to many of you, but you’d be surprised to know how many teachers do all of their planning alone.
There are all types of ways to divide the planning load:
If you’re self-contained, work with your grade level team and assign one type of content to each team member
If you’re departmentalized, split the work among members of your content team or partner. Each person takes a specific portion of the content (one takes reading and one writing) or trade off weeks (one plans this week while the other plans for next)
Create community Google folders where you can house unit plans and resources to support each
And always remember that your “team members” don’t have to work in the same building as you do. This is especially important for those who work in small schools where they are the only teacher of a certain grade or content. Finding team members to share the load is easier now than ever. Teacher Facebook groups are a great way to connect with other teachers in your grade or content area. I host one for Upper Elementary teachers; if you aren’t already a part of it, come join us!
Each one of these steps will help simplify your lesson planning process and save you time. If you’re looking for additional help with lesson planning, be sure to see this post on additional ways to streamline the process.
Looking for more help?
If you’re looking for step-by-step instructions for completing the tips shared here, be sure to check out my Planned Just So™ course. It’s the only planning course of its kind that teaches you step-by-step how to create a year-long instructional plan, design units that are aligned to your standards and keep students engaged, and provide you with tips for making your overall planning routine as simple as possible.
In my course, you will go from feeling stuck and overwhelmed to feeling empowered and in control as you learn the systematic process of creating lesson plans that increase rigor for your students and free time for yourself.
Planned Just So™ will transform your professional life and help you reclaim your personal life. Learn more here.
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