Does Anyone Do Lesson Plans Anymore?

Here's the truth: lesson plan templates are often a cumbersome collection of priorities that have minimal impact on teacher clarity and effectiveness. Yet planning for teaching? Still essential.

Here’s the truth: lesson plan templates are often a cumbersome collection of priorities that have minimal impact on teacher clarity and effectiveness. Yet planning for teaching? Still essential.

So we’re left with a conundrum — how do you create helpful and simple parameters for instructional planning that actually clarify what’s important for both teacher and student?

I was working with a small and mighty school team in Connecticut last week on this very issue. We started by surveying High Yield Tier 1 Instructional Strategies and identifying the ones they believed were essential. Then we drafted those strategies in accessible language, paired with clear examples across subjects and grade levels so every staff member could see themselves in the work.

Here are two examples that concisely explain the WHY and HOW:

Setting Goals

Explanation: There is a clear goal that is stated and clarified with and by students. Students use the goal to monitor their progress.

Grades 3-5 Examples:

• By the end of today’s lesson, you will be able to explain how plants use photosynthesis to make their own food and identify the materials plants need for this process.
• We are working for the next several days on writing an ending for your narrative story that shows your character has learned a lesson through action, dialogue, or feeling.
• Here is our art goal for today — I can mix secondary colors using primary colors and explain which colors I combined. This means that by the end of class, you’ll be able to:
  • Mix orange, green, and purple paints
  • Tell me which two primary colors you used for each one
  • Show me your secondary colors on your color wheel

Modeling and Demonstration

Explanation: Engage students by demonstrating a skill or concept, then guiding students through applying it. Modeling often involves both visual and verbal cues during instruction.

Grades 3-5 Examples:

• When teaching persuasive writing, show students a sample paragraph while thinking aloud: “First, I state my opinion clearly. Then I give three strong reasons…”
• Today I’m going to show you how to throw overhand with power and accuracy. Watch carefully because I’m going to explain what I’m thinking and doing at each step: stance, arm position, step and throw, follow through.

We then looked at ways to embed this into instructional planning. As the team studied a range of templates I prototyped, they immediately raised concerns about the level of detail required and questioned who the templates were really for. Teachers or administrators?

Their question shifted everything: Could they instead leverage High Yield Tier 1 Instructional Strategies and consider a general lesson sequence that could guide their classroom plans without dictating every detail?

One of my continued beliefs is this: when we imagine and prototype with faculty to strengthen instructional design, we increase buy-in, grow pedagogy, and provide a structure that folks are actually interested in using.

Try This in Your Setting:

1. Audit your current lesson plan template. For each required component, ask: Does this increase teacher clarity? Does it improve student learning? If you can’t answer yes to both, consider cutting it.
2. Start with 3-5 high-yield strategies. What are the instructional moves that matter most in your context? Name them, define them simply, and show what they look like across grade levels and content areas.
3. Co-design with teachers. Bring a small team together to prototype planning tools. Their fingerprints on the design will create ownership across your building.
4. Test the “dinner party” rule. Can a teacher explain your planning expectations in 2-3 sentences at a dinner party? If not, it’s too complex.
5. Focus on the sequence, not the script. Instead of dictating every detail, help teachers think through: What’s my goal? How will I model it? How will students practice? How will I know they’ve got it?