Let's just jump right in. Grab your favorite pen, notebook and post-it notes.
Pro Tip 1: Print hard copies of the student-facing materials. The end of unit assessment, end of lesson assessments, and the lesson activities.
Step 1: Unpack the Unit
Your task is to Complete a review of the unit you will be teaching.
Review the entire first unit that you will be teaching—from the opening lesson to the end-of-unit assessment.
The goal is to understand how the curriculum designers structured the teaching and learning experience.
Things to Consider:
How many lessons are there in the unit?
What grade-level standards are being addressed in the unit and in each lesson?
The flow of the unit - Does the unit start with a review of the basics and get increasingly complex?
The sequence of questions within each lesson - Are the questions leveled from less challenging to more challenging?
Are exit tickets (aka cool-downs aka end of lesson assessment) included for each lesson?
Step 2: Complete the end of Unit assessment
That's right, print out the end unit assessment (the student version) and answer each question.
Once you have completed the end of unit assessment go back and annotate it.
Write notes on the hard copy of the assessment highlighting what students are expected to Know and Be Able to Do by the end of the unit.
Pay particular attention to the academic vocabulary being used in each questions as well as the level of rigor students are expected to answer each question.
Also what are the big ideas of the unit that are being assessed
*Also use the grade level standards as a guide. The language in the standard (ie the verbs) describe HOW students are expected to demonstrate mastery of the standards.
Pro Tip 2: Set a timer.
Multiply how long it takes you to complete the assessment by 1.5. Use the result to plan when you are going to give the assessment and what students will do when they are done.
Step 3: Do the student work in batches
In this third step using the student materials you are going to complete 3-5 lessons at a time. You do not need to time your self in this step, instead pay particular attention to what students are being asked to do and how they are being asked to do it.
Starting with the end of lesson assessment, what are students expected to Know and Be Able to Do by the end of each lesson?
Then complete the lesson. Annotate each lesson with notes about what you will need to do to ensure students can access and engage in the lesson without too much hand-holding.
What vocabulary, skills/procedures or conceptual understanding will you include in your 5-7minute mini lesson. This is where you are planning how to launch and support students' active and independent engagement throughout the lesson.
Pro Tip 3: Start with the student facing materials, use the teacher guide to clear up confusion about implementation and access suggestions for your multilingual learners and students with disabilities.
Note: As you go through the lessons of the unit, you may feel inspired to enhance the lesson with images, videos, and meaningful ways to incorporate your students’ strengths and interests. Jot these ideas down—they’re valuable and will go a long way in keeping your students engaged in the lesson and learning.
Reminder: you are completing lessons in batches of 3 - 5 lesson at a time. This will pay dividends in how you structure several days of teaching and learning. As well as where to insert lesson/ unit enhancements such as props, mini-project, videos or guest speakers.
And that's it.
Rinse and Repeat
Each week, on a designated day at a designated time, plan the next week’s lessons.
Historically, my planning day was Sunday at 3 p.m. However, if planning on Thursday after school is a better time for you, go for it!
The goal is lesson-planning consistency. This consistency will ensure you develop an effortless flow for planning and that ensures you are prepared to facilitate learning: circulating and providing the just-right support for each learner.
And that is the purpose of unit unpacking and lesson planning.
Final Note
Lesson Planning is for You.
Lesson planning isn’t a compliance task for your administrators or coaches.
Completing the student work, as I’ve suggested, allows you to be clear on what students will experience during the lesson—the vocabulary, skills, and concepts. You can then use this knowledge to plan how to get students from where they are to where they need to be by the end of the lesson.
Comment below: What are your sustainable lesson planning tips?
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