30-Day Lesson Planning in Two Hours

What if I could show you how to write a month’s worth of lesson plans in a couple hours?

That’s just one of the secret hacks teachers learn inside the Most Comprehensive Teacher Development (MCTD) site in the United States. Oh, you never heard of the MCTD before?

That’s because it’s been underground for the last decade.

Underground you say? Where? Why?

At the end of this article, I’ll show you how to lesson plan hack, but for right now while millions of teachers are lounging on beaches, reading leisure books and trying to recharge from the most challenging 20 months of their lives, there are a few thousand hard-working and dedicated teachers who are stress-free and recharging their batteries with the full confidence that next school year will be incredible.

Why do these teachers have so much confidence, while nearly 4 million teachers search for oxygen after the longest 15-months of their lives?

The answer is that all of the teachers that have been in the MCTD have full confidence in the Practice of Teaching.

Ok, you keep throwing out terminology, we have never heard of before, so either you need to tell us what is going on, or stop using new terms.

So let me back up, because you’re right. There is a huge gap between a small group of teachers and the rest of the 4 million. There is also a huge gap between what “should be done” inside our K12 schools and what IS ACTUALLY done inside our schools.

What is the Most Comprehensive Teacher Development program?

The MCTD is the only program in the United States that puts teacher learning above teacher compliance. And that might not make a lot of sense, but here’s how.

Right now, every state has their own legal mandate on teacher certification requirements. Since the MCTD helps teachers in New Jersey at the moment, we will use the Garden State as an example. By law, the NJ Department of Education requires teachers to conduct 20 full hours of professional development per year in order to maintain their teaching certificate and license.

That sounds great.

But here’s the reality. No one checks to see “what” teachers do with those 20 hours of professional development. No one checks to see if teachers improve their skills. No one checks to see if the 20 hours is productive or helpful to teachers. No one checks because no one cares. And no one cares because it’s legally mandated by legislators who also don’t care if they mandate 20 hours or 50 hours. They just wanted to pass a law and it made them feel good.

Isn’t that how most of our nation’s laws feel. Someone in a suit voted to enact a bill that would change life for everyone around them, but the person who voted for the bill could care less what happened after they voted.

The vast majority of teachers in New Jersey are forced to find acceptable projects and activities that will fill the 20 hour requirement each year. It’s a lot to ask of a teacher, but they do it.

Here’s where MCTD is different. Teachers don’t have the responsibility of finding activities and workshops, we have done all that work for them. But more importantly, all of the workshops are designed to help them improve their teaching talents and skills. That’s where the “Practice of Teaching” comes in.

What is the “Practice of Teaching?”

“The Practice of Teaching,” is a new book which is set for publication in the Fall, but inside it, it outlines the four key practice areas of teaching. These four skill areas are absolutely necessary for any teacher to be good at their job. These four skill areas are the foundation of being a professional teacher.

And that’s what America wants. America wants the best and brightest teachers in the world. The problem is that America has never tried to help teachers become the best and brightest.

We could bicker about it, or just move on, I have chosen to move on. The new book, “The Practice of Teaching” will become the standard in every single college education program in the United States.

No other book exists that gives the underlying teaching skills that make up great teaching. There are thousands of books that explain in great detail specific elements of being a teacher. There are books about how to teach on Day One, and how to lesson plan, and how to differentiate instruction, but there is no book that shows teachers how to begin.

How each of the four skills work together to build the best and brightest teacher.

It’s a comprehensive playbook for teachers who want to learn their craft.

How do these two ideas fit together?

We started this article with the premise, how would you like to write a month’s worth of lesson plans in a few hours. The key to being able to do double the amount of work in less time is only possible if you are one of the most efficient teachers in the country.

And every teacher that is learning in the MCTD is working toward that level of expertise and skill.

Can I get involved in MCTD?

Right now, the only thing a teacher can join is the Free Facebook Group, which is the portal to the Most Comprehensive Teacher Development program. The MCTD is not available online yet.

It started nearly a decade ago as a small teacher support group in public and charter schools in New Jersey. It eventually grew to nearly 5000 teachers, but it was secretive, and underground. The purpose was to provide teachers in NJ with 20 hours of professional development that didn’t feel like PD.

The Main Difference between PD and TD?

PD(Professional Development) is all about compliance. Schools and principals schedule PD sessions and in-service because they are legally required to do so. They attempt to plan meaningful PD for teachers, but even their best efforts fall short of being valuable. PD sessions typically are after-school or on days off from student sessions and teachers are tired, burnt out and forced to be there.

In essence, public and charter school PD flies in the face of all self-care initiatives.

So when a Principal says, “I care about my teachers,” and then schedules worthless and lame PD sessions, everyone knows they didn’t mean it.

TD (Teacher Development) is very different.

Inside the MCTD, teachers are presented with seven (7) goals and they chose which goal or goals they want to work during the year. In New Jersey, teachers choose the 20 hours of workshops they want. Some teachers choose to do more than 20 hours. The reason is because it’s fun to learn and grow.

The reason that TD works and PD doesn’t is because TD respects the teacher as a life-long learner. The goals of the TD program respect the teacher.

Here’s one of the goals for example, The Growth Mindset. What teachers learn during the TD workshops for the Growth Mindset is how to expand their skills. All too often, it’s easy to fall into old habits. But as teachers, the best and brightest are able to combine old habits with new techniques and modern perspectives to help students expand their own minds and perspectives.

The other reason that TD works where PD doesn’t is that teachers feel like students in the TD program. When a teacher learns in the TD program, it’s easier to understand their own students. Why some students might get stuck, get confused or get lost in their own teaching. When you are the “student” for a second, it takes the guesswork out of checking for understanding later when you want to ensure your own students success.

Lastly, TD works and PD doesn’t because TD only teaches the tasks, skills and information that are necessary for teachers to become the best and brightest. TD does not waste time on fancy “new” gimmicks, or the latest technology trend (which will be obsolete in 2 years anyway).

The foundation of TD is the Practice of Teaching and because there is an actual foundation, it makes TD stronger, more durable and more beneficial for teachers.

Why is TD so important for schools?

Nationally, 1 in 5 teachers quit the profession of teaching before the end of their 3rd year of teaching. That statistic has been true for the last decade. In fact, the Wall Street Journal published a story in 2018 that reported 1 million teachers leaving the profession at the end of that school year.

The sheer numbers of professionals that are calling it quits is staggering and unsustainable. At some point, there won’t be enough highly skilled, certified teachers to teach students — then what?

Recently, Education Week posted the results of a survey showing one of the reasons teachers quit is due to a “lack of support.”

This isn’t brand new information. Districts and principals have been hearing this complaint for decades from teachers, but no one has done anything about it. The end result, more and more teachers are deciding to quit the profession they love and dedicated their heart to.

It’s a real American tragedy.

Why TD gives hopes to millions of teachers?

There are two ways to react to the numbers. You can bury your head in the sand and hope that there will be enough teachers to supervise classrooms, or change the way teachers are treated inside K12 schools.

The Most Comprehensive Teacher Development (MCTD) program in America is changing the way teachers are treated inside K12 schools. In a small select number of public and charter schools in NJ, teachers learn the craft of teaching.

Teachers feel like their careers are important to other people. Teachers learn how to build self-confidence with their teaching skills. Teachers learn how to acknowledge and celebrate their own achievements. Teachers re-inspire themselves to keep learning and keep growing as teachers.

And most importantly, teachers that have experienced the Most Comprehensive Teacher Development (MCTD) program have avoided burning out.

If you are curious about how to avoid burn-out or want more information regarding the Portal to the Most Comprehensive Teacher Development site, head on over to the facebook group.

Lesson Planning Hack

Are you ready for this Lesson Planning Challenge?

You got this. Imagine having all of September planned before August 1st? What would you do with all that extra time? One of the hardest parts of doing this challenge is trusting your instincts. Don’t second guess yourself.

Materials:

a) A calendar (digital or print out “September 2021”)

b) A pen or computer for digital calendar

c) Grade level curriculum maps (entire year)

d) Previous Lesson Plans

Key Tip #1

Make your lesson plans follow a consistent schedule and structure

What does that look like on paper?

Here are a few examples: If you teach English or Language Arts students will be learning new vocabulary words in every unit. Since we are in the summer, it would be helpful to count up all the vocabulary the students will learn for the entire year and divide that total by 40. On average, that’s the number of words they need to learn weekly.

In order to make your lesson plans easier to write, pick one day during the week to be designated as “Vocab Day” and lock that day in every week for your lesson plan. Yes, you guessed it. If you decide to do vocabulary on Monday, then every Monday is “Vocab Day.” This may not seem like a big deal, but it is. Students need structure and your lesson plans need the same structure. Making every Monday “Vocab Day” does not take away from teacher creativity, since you can do different activities with the vocab, you can do Hangman, Wheel of Fortune, Matching Games, Pair-Share games, etc. But every Monday without fail you and the students know it’s “Vocab Day.”

What if you teach Science? Same thing holds true. Every week you need to do a lab experiment and students need to write up lab reports. What days of the week should these fall on? Remember, whatever day you choose, will be the same day every week from September through June.

The purpose of making a consistent schedule is to help students predict what to expect in class. That predictability reduces academic anxiety and allows them to come to class thinking about what they want to do with the material. Teachers that change their schedules or have no consistency in their planning, undermine student learning. It’s not following best practices.

What this also does is drastically reduce the amount of time a teacher needs to spend on their lesson plan. When you have outlined what happens on Monday through Friday week to week, for 40 straight weeks. It’s possible to plan an entire month in a few hours.

Step 1 (20 minutes)

Consistent Schedules

Now is when you decide what you want to teach on Monday through Friday and make it a consistent schedule for the entire year. If you are a math teacher, do you do word problems on Tuesday? Do you introduce new strategies on Monday?

If you are a social studies teacher, do you read on Wednesday’s?

Now’s the time to figure out your week, and then that weekly structure and schedule will continue throughout the year.

Hint: Don’t try and get too complicated. Pick one goal per day. When you write out the lesson objectives and activities, you may decide to cover more than one objective, but this is the structure of how you will teach.

Step 2 (20 minutes)

Splitting the Class Period

One technique teachers in my Teacher Development program learned and it helped them tremendously during the lesson planning stage was seeing the class period in two distinct parts. In other words, if your class period is 30 minutes long, you break the class into two 15- minute halves.

By doing this, you are cutting down the time you need to plan out activities. Students should not be working on one activity without a break or any redirection for longer than 20–25 minutes. Teachers that don’t provide breaks and alternative activities to students, set their students up for failure.

I am not referring to the top 10% of the class, that in reality, does not need the teacher as much, I’m referring to the 90% of the class that needs more structure and support to earn “As” and “Bs” in class.

Step 3 (20 minutes)

Outline the Week

We are focused on the Month of September. So what should students learn by the end of the month?

Here’s the biggest mistake I see teachers making and principals are guilty of this as well. There is a lack of planning for student goals and outcomes. Districts that have PLCs and use their curriculum maps in a collaborative way have overcome this inherent challenge, but the vast majority of schools in America have never heard of PLCs and their maps were last updated when Ronald Reagan was President.

It’s very important to keep track of student progress. What should students know and understand by the end of September, so they have the background knowledge for October, and so on. That’s how you need to plan out your lessons.

The goal of each day is to push the students forward in their learning. That’s why checking for understanding is so important. When a teacher identifies a student that is struggling to grasp concepts or falling behind, they need to immediately put interventions in place.

But if your lesson plans don’t outline where the students are going, then its very very hard to intervene.

Step 4 (60 minutes)

Decide the Objectives and Create the Lesson Activities

The time consuming part is over. That’s right, you just spent one hour structuring your lesson plans. That structure took 60 full minutes, but it will save you at least 5 hours per week for the rest of the year.

Now you are ready to do lesson planning. What is the lesson objective?

Since you divided the class period into two halves, you can decide to focus on one objective per half. But here’s the key, you cannot teach more than one objective at a time. This is where too many teachers try to get too ambitious.

The teacher blindspot is forgetting that your students are learning this material for the first time. Too often, content experts forget this major perspective shift. Don’t overwhelm your students. Allow them to learn with you, step by step, following your scope and sequence and they will do amazing things once they know what you taught them.

Keeping the One Lesson Objective per half goal in the back of your mind is just a good best practice and you will see increased student performance if you do.

End.

You did it! Yes, you just planned out the month of September in about 2 hours.

Hmmm…what will you do with the extra time?

Back to the beach!

Have fun!