The 3 Tools You Need to Make Lesson Planning Faster
When I was a brand new teacher, I spent hours and hours of my free time planning lessons. In the age of education that we were in during my early years of teaching, balanced literacy was in and scripted curriculum was not embraced with open arms yet. Pinterest and teaching blogs were huge, and instagram was barely ever used to talk about teaching. So, when I sat down to plan, I very often was looking at a blank slate trying to decide how I could get my students to understand the standard deeply.
There is a lot of merit to that style of teaching. I understand the standards so deeply myself now, and I could generate a lesson from scratch without any support at all. BUT, it was truly insane that we were being told what standards to teach, how many of them to teach before the state test, and weren’t given any real resources to do it. Teachers across the country were making things from scratch every single week for their students. Putting in hours and hours of unpaid time to fill curriculum gaps that we weren’t provided.
I am grateful that we no longer have to start from total scratch. Many of us have boxed curriculums of pre-written curriculum maps, or at the very least team plans, that we can use as a jumping-off point. But, even then, we have so many other, smaller lessons to plan for every week. Homework, morning work, small groups, centers, enrichment, RTI, etc. If whole group planning was taken off of our plate, but these things were all added in recent history, how can we make the planning simpler?
These three tools will help!
1. Lesson Planning Templates – Plan Once, Use Forever
One of the biggest time-wasters in lesson planning is starting from scratch. My Lesson Planning Templates give you a structured format to plug in your lessons quickly, so you never have to stare at a blank page again. I also include some notes about how to think of your lesson plans as ‘formulas’ that you can use and reuse.
✅ Pre-formatted layouts for all subjects
✅ Editable fields to customize to your needs
✅ Aligned with best teaching practices
These templates help ensure consistency in your planning, making it easier to track what’s been covered and where students need more support. Whether you’re mapping out a full unit or just planning for the week, having a go-to format will make planning a breeze!
2. AI Prompts for Lesson Planning – Let Technology Work for You
Artificial Intelligence is a powerful tool that can help teachers generate lesson ideas, differentiate instruction, and create engaging activities in seconds. My AI Prompts for Lesson Planning eBook provides 100 carefully crafted prompts that you can use with AI tools like ChatGPT to make planning even easier.
📝 Struggling to differentiate for different learners? AI can help generate leveled activities in seconds! 🎭 Need a fresh way to introduce a topic? Get AI-generated hooks, games, or discussion starters! 📖 Want to plan a week’s worth of reading lessons? Use a simple prompt to generate text-based activities!
By leveraging AI, you’ll free up valuable time while still ensuring high-quality, engaging lessons for your students.
3. The Team Planning Dashboard – Your Lesson Planning Headquarters
How much time do you waste searching for files, opening multiple tabs, or trying to track down curriculum links? The Team Planning Dashboard eliminates that problem by giving you one central place to store and access everything you need.
🖥️ Quickly access all your lesson plans, curriculum files, and essential links in one click 📆 Track team meetings, school events, and important deadlines ✅ Collaborate with your grade-level team and assign tasks effortlessly
This tool is a game-changer for keeping everything organized, so you don’t waste time searching for the materials you need!
Work Smarter, Not Harder
With these three tools, lesson planning no longer has to consume all your free time. By using Lesson Planning Templates, AI Prompts, and the Team Planning Dashboard, you’ll be able to plan smarter and teach better.
🎧 Want to dive deeper? Listen to the full podcast episode [here].
🚀 Ready to grab these time-saving tools? Check them out here:
Lesson Planning Templates: Grab here
AI Prompts eBook: Get it here!
Team Planning Dashboard: Get It Here
You deserve to spend less time planning and more time teaching—let these tools do the heavy lifting for you!