A thread on planning vs resourcing.

Last week @Doug_Lemov shared this great article about lesson preparation. Over the last few months I’ve had several conversations with teachers & trainees who tell me they are spending a long time on planning. https://teachlikeachampion.com/blog/lesson-preparation-how-christine-torres-prepared-to-win/

When we dig into this a bit, they tell me about finding information, questions, designing powerpoints, guillotining worksheets etc etc.

To me this is not planning. This is resourcing. To borrow a PE analogy, they’ve just got the cones, bibs and balls ready (stop sniggering) and decided which part of the field to use.

I said this to one of the teachers, and asked, when do you spend time thinking about what you will actually say? Have you planned any specific questions? Where do you think the children might get ‘stuck?’ What might you do if this happens?

How people do this preparation might look different. For some, it might be writing notes about what they will say or do. I do my best thinking about how to present a new lesson when I’m out cycling. If I’m really stuck for an idea it will nearly always arrive on the bike.

Crucially, that explanation or demonstration is so critical, it can’t be left to chance. Use your precious prep time to think carefully about what you will say and ask.

Even consider which children you will ask first, or visit first when circulating.

There's definitely already some resources that exist about what you're teaching, so try to focus on a balance between resourcing a lesson (it would be a rubbish game without the balls), and planning it.