Planning Templates and Examples

Curriculum

Units

Lessons

Our lesson planning framework is built from three fundamental, schoolwide beliefs about what constitutes best practice.

1. Lessons must contain a clear objective that fits coherently with the larger aims of the course itself. This objective (or objectives) can focus on skill development, content acquisition or both.
2. Lessons must include assessment opportunities that allow the teacher to determine which students have mastered the objective and to what extent they have mastered it.

1. Because the eventual goal is that students are able to independently illustrate mastery of the content and skills that are being taught, but also require varying levels of support in order to achieve that mastery, lessons follow a model of "gradual release of responsibility,"
2. where students initially receive assistance and support from the teacher and other students, but eventually are able to complete tasks independently.

Below are lessons that meet these criteria particularly well. You will see that these lessons are not masterpieces -- more than anything, they are exemplary by virtue of their clarity, focus and intentionality of what is being taught, how it is being presented to increase student independence and how the teacher determines whether or not the students achieved the objective.

Also included are blank templates that allow teachers to plan using these guiding principles.

Blank Lesson Plan