6 Tips to Plan 2 Weeks of Lessons In 1 Hour

Get your life back as a teacher by maximizing how efficient you lesson plan.

As a teacher, lesson planning can feel overwhelming, especially with so many other responsibilities on your plate. But what if you could plan two weeks’ worth of lessons in under an hour? Here are six practical strategies that I’ve come across, to help you streamline your lesson planning process without sacrificing quality.

1. Backward Design: Start with the End in Mind

Backward Design flips traditional lesson planning on its head. Instead of starting with daily activities, begin by identifying your end goals. What do you want students to achieve by the end of the lesson or unit? Once you know your goal, you can plan the lessons and activities that will get students there. This strategy helps you focus on what’s important, cutting down on unnecessary tasks.

Example: If you’re teaching the causes of the Civil War, decide what the key takeaways are, then work backwards to structure each day’s lesson around those points by creating open ended focus questions for each. The answer of each, is the route of your lesson that day. This way, your lessons stay targeted and effective.

2. Use Templates to Streamline Planning

Pre-built templates are a game-changer for lesson planning. Instead of creating a plan from scratch, use a template that already includes sections like objectives, activities, and assessments. Simply fill in the blanks with your lesson content. Keep them and store them, and use them all the time!

Example: Teaching fractions? Grab a template for math lessons and plug in your objectives, activities, and focus questions. This structured approach makes lesson planning quicker and easier while maintaining consistency. I used to use the hamburger graphic organizer when writing essays. What ever works!!!!

3. Batch Planning: Plan Multiple Lessons in One Sitting

Batch planning is about efficiency. Rather than planning one lesson at a time, set aside a block of time to plan a full week—or even two weeks—of lessons. Once you get into the flow, it’s easier to connect each day’s lesson to the next, saving you time in the long run. Get out of the routine of thinking you need to plan for tomorrow!

Example: If you’ve outlined Monday’s lesson on fractions, take 15 more minutes to sketch out Tuesday and Wednesday’s lessons while you’re still in “planning mode.” This keeps your lessons cohesive and saves you from daily planning stress. You will also notice, you can plan 3 days of lessons in 30 minutes or so with this mindset.

4. Leverage Focus Questions for Structure

Focus questions help guide your lesson and ensure you stay on track. These are the big, open-ended questions that anchor your lessons and help students engage with the material. Once you have your focus questions, planning the rest of the lesson becomes easier, because you will know what new information student need to know to answer it, how they can practice it, what sharing out looks like, and your exit strategy enables clarity of comprehension levels.

Example: For a unit on ecosystems, your focus question might be, “How do living organisms depend on each other?” Your lesson should work towards answering that question, making your planning more efficient.

5. Use Pre-Made Resources

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when there are so many resources available online. Websites like Teachers Pay Teachers offer pre-made lesson plans and activities that you can tweak to fit your classroom. Use ChatGPT as well, it’s free!!!!! By using these resources, you save time while still delivering high-quality lessons.

Example: Teaching photosynthesis? Download a ready-made lesson plan, modify it to suit your teaching style, and you’ve saved yourself hours of prep time.

6. Adopt the Workshop Model for Consistency

The Workshop Model breaks lessons into a predictable structure: a starter, a mini-lesson, guided practice, and a wrap-up (like an exit ticket). Once you get the hang of this format, lesson planning becomes routine, and you can quickly plug in content. Over time, you’ll develop a bank of starters and exit tickets that can be used again and again, saving even more time.

Example: Use the Workshop Model to plan a math lesson with a quick do-now, a 10-minute mini-lesson on fractions, guided practice with student pairs, and an exit ticket. As you get better at using this model, planning each lesson will take less time because the structure is always the same.

By incorporating these strategies into your routine, you can cut down on planning time while ensuring that your lessons remain engaging and effective. The key is creating a consistent structure, using pre-made resources, and focusing on what’s most important. With a little practice, lesson planning in under an hour becomes not just possible, but the norm.

Good luck! If you need help, email me at joe@travelprincipal.com.