A Lesson Plan for Teachers

I remember when…

I remember when we used to hang our heads upside-down to spray our hair with enough hairspray to deplete an o-zone layer.

I remember when we all understood the meaning of “I carried a watermelon” or “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”

I remember when our telephones were connected to the wall.

And, I remember when my teachers planned during their planning periods and left all the “work” behind them just after the bell rang. Or did they?

I remember when things were so much simpler than they seem to be now. Or is that just my here and now perception? Yet in preparing my lessons each day, week, month… I feel that there are so many steps I must now take to check all the boxes in my “meeting the standards.” This is not necessarily a bad thing, but how can you juggle it to make it work best for you and your students?

Having worked on a few curricular design teams that “mapped” and “aligned” and “created” curriculum to work with the updated standards and state requirements, I have some ideas to help all the rest of you in what seems like the never ending task!

1. Use what you have. Start with what you know is right. Check it against the standards to see what needs to be deleted, updated, or added.

2. Turn your standards into a checklist. Check off the standards as you feel your students have mastered them. Highlight standards that must be taught throughout the school year, and be sure to recheck the standards you feel may have been forgotten.

3. Add your standards into your units where they BEST fit. Do not attempt to push standards in where they simply do not belong. If you plan well ahead, this will be a much easier task.

4. Create lessons to address the standards you do not already have in your units. This will serve two purposes. It will help you to address the standard, and it will bring a fresh, new activity into your classroom.

5. Don’t overdo! Make sure to align your standards with the other grade levels and curriculum areas. Overlap is great, but overkill is a waste of time.

6. Don’t stress! Despite the high-stakes world we live in, and the fact that in many states, teachers are living based on their “scores,” the world will not come to an end if you fail to reach a standard in any given lesson or unit or even year! Just work from where you left off and see where you can go.

I remember when my teachers talked about the things they did in their personal time… those things never included aligning the curriculum, double-checking that their plans met the standards, or working every waking hour to prepare lessons and reviews that would teach to the test. And you know what? We all turned out just fine!

Visit TpT for lessons that will save you time and energy in meeting those state and national standards!

Visit my TpT store for free items to help in your unit and lesson creation or for a wide assortment of fairly priced, content-strong, multiple-intelligence-based activities and lessons to keep your Social Studies or English classes engaged and learning!