Lesson Planning for New Teachers: A No-Nonsense Starter Guide

A lesson plan needs four things: a clear objective, a sequence of activities, timing, and a way to check if students learned. Everything else is optional.

Many new teachers over-plan because they're afraid of running out of material. The real risk is the opposite — cramming so much into a plan that nothing gets the time it deserves.

Start with the question: 'What will students know or be able to do by the end of this lesson?' Write that down. Everything else in the plan serves that objective.

A useful objective is specific and observable. 'Students will understand fractions' is too vague. 'Students will add fractions with unlike denominators and explain their strategy' tells you exactly what to teach and how to assess.

The formula: Students will [observable verb] [specific content] [optional: condition or context]. Example: Students will identify three rhetorical devices in a persuasive speech and explain their effect on the audience.

If you can't assess it, rewrite it. Words like 'understand,' 'appreciate,' and 'learn about' are red flags because you can't observe them directly.

Pacing is the difference between a lesson that flows and one that falls apart. New teachers consistently underestimate how long activities take and overestimate how much they can cover.

Rule of thumb: take your estimate for how long an activity will take and add 30%. If you think a discussion will take 10 minutes, plan for 13. If independent work should take 15, plan for 20.

Always have a 'if we have extra time' activity and a 'if we're running short' cut. Knowing where to flex gives you confidence to adjust in the moment.

Formative assessment is how you check understanding during the lesson. It can be as simple as a thumbs-up check, a whiteboard show-me, or a quick pair-share where you listen to 3–4 conversations.

The exit ticket is your best friend as a new teacher. One question, 3 minutes, end of class. It tells you who got it and who needs reteaching tomorrow.

Don't grade everything. The purpose of formative assessment is information, not scores. Use it to make decisions about tomorrow's instruction.

Mistake 1: Planning activities instead of learning. 'We'll do a gallery walk' is an activity. 'Students will compare primary sources and identify bias' is learning. Start with the learning, then choose the activity.

Mistake 2: No plan for transitions. The 3 minutes between activities is where you lose the class. Plan what students should do and say during every transition.

Mistake 3: No differentiation. You don't need three separate lessons, but you do need to think about what happens when a student finishes early or can't access the text.

Mistake 4: Writing plans for an observer instead of for yourself. Your lesson plan is a tool for you. Write it in whatever format helps you teach. Fancy formatting is for evaluation days, not everyday planning.

LessonCraft gives you a structured starting point. You enter your topic, grade, and time, and get a plan with objectives, timed sections, differentiation prompts, and assessment suggestions. You're still making the teaching decisions — LessonCraft just handles the structure so you can focus on instruction.