Why does it take SO LONG to plan lessons even when you're experienced?

"For every 2 hour class I taught this year, I spent about 8 hours at home preparing."

That's a quote from Jennifer Gonzalez of Cult of Pedagogy who provides English as a Second Language instruction to adults in her community.

Jenn, if you don't know her work or podcast, is someone who taught middle school for years, trained pre-service teachers at the university level, and has studied effective instruction for well over two decades ...

... and planning STILL took her that long.

I found that oddly comforting, because I think a lot of us assume planning should get faster with experience, and then we feel like we’re doing something wrong when it doesn’t.

But the more you know about good teaching, the more problems you can spot in a lesson before you ever teach it, and the more ways you can think of to make it better.

Jenn is my guest on the podcast this week, and our conversation is about how to cut down on the number of decisions you’re making every time you sit down to plan.

She shares four shifts from the framework she developed while building her new course, Mastering the Lesson Plan.

I’ll share one here that you can use right away: Before you select an activity, ask what job it needs to do.

Jenn says students are always doing one of three things with content:

Acquiring it (through a lecture, a video, or a reading)
Processing it (taking notes, doing a turn and talk, practicing retrieval)
Applying it (through a debate, a simulation, or creating something new)

When you know which of those three you need, you’re choosing from a short list of strategies. You can also look at an activity you’ve always done and tell pretty quickly whether kids are learning from it or just staying busy.

The other three shifts for reducing decision making as you less plan are in the episode:

Listen to the interview or read the transcript

And if you want Jenn’s whole framework laid out step by step, with sample units and a big library of downloadable strategies, you can check out Mastering the Lesson Plan here.

Use the code ANGELA to take $10 off her course.

Enjoy!

Angela

P.S. That’s my affiliate link, so I earn a small commission if you enroll through it, at no extra cost to you. Jenn also accepts purchase orders and offers group discounts, if you’d like to ask your school to cover it.