Course Planning Template

A start of a new semester is here, which means I am in hyper planning mode.  This is the method of planning that currently works best for me.  It is an amalgam of different lesson planning structures I have tried throughout the years.  Every teacher is different, so take from this post what you need.

First, I start with a document that has rows with 5 boxes in each row.  Each box represents the content I wish to cover in one class period (ideally).  When I taught fifth grade, I would do this by unit, so I would have 4-6 rows.  Now that I teach in a high school, I do it following our 6 week grading period.  This means I have 6 rows (30 boxes).  My goal is to fit each 6 weeks of instruction onto one page.  This is a screenshot of my planning document for the “First Six Weeks” of Physics.

I rely largely on the standards set forth by my state when creating this document.  It is standards based; it is the “what” I am going to teach.  I sequence the content in the order I wish to teach it, but I am flexible.  This is where my next document comes into play.

This is my day to day planning document; it is the “how” I am going to teach.  Generally I aim to fill this out a week at a time.  I print it with each of the spaces blank and fill in with pencil.  I like being able to erase. Notice I have a “notes” section.  I generally use this space for reflection about how the lesson went and ideas for modifications when (if) I teach it again.

Although it is just formatted boxes, I wanted to share my template.  To view it properly you may need the free fonts: “Learning Curve” and “Zag” downloaded on your computer.