Lesson planning is a hot topic in schools, and has been an issue in every school that I have worked at. Some schools demand extremely detailed plans that take more time to write than they do to teach, and are often sent back and forth between management and teaching staff for editing multiple times. This can be soul destroying and takes away time that we could all be spending on something else. If you follow education news, you’ll know that this has been a topic brought up a lot recently, with the general consensus being that it isn’t a positive way to go forward.

The dilemma is that management need to know what’s going on in class, but teachers don’t have the time to provide really detailed plans.

So, what is the best way to go about planning? Check out my top five tips below to see how planning can be both time conscious on the teachers part, but still give management what they need to keep an eye on what’s going on in class.

1.Choose your Books Wisely.

A school that sticks to the same books throughout the year groups is almost always one that has better results in international testing. Books are designed in sets, where each year groups content builds on that which was covered the year before. If you are jumping around with your books, there will inevitably be gaps in learning, and it makes providing suitable curriculum enhancement material more difficult, especially if you have less qualified staff. Each year groups book provides the foundation for the coming year. If you are using different books, then oftentimes that foundation isn’t there at the start of the next year. Some teachers are extremely attached to certain books, and that’s why this is often the case in schools. The teachers are asked what books they want, and they are often different in each year group. School leaders need to be able to step back and see the bigger picture. It’s not about what’s right for one year group, but about what’s right for the whole school. If you are in a position to put your foot down, this is a big one to go at head-on.

2. Insist on Long Term Planning

Imagine your planning like the human body. The long term plan is the bones and just tells us what should go where and when. For example, the first two weeks will be spent covering these two objectives. It’s the basic structure of how the year will go in terms of the speed at which you will cover curriculum. Some schools skip doing these, which usually results in a mad dash at the end of the year to finish the curriculum. LTPs take very little time to create, but are a massive benefit to both management and teaching staff.

 

 

 

3. Be Reasonable with Weekly Planning

If the long term plan is the bones, the weekly plan is the meat. This is a more detailed run down of what’s going to take place in the lesson, and is particularly useful if more than one teacher is teaching the same year group. The question is: how detailed do we want these plans to be? We want enough information that we can be sure the same work is being covered, but not so much that the teacher needs to keep checking with the plan every two minutes. Schools that insist on ‘teacher hands out worksheets and writes the date on the board’ as the correct amount of detail for a plan, usually end up with extremely frustrated and tired staff, resulting in conflict between teachers. A good rule of thumb is to ask for objectives, book pages, resources and activities. This ensures that teachers are all doing the same thing, but gives them freedom to move through it as they see fit in the lesson. Students are different and different classes may need different things, but remember that teachers are also different. They come with different skill sets and teaching styles, and by forcing them to mirror other staff, you suffocate them.

4. Make Time for Year Group Meetings

Each month, make time for teachers to meet and share what’s going on with their plans. By ‘make time’ I mean allocate it for them, so that they don’t have to find the time in an already busy schedule. Let teaching assistants cover the reading one week to let teachers from each year group meet. All year 4 teachers should be able to meet to discuss where they are in plans and share their ideas. This allows plans to be modified if necessary, and avoids classes falling behind.

5. Remember to Plan Vertically

This is something I’ve noticed is often missed out in curriculum planning, but it’s really important if you want to see real progression through the year groups and make sure you avoid the dreaded learning gaps. Each month, the teacher who plans math in year 2 should be sitting down with their counterparts in each year group. Ideally, they should be covering the same topics at around the same time, however even if they are not, they should be sharing what they teach in their year group. For example, in Year 1 they are teaching about plants in science. What do they teach about plants in year 2? By knowing this information, they can add additional resources to ensure the foundation is strong for the coming year. Let teachers see the books for the year groups that come before and after the one they teach.

If you take anything from this post, let it be that lesson planning is supposed to help teachers, not make their job more difficult. It is managements responsibility to be fair in their expectations, and to find the time for staff to do it effectively. Staff can’t do their best when they are exhausted.