Lesson Planning = Backward Planning

One of the biggest reasons new teachers burn themselves out is that they plan from the bottom up. They look at a standard, create a detailed lesson for that standard, then repeat the process hundreds of times throughout the year. Before long they are spending hours every night creating elaborate lesson plans and still feeling like they are falling behind.

Most veteran teachers do the opposite.

Instead of writing a number of pages describing your philosophy of education before you begin explaining to the leftover professors who still live rent-free in your head why you chose The Very Hungry Caterpillar as a read-aloud today, start with the big picture.

Think of it like a road trip. If I tell you to drive from San Diego to Sacramento, you don't start by deciding what lane you'll be driving in at 10:14 AM on Interstate 5. You begin by figuring out where you're going. Once you know the destination, the individual turns become much easier.

Pull out a copy of the standards for your grade level and, if possible, find an experienced colleague who knows the curriculum well.

You aren't going to get to every single thing in the standards, so start by looking at the overall requirements.

By the end of _________, students will be able to _________.

When you first look at the standards, they seem overwhelming. In 8th grade English alone, students are expected to analyze literature, evaluate arguments, write essays, conduct research, use academic vocabulary, participate in discussions, and give presentations.

It looks like a lot, right?

Well, this is your road map for the entire year.

As a secondary teacher, I break this into units rather than individual lessons.

Novel Study

When I begin the year, I often start with an easier novel. I don't always know what students can do yet, and one of my favorite rules of thumb is:

New processes, easier text. Established processes, more challenging text.

You will also want to see what your school has available as far as class novel sets.

I've been using Inside Out & Back Again for the last few years because the poetry format makes the novel less intimidating for reluctant readers.

Look at how many standards I can hit with a single unit.

I can teach Author's Craft and Figurative Language through the poetry. Students can engage in partner discussions about deeper meanings within individual poems. The writing component can focus on Theme and Development, and students can even create their own poetry. Students can read supplemental articles or first-person accounts about the fall of Saigon and the immigrant experience, bringing in research and informational reading standards.

Notice what happened.

I didn't create ten separate units for ten separate standards. One strong unit addressed many standards simultaneously.

Already, I can check off a large portion of my roadmap.

Drama

My next unit is generally drama.

I have students read a Shakespearean comedy, usually using No Fear Shakespeare. The reason this works so well is that students can move back and forth between the original language and a more accessible translation. Struggling readers can participate without becoming overwhelmed, while stronger readers can still wrestle with the complexity of Shakespeare's language.

Again, look at the standards.

This unit addresses nearly every reading standard. Depending on what I need, students can write literary analyses, argumentative essays, or informational pieces. I usually end the unit with about two weeks where students work in groups to write and perform their own plays.

I record these performances and post them to Google Classroom so students can watch them later.

Most of these productions are deeply horrible.

I love Chicken Joe Goes to Popeyes just as much as Our Struggle for Freedom.

I grade these performances with a very light hand because this may be the first time many students have attempted acting. More importantly, students learn to be fearless. They learn to laugh at themselves. They learn that doing something badly isn't the end of the world.

The academic standards matter, but so does building a classroom where students feel happy, safe, and willing to take risks.

Debate

Next, I do a unit on debate.

You can find excellent debate resources online, and year after year students report that this was their favorite unit.

I had one student who I taught in 7th grade. Because of a scheduling conflict, she ended up with a different teacher for 8th grade who did not teach debate. When she comes back to visit her youngest sibling—even now, as a student preparing to become a senior at Harvard—she still complains that she missed the debate unit.

Again, look at the standards.

Reading, writing, speaking, listening, argumentation, evidence, research—this single unit hits all of them.

Returning to Novel Study

At the end of the year, I usually circle back to another novel study and teach To Kill a Mockingbird.

I genuinely love this novel, but it is easy to get tired of teaching the same book year after year. Make sure you have a few options you can rotate through.

The important thing isn't the title of the novel.

The important thing is that whatever you choose still allows you to address the standards you need.

For example, I do a significant amount of vocabulary work and Greek and Latin roots during this unit. If I switch novels, I need to make sure I am still covering those same skills somewhere else.

Putting It All Together

At this point, I have my major structures for the year.

Novel Study.

Drama.

Debate.

Novel Study.

Now I can begin planning individual units.

Notice what I haven't done.

I haven't written 180 separate lesson plans.

Instead, I have identified the major destinations for the year and matched them to the standards. Once I know what students need to be able to do by the end of a unit, the daily lessons become much easier to create.

If students need to perform a play, today's lesson might focus on dialogue. Tomorrow's might focus on stage directions. Next week's might focus on rehearsal.

The daily lessons grow naturally from the larger goal.

That's backward planning.

Start with the destination. Build the road afterward.

If you start with the road, you'll spend all year driving in circles.