Lesson planning: a practical guide with a template and a worked example
Lesson planning is the process of deciding, before you teach, what pupils should learn in a lesson, how you will know whether they have learned it, and what you and they will do to get there. A good lesson plan is less a script than a set of decisions: the learning intention, the sequence of explanation and practice, the questions you will ask, the support some pupils will need and the evidence you will collect before the lesson ends. This guide covers what lesson planning is, why it matters, a six-step process, a copyable template and a worked example written for multilingual international school classrooms.
Table of contents
What is lesson planning in teaching?
Lesson planning is the smallest of three planning levels that most schools use, whatever their curriculum.
| Level | Often called | Covers | Main question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long-term | Curriculum map, yearly overview | A year or a phase | What will pupils learn this year, and in what order? |
| Medium-term | Scheme of work, unit plan, unit planner | A unit of several weeks | How does knowledge build from lesson to lesson, and where are the assessment points? |
| Short-term | Lesson plan | One lesson or a short sequence | What exactly will happen in this lesson, and how will I know it worked? |
The vocabulary differs between British, American, IB and Indian curricula, but the logic is the same. A lesson plan that is not connected to the unit around it tends to become a collection of activities. A lesson plan that knows what came before and what comes next can build knowledge deliberately.
Why lesson planning is important
- It keeps attention on learning, not activity. Planning makes you answer “what will pupils know or be able to do by the end?” before “what will we do?”.
- It lets you anticipate misconceptions. You can prepare the explanation, example or question that deals with a predictable error, instead of inventing one on the spot.
- It makes lessons accessible. Planning is where you spot the vocabulary and language demands of a task, which matters when many pupils are learning in English as an additional language.
- It frees your attention in the room. When the sequence is decided, you can watch pupils rather than your notes.
- It supports continuity. A clear plan lets a colleague cover your lesson, and helps a department keep teaching consistent when staff change, which is common in international schools.
What goes into an effective lesson plan
| Component | The question it answers | Short example |
|---|---|---|
| Learning intention | What should pupils learn? | Understand how filtration separates an insoluble solid from a liquid |
| Success criteria | How will pupils, and I, know they have learned it? | I can label the apparatus; I can explain which part is the residue and which is the filtrate |
| Prior knowledge | What must pupils already know? | Particles; the difference between dissolving and not dissolving |
| Vocabulary and language | What words and sentence patterns will pupils need? | residue, filtrate, insoluble; “The ___ passes through the filter paper because ___.” |
| Explanation and modelling | How will I present the new material? | Live demonstration with the teacher thinking aloud |
| Guided practice | How will pupils practise with support? | Paired labelling task |
| Check for understanding | Where will I check before moving on? | A multiple-choice question answered on mini whiteboards |
| Independent practice | What will pupils do on their own? | Explain how to separate a new mixture |
| Adaptations | Who needs more support or more stretch? | Word bank; extension question |
| Exit evidence | What will I collect at the end? | A two-question exit ticket |
How to plan a lesson in six steps
- Start from the end. Write the learning intention and what pupils will produce to show they have met it. This is backward design, the principle at the centre of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe’s Understanding by Design framework: decide the desired results first, then the evidence, then the learning activities.
- Check the starting point. Decide what pupils already know and plan a short review at the start. Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction, published in American Educator in 2012, begin with exactly this: start a lesson with a short review of previous learning.
- Break new content into small steps. Rosenshine’s principles also include presenting new material in small steps with practice after each one, providing models and guiding pupils’ practice. Plan where each step ends and where pupils try it.
- Plan your questions and checks. Write down the two or three key questions you will ask, and decide the point at which you will check the whole class’s understanding before moving on.
- Plan the language. List the subject vocabulary and the sentence patterns the task requires. Prepare a word bank, a sentence frame or a labelled diagram where pupils will need it.
- Set timings and a plan B. Estimate timings, then decide what you will cut if the lesson runs long and what extension is ready for pupils who finish early.
Lesson planning for multilingual and mixed-ability classes
In many international schools a single class includes pupils who are fluent in English, pupils in their first year of learning it and pupils with very different school histories. These planning habits help all of them:
- Keep the thinking demanding and support the language. Pupils new to English need the same intellectual challenge as their classmates, with more help to express it. Simplifying the content is rarely the answer.
- Separate subject words from general academic language. “Filtrate” is new to everyone. Words such as “therefore”, “compare” and “explain” may be the real barrier for some pupils, so plan to teach them too.
- Plan talk before writing. A short paired discussion with a sentence frame lets pupils rehearse an answer aloud before writing it down.
- Allow home languages for thinking. Pupils who share a language can discuss an idea in it first, then report back in English.
- Use visuals and demonstrations. A labelled diagram or a live demonstration carries meaning that a paragraph of text may not.
- Adapt the support, not the goal. Plan one learning intention for the whole class, with different levels of support: a word bank, a partly completed diagram, an extension question.
Worked example: a 50-minute Year 7 science lesson plan
The plan below is an illustrative example showing how the six steps fit together. It assumes a mixed class in which several pupils are in their first year of learning in English.
| Minutes | Phase | What happens | Check or support |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–5 | Review | Three quick questions on dissolving, answered on mini whiteboards | Scan every board; note anyone unsure of “dissolve” |
| 5–15 | Explanation and model | Teacher filters sand from water, thinking aloud and labelling a diagram live | Key words with pictures on the board: residue, filtrate, filter paper |
| 15–25 | Guided practice | Pairs label a blank diagram and complete two sentence frames | “The ___ stays in the filter paper because ___.” |
| 25–30 | Check | Multiple-choice question: which of four mixtures could be separated by filtration? | If most boards are right, move on; if not, reteach with a second demonstration |
| 30–45 | Independent practice | Pupils explain how to separate chalk from water, with an optional word bank | Extension: why can filtration not separate salt from water? |
| 45–50 | Exit ticket | One labelling question and one explanation question | Sort tickets into “got it”, “nearly” and “not yet” to plan the next starter |
Notice three things. The plan fits on one page. The checks are named, not left to chance. And the language support sits exactly where pupils will need it, not in a separate box that is easy to forget.
A one-page lesson planning template
Copy these headings into any document or planner. Most lessons need only a line or two under each.
- Class, date and where this lesson sits in the unit
- Learning intention
- Success criteria
- Prior knowledge to review
- Key vocabulary and sentence frames
- Explanation and model
- Guided practice
- Check for understanding (the question, and what you will do with each answer)
- Independent practice
- Support and stretch
- Exit evidence
- After the lesson: what to change next time
Tips for effective lesson planning without the overload
- Plan units, then lessons. Planning a sequence of five or six lessons at once is quicker and more coherent than planning each one the night before.
- Plan the questions, not the slides. Slides take time to make. The questions you ask decide what pupils actually think about.
- Reuse and annotate. Keep your plans and add a short “next time” note straight after teaching, while you still remember what went wrong.
- Share the work. Co-planned units spread the workload across a department and keep teaching consistent between classes.
- Time-box it. Decide how long a plan deserves before you start. A clear, short plan you use is worth more than a long one you never look at.
Planning gets quicker once the thinking behind it is secure. For teachers who want to study that thinking in a structured way, the iPGCE online from Plymouth Marjon University includes a module called Developing Knowledge for Planning, Teaching and Assessment.
Frequently asked questions
How do I lesson plan as a new teacher?
Start with the scheme of work or unit plan your school provides, so you know where each lesson sits. For each lesson, write the learning intention, the success criteria, one check for understanding and an exit question, then plan the activities that lead to them. Ask a colleague to look over your first few plans, and keep notes on what worked.
How long should a lesson plan be?
Long enough to be useful and short enough to glance at while teaching. For most lessons, a single page is enough: intention, success criteria, sequence, key questions, language support and exit evidence. Longer plans are useful for observed lessons or when training, but a detailed script is rarely needed once a unit has been planned well.
What is the difference between a lesson plan and a scheme of work?
A scheme of work, sometimes called a unit plan, sets out a sequence of lessons across several weeks: the knowledge to be taught, the order and the assessment points. A lesson plan zooms in on one of those lessons and decides exactly what will happen in it. Good lesson plans follow directly from a good scheme of work.
Why is lesson planning needed if my school provides the curriculum?
A curriculum says what pupils should learn. It cannot know your class: what they already understand, which misconceptions they hold, which pupils need language support and how long each step will take them. Lesson planning is where you turn a shared curriculum into teaching that works for the particular pupils in front of you.
If you want to study teaching and planning more formally, the PGCE online offered through Taito Education is the Postgraduate Certificate in Education awarded by Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM), Spain. It runs for six months and is studied fully online.