Lesson Planning with Excel
One of the problems I face with my ridiculous work load (93 hours/week… on average), is that lesson planning time is virtually nil. For the last term and a half I have been recycling purely old lessons, adjusting for SEN and the class but generally keeping things the same.
It is boring.
Whilst I have lessons that work, because the lesson making process is not done I find myself missing certain points of information and anecdotes to explain away sticking points in learning. I also keep forgetting the “in the moment” adjustments I make on the day, and find it very easy to fall into the trap of chalk and talk… which is exhausting for everyone involved.
Rather than complain I would much rather fix the problem, so I have knocked up a very quick lesson planning template on Excel. Why Excel?
You can move data around easily
You can add timings faster
You can copy and paste tables without screwing up the page
Staging represenation is just much better
Extra professional development columns can be added on an ad hock basis
This way I can save the lesson plan without having to lug around folders of paper, and when the mood takes me to update a lesson I have a clear format to follow.
It looks like this:
Simple and bare bones, but it’s a working document and you can tart it up all you like. The only function I have added is an automated timings counter based on the duration you put for each activity.
Feel free to download and mess around!
The next step would be to make my PowerPoints and this Excel file link back to each other, but that’s for another day.
Happy teaching!