Flying Pants Planning

"Fly by the seat of my pants" This is something I found myself saying often as a teacher. Did I have lesson plans? Yep! They didn't mean a whole lot at the time though. I never looked back once I typed them. I spent WAY too many hours playing around with the format and color coding boxes to make them look pretty. And I NEVER used them from year to year. I can't even remember a time that I even snuck a glance at what I did the previous year.

But now I sit and reflect on the lessons that had the biggest impact on my kids. They were well thought out. I had mentally walked through the entire lesson and made notes about what to expect, or teaching points that I could sneak in. Did I write it all out? No. I did make random notes on various pieces of paper or on my master copy so I wouldn't forget. The one thing that was the most different though, was my level of comfort. I had a sense of ease as I taught. I didn't get flustered or have to run back to my manual. My students were also much more successful because I knew where the end was and had already thought out my plan of how to get their with ease.

So my challenge to you is to consider how much effort and time  you are putting into planning. Are you really planning, or are you doing other things that do not affect student achievement (such as color coding and changing the font)? Try and dive into the lesson and walk through it instead of just putting the page number down and only opening your book as you begin the lesson.

You might be worried it will take away from your "flying pants" problem as you teach, however, you can still fly, but you would now have more of a purpose and a direction. Plus think about how successful your students will be, you will not have to reteach as much.

So the next time you sit down to plan, actually PLAN the lesson, walk through it as if you were teaching it. Think back to your college years where you had to type op 6 page lesson plans for one lesson. Only this time, it is in your head and on cute sticky notes. Then consider the impact it had on you AND your students and decide if it was worth your time... I bet it is.