What is a Lesson Plan (and why is a lesson plan important)?

You should keep in mind when designing a lesson plan, that the task should not just be another burden on you as a teacher; the lesson plan must be a useful tool that will add structure to your lesson without sucking up too much more of your valuable time in its creation!

[Below, on this page,  you will find some links to my free lesson plan templates that you can download]

These are the main elements to include in your lesson plan:

• In the Headers – Lesson Title / Subject /  Date / Grade / Period / Name
• Objectives. Ideally, make these ‘SMART’ learning goals –  Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results focused, and Time measurable.
• Standards. Make sure your lesson addresses at least one Standard.
• The main lesson plan. This should describe the sequence of activities that your lesson will include. Usually, but not always, there will be a distinct beginning, main, and ending set of activities.
• Assessment. Include how you will undertake assessments during the lesson. Consider both formative and summative assessment.
• Homework. If you are going to set homework include this in your plan.
• Differentiation. How will you include differentiation – through content, product, learning environment? Including differentiation can be hugely time-consuming for you as a teacher unless you plan effective and efficient differentiation in advance to avoid the pitiful of setting yourself up to produce multiple versions of resources all by yourself. Don’t reinvent the wheel, look for content that already exists!
• In your lesson plan, consider what technology and resources will you use?ese