This week, a colleague asked me how she could save time
entering her lesson plan in our system.
Her concern had nothing to do with the time it takes one to properly
plan for a class – it was solely about the time it takes to write it up. I thought about this question for two
days and nights (specifically early morning)….
My possible suggestions:
1.
Stop
recreating the wheel and search the web. There are amazing lessons on the web shared by outstanding
teachers from around the world.
Even if a lesson isn’t perfect for your intended audience or content, a
lesson from the web can be a great starting point. Furthermore, the system we use for entering lesson plans has
a “Search for More Resources Online” button to assist in finding lessons
directly tied to a learning standard.
2.
Don’t
plan to far in advance, but follow your pacing guide/scope and sequence. If you write out your detailed lesson
plans for the entire year, you may end up spending a lot of extra time editing,
erasing, and re-doing to meet the needs of your students. Plan in smaller increments of time (my
recommendation is 1-3 weeks) as long as you are making the appropriate
adjustments to stay on track so that your students will be successful on
mastering the necessary learning objectives.
3.
Don’t be fearful
of skeletons. Continuing with
the suggestion not to plan too far in advance, one may find having skeleton
plans helpful (the bare bones).
Write out 3 weeks (give or take) worth of skeleton plans when you have a
quiet place and are relaxed. Then,
the week (or weekend) prior put the meat and muscle to the lessons. By doing this, you can use your time to
make a week’s worth of lesson plans meet the specific needs and interests of
your students instead of trying to figure it all out at one time.
4.
Share the
load. If you work on a campus
with colleagues who are on the same page as you in terms of instructional
strategies and methodology and are comfortable collaborating – work together. However, sometimes we find it is not
that easy. Take the opportunity to
join an online forum or listserv.
Collaboration no longer has to happen within the confines of a
building. When you attend
content-specific professional development, take an opportunity to network with
other teachers from around the region.
Some of the best lessons I have used came from teachers from other
school districts.
5.
Rely on a
ring of strategies. I’ve
created a generic “ring of instructional strategies” to help teachers (at the
two campuses I work with) remember some of the best practice strategies to use. Create one (or modify the one I gave
you) so that you can quickly flip through a plethora of strategies so you don’t
find yourself staring at your lesson plan with no idea what you want your
students to know or be able to do.
Once you have your “ring of strategies,” flag or highlight the ones you
like to use to help keep track of what is a “go-to” strategy and ones you haven’t
tried.
6.
A good
lesson plan can become an emergency sub plan. We all know how time consuming it can be to prepare for a
sub – especially when it is last minute.
7.
Appreciate
that the time you spend this year, will save you time next year (unless
your learning standards or course changes). I don’t want to sound condescending or trivial in any way;
however, if you are lucky enough to teach the same course with the same
learning standards next year, you will be able to use your plans again. So, know that the reward will come next
year for the exhausting work you do now.
Here is a list of some websites on
the topic:
