Top 5 Things to Look For in Lesson Plan Template (Secondary)

The new year is starting, but my lesson plans are in need of a face lift.  I have decided to compile a list of things as a secondary teacher that I look for in a template.  The one I currently is great when I have the time to fully fill it our, but the detail had become overwhelming.  After you read the list, feel free to share if you think I need to add something to the list.  Here we go...

1.  Columns per course taught

I like to have a template that keeps the same categories for all of my classes.  Since I teach very different subjects, I need to have a clear column for each course.  I think it's nice to see your whole day laid out.  This helps out tons for substitute teachers.

2. Objectives and Standards Easily Found

This one is not for me as a teacher, but for what I consider the dog and pony show.  You know when the administration comes into your classroom.  They want to make sure that the curriculum is aligned to state standards and that your objective clearly puts the lesson into layman's terms for your students.  This is great for those mornings you are running behind, copy and paste that bad boy onto the smartboard, so they can't say you never posted it.

3. The Meat

I used to separate my lesson into the warm-up, lesson, class activity, and closing.  I found that this was too difficult for a substitute to follow.  So by putting it all into the same box with bullets, it makes the lesson a little more structured for the emergency run for a sick child or emergency.  Include a general time for each activity.  That way you and others know about how long to spend on everything.  It keeps long winded people like myself from talking too long about one part of the lesson.

4. Exit Question

I use this to make sure that I have asked at least one summarizing question, especially on days that I did not collect an assessment in class.  This provides the feedback and administration loves to see you come round circle back to that beloved objective.

5. Resources

Classrooms run more efficiently when you already know what materials to set out for the lesson.  I use interactive notebooks in my math class, so this definitely helps to prepare for the foldables, glue, scissors, etc.  But I also include the webpages that I found the materials on.  This way I can find it again the next year, just in case a student used my only copy from my notebook.

Does this align with your list, do you require more?  Do you do your lesson plans by the week or daily?