It’s important to set goals, prioritize, and focus. Choosing a focus for the year helps make planning manageable
Which subject/class makes you feel the most unprepared? Focus on the area that you have the most anxiety about. Put your efforts towards goals that will help you feel more prepared.
Which subject/class might have the biggest impact? Focus on this area can help speed up your progress.
Can you imagine how you’d get better at planning for your targeted subject/class? It’s one thing to set a goal, and another to reach it. Imagine what resources you’d use to tackle planning for your subject/class and evaluate how feasible your goal is.
Which subjects/areas might it be possible to not focus on as intently? Think about the resources you have. Is there a textbook or mentor teacher you could follow for some subjects/classes?
When possible I tried to plan from peaceful to most active. I always did writing first thing in the morning because the peaceful activity set the tone for the rest of the day. The most active activities were after lunch.
Lesson Planning
How much time it takes you to lesson plan? How long do you spend lesson planning? When do you lesson plan? Are you a “fly by the seat of your pants” kinda person? or Are you a “I have every single little detail figured out” planner?
Teaching the younger students I planned a whole month at a time. Do what works for you the best.
Don’t leave Friday afternoon without having everything ready for the upcoming week!
Planning supplies needed
Lesson Planner Team Planning Documents Sticky Notepad Teaching Resources- TPT open on my computer, Pinterest pulled up, and my computer files opened to the subjects I am planning A place for materials being used
3 components to your planning
A Yearlong Plan, Unit or Topic Overviews, and Daily Lesson Plans.
Yearlong planning is best done with a team of people. We use Common Core, so I simply copied and pasted the standards into our year-long plan for most of the areas.
Topic Overviews–From the year-long map, I started to break down the standards into concepts and topics that I wanted to teach each day within a unit or over a few weeks.
My daily lesson plans are the backbone of my teaching, especially at the beginning of the year. I write down as much detail as possible so that I don’t forget anything.
Write Lesson Plans Quickly and Effectively
Write in standing appointments Fill out morning work activities Go subject by subject Make a list of materials needed. Use a checklist to include things needed to copy each week, assessments, things to plan, and monthly to-dos.
Prepare materials for upcoming week by Friday afternoon
Organize lesson plan materials
Be done on Thursday before leaving so on Friday morning get all the preparation work done. Friday make all of my copies, and/ or anchor charts. At least prep stuff for Monday and then take care of the rest of the week on Monday. Paperclip copies together and day of the week labeled drawers. Each drawer has folders in it for each subject taught. Also have a folder that rotates between drawers and that is where notes or flyers that need need to be passed out at the end of the day are kept. Anchor charts get hung on a hook.
Pick a day or two a week to do plans and stick to it!) and watch to see how it transforms your teaching.
Another way to organize weekly planning
Monday—gather materials Tuesday—print all copies Organized all of my materials into monthly thematic binders and binders by subject. If I have little centers or task cards to store, I store them in a sheet protector within the binder. This keeps everything nice and tidy. Wednesday & Thursday—fill in day! Friday—finishing touches