Lesson Planning: Go with Your Gut

This summer I set goals of what I'd like to accomplish, both personally and professionally. One of these includes developing Essential Learning Outcomes (ELO's) and curriculum maps for my junior high classes.

You might be asking, why didn't the department have these development for a first year? I teach in a small school. Our department is made up of three teachers; when one retired, the school board and administration decided to create a junior high wing to the school. Three different teachers taught the three courses that I now teach. Yikes. 

All these teachers are great at what they do with very different styles. They also had four or more courses to prep for themselves, so they weren't able to leave the paper trails of their year long courses that they may have liked.

I felt...ecstatic. I loved this challenge! As a first year it was overwhelming, but the department gave me the freedom to develop my own curriculum for ALL of my courses. I wasn't completely thrown to the wolves. We held weekly PLC meetings where I could share what my plans were and align them with their courses.

After this first year, I have a greater understanding of my students, their background, and the curriculum expectations of the district, and now I am prepared to formally write out ELO's and curriculum maps for my second year. (And they'll probably need to be rewritten next summer.)

I have only one year under my belt, but I would still like to share my advice on lesson planning and how to survive if you have multiple preps.

1. Go with Your Gut:
In a few weeks, you will come to know your students and their background knowledge of your content area better than anyone else. If you have a feeling that they aren't sure when to use commas, add a mini lesson! I have overspent (not wasted, because it was still useful) many minutes, if not hours, pouring over papers and counting how many missed commas students have to decide if it needed to be taught. A mini lesson doesn't take long and never hurts!

If you realize they're interested in video games with strong antagonists, use these as examples and references in class. Once you realize this, don't spend too much time analyzing whether or not if the topic is academic enough. Going with your gut, you will hopefully find topics that engage them, and engagement leads to critical thinking.


2. Beg, Borrow, and Steal:
This advice was given to me by my own high school English teacher when talking about going into the field. Planning lessons for multiple preps in the day takes a lot of time, and even more when you create original materials for all of your lessons. It's more than okay to ask your coworkers and teachers from other districts for lesson materials. I learned this year that there are teachers EVERYWHERE who are willing to share and help you. Don't be afraid to ask. 


3. Be Over Prepared:
Some lessons will take less time than you expect and others will take longer than you expect. Be prepared for this. When lessons are short, have academic games ready to be pulled out. I have played Character Twenty Questions to review characters from our novel. For this year, I am preparing large Daily Oral Language sheets with packets of noodles to act as punctuation.

If lessons go longer than expected, remind yourself that you are teaching depth, not breadth. Then reflect on the lesson as to why it took too long. Was the material too complex or too many steps? Were students distracted by an extensive project that didn't demonstrate true understanding?


4. Repetition is Good:
Some may think students get bored with repetition, but many students need repetition to keep them organized and to reinforce knowledge, skills, and habits. If possible, keep your lessons organized in a similar manner, such as: Whole Group Instruction, Guided Practice, and Independent Practice. The time spent on each of these may vary from lesson to lesson, but it helps organize both you and your students. You should also present the same material in several ways. Perhaps you had students watch a video, then take notes, and have a discussion on the same topic. It's good for them to visit this topic three times! Don't worry about them being bored. Another example of repetition: Every Wednesday was vocabulary day. Students knew they needed to find a word with a specific prefix and define it at the beginning of the hour. 


5. Ask Your Students:
I don't recommend asking them what you should teach them (many would say, "Nothing."), but ask them about their interests. Can you use those topics for engagement? Does it relate to the content in anyway?

Also ask them if the material is confusing or clear. Ask them to give you a thumbs up or down based on understanding throughout the lesson. DO NOT MOVE ON IF THERE ARE SEVERAL DOWN. If there's some down thumbs, either continue with guided instruction or work with students one-on-one.

Use Exit Slips as formative assessments to student understanding. Their responses will guide you in whether repetition is needed or not. 

Lastly, ask your students what type of instruction or activities helped them understand the material the best. This helps you to know what strategies to continue using and increases student reflection of personal learning and learning styles.


I have learned that ELO's and curriculum continuously develope based on our students and their needs. These will never be finished. These will continue to adapt and grow. I am currently reading Mike Schmoker's Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning to help me develop my work this summer. Perhaps a review of "Simplicity," "What We Teach," and "How We Teach" will be in my future.

I hope this advice is helpful to many new teachers out there. Don't be overwhelmed. Keep your excitement and passion on your sleeve.