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Lesson planning is the beating heart of our profession, and we all know how crucial it is to craft lessons that engage and inspire our students. As an elementary school teacher with more than 15 years of experience, I understand the unique challenges of our planning time.
That’s why in this blog post, we’ll explore 7 quick and easy planning tips to help you save time. So, grab your favorite planning supplies and let’s get started on the journey!
Do you ever sit down and feel like you just don’t know where to start? Even after 15 years of teaching, I still get that feeling.
Then I remind myself to start with the why. Why am I teaching this unit? Why am I focused on this specific skill? It all comes back to the standards. Whether you follow Common Core or State Standards, use those as the starting point.
I like to look at the essential standards that I need to teach and have my students master for the first 9-18 weeks of the school year. For example, I start the school year focusing on characters, setting, plot, and theme. I teach these in depth at the beginning of the school year, then I can spend the rest of the year reviewing and practicing with my students.
Action Step: Print out the standards that you need to teach and create a checklist to mark off when you teach/assess.
The best time-saving hack for any teacher is to plan cross-curricular units. I love to integrate as many subjects together as I can. Why? It saves me planning time…but even better…it helps create meaningful connections for students! Win. Win.
One of my favorite ways to lesson plan is by creating cross-curricular units with ELA & STEM. The students will be practicing and learning two sets of standards while using one book. This can be done with picture books and/or novels. Either way, your students will thank you for the engaging activities.
Action Step: Want to learn more about creating cross-curricular units? Sign up for the FREE guide below!
Tech has its pros and cons. I love it for most things related to teaching, but there are some things that work well without it. When it comes to lesson planning, tech is a must! Why? Duplicate and save from year to year!
Two of my favorite lesson-planning sites are Planbook.com and Chalk.com! They both have limitations, but one of my favorite aspects is that I get to duplicate or save lesson plan templates. I don’t have to keep re-creating the wheel each time I plan. While I was a Planbook user for many years, I recently switched to Chalk because it is free! They do have a paid version, but I don’t need those components.
Curriculum mapping is one of the best ways to save myself lesson planning time! I spend time at the end of the previous school year (or over the summer) to map out the entire next school year.
I know this does create questions…well, how do you know what you are going to teach? What if I have new curriculum? I don’t know my students and their needs.
Yes, I completely understand all of those concerns. A curriculum map is designed to give an overview of the school year. It is not set in stone or required to be followed exactly as planned. Just like any other planning, curriculum mapping is fluid. We have to make adjustments based on the needs of our current students and curriculum.
Case in point. this school year I have a new math curriculum. I was able to estimate how many days a unit will take to teach and assess. So, I put those dates on my curriculum map and I am able to easily tweak them based on my teaching needs.
If you want to save even more time, lesson plan with your colleagues. No, we will not always see eye-to-eye or have the same exact lesson plans, but this helps tremendously!
Even if your current teaching team isn’t into collaborative lesson planning, that’s okay. Reach out to other teachers on social media to find common lesson planning needs or ideas. I love seeing all the posts on different Facebook/Meta posts with ideas for teaching all the subjects. I save those for future reference and it saves me time from searching online for hours.
Batch planning is the key to success. I have a blog post all about maximizing your prep time when it comes to planning. But…batch planning is the BEST way to plan. Set aside a week that you can do nothing but plan either during your prep or before/after school. Start with one subject until you get comfortable with batch work. Trust me, your future self will thank you!
I know how tempting it is to say, but what about all the grading, meetings, phone calls, emails, etc. that I also need to do during my lesson planning time?
Kick that mindset to the curb. Yes, we have to do all of those things (and more) as teachers. Unfortunately, that is part of the job. However, you can use these tips to lesson plan efficiently and effectively. Remind yourself that less is more. You do not need to have detailed lesson plans written out. Learn to go with the flow at times. It will all be okay.
I hope these 7 quick and easy tips helped you think about ways you can lesson plan in less time and still feel prepared. Remember that you can’t do it all. Start with one thing you can try to implement now and build from there.
Love this teaching journey for you.