Teachers...do you use the same lesson plans every year?

[SavvyMom]

My new principal made the announcement that we are to have our lesson plans available on weekends in case she wants to come in and review them. I told her later that if she checks mine on the weekend she'll be looking at the previous week's lesson plans. She asked my why and I told her that I often (almost always) do my lesson plans on the weekend. She asked my why I work at home. I told her I can't get any work done at school, and I just think better at home. She said, "Don't you just use the same lesson plans every year?" Um no. I don't have the same kids or curriculum every year. How could I use the same plans? I mean, I use the previous year as a reference, but I couldn't use the exact same plans. Do you? Am I just making more work for myself?

 

[DisneyJules]

Well, I'm not a teacher. But I did grow up with a mother, stepfather and stepmother who were ALL teachers. My mom has always made new lesson plans each year, my stepfather has as well. My mom said it made life more interesting, it's certainly more work though. And the two of them sit every night in the living room working on school work all evening, they get no break! (You can see why I didn't go into education,ahaha)

My stepmom on the other hand uses the same lesson plans EVERY year and is never seen doing any homework at night. I'm not sure how she gets away with it. Either you can take the easy way out and reuse the same lesson plans over and over and over again. Or you can as my mom put it, make life more interesting and learn something new yourself. Although it's a lot of work, I can tell how much my mom loves learning new things with the kids. I certainly don't think you're crazy for making new lesson plans every year and doing work at home. It's not necessary but what it comes down to is the kind of experience you would like to have as a teacher.

 

[emma'smom]

My old plans are a great jumping off point. I write my plans on my computer...so I go to last year's plans and tweak them to fit this year's needs. The students are different, things happen (teachable moments), I find new resources. Every year is different...the plans can't be exactly the same.

 

[TJ's Mom]

Mine are similiar but better every year. I teach history so the topics have to stay the same per state objectives, but how I teach them changes year to year.

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

I, too, use last year's lessons as a starting point. My notes, however, haven't changed too much after the fourth or fifth time teaching a course (unless the ministry changes the curriculum - I teach science). What does change are the activities, worksheets, discussion topics, etc. I am always looking for new stuff, and since this is only my seventh semester teaching, I still have a lot of tweaking to do!

I think it would get pretty boring to teach exactly the same way year after year (and in science, there are always new discoveries to keep abreast of).

If I were you, I would give your prinicipal last year's lesson plans each Friday, and then "tweak them/rewrite them" over the weekend and give her the updated versions on Monday. That way, she still has a week's plan if you get sick, but you still get the weekend to make any changes you want.

 

[barkley]

i think part of it depends on what subject(s) you teach.

one of my family members teaches a variety of math classes in a highschool. so unless the curriculum changes she sticks with her proven lesson plans year to year. realisticly, unless a student fails a class she will have no repeat students in the same course the following year. i have another family member however-who is in a very unique situation that calls for definatly making changes to his lesson plans every year. he teaches in a single classrom, all subjects-grades 5th-8th so while he has to teach the same subject matter each year (with again changes per curriculum changes)-he has to find different ways of doing it otherwise the kids will get the same instruction/assignments/projects for up to 4 years in a row. he's finding that he needs to keep records of what he taught in what manner so he does'nt get too repetitious.

 

[swilphil]

I taught high school English. I reused some lesson plans and made others new. Even the ones I reused I would do some tweaking. I was teaching with the same textbook and the same curriculum. When we adopted a new textbook, I would do new lesson plans. I would always add a few new units each year so I would have some new lesson plans to work on, but there's no reason to reinvent the wheel.

 

[bananiem]

When I was a sub I dreaded Monday morning calls. Too many times I'd go in and the teacher would have taken the plan book home for the weekend and I'd have no idea what to teach for the day.
I used different plans each year. Different kids, different ideas.

 

[MM27]

I hand my plan book in every month on the 15th and the 30th. At the end of the year our planbooks are collected and stored in the school basement. I never look at last years plans when I'm planning for this year. The content is the same because the curriculum guides that (I teach math and science) but I would be bored senseless if I did the exact same thing every year. Also when the class ability level varies every year, sometimes lessons take on a very different spin.

 

[SavvyMom]

My old plans are a great jumping off point. I write my plans on my computer...so I go to last year's plans and tweak them to fit this year's needs. The students are different, things happen (teachable moments), I find new resources. Every year is different...the plans can't be exactly the same.

This is pretty much what I do. I trash the ones that didn't work and tweak the ones that did. There's nothing like writing a brilliant lesson plan and having it sail right over the kids' heads into nothingness .

 

[Mrs.Reese]

I do and I don't. The plans are just an outline. Although this year I'm teaching a whole new grade so everything is new. I have used the same plans for the first week of school since I spend that time teaching rules and procedures.

 

[disney junky]

I had to laugh at the OP. I am often amused at how my administrator doesn't really know what we do.

I used to teach the AP class and I also taught the technical class, both 12th grade. She thought that I would use the same plan and just "water it down" for the technical kids.

In answer to the question, I taught a new course last year, created lots of supplementary materials including powerpoints and handouts, so I am using those, but I also remember where students struggled and place more emphasis on that material and perhaps less on material they "got." As someone else suggested, I try to be better every year.

Sometimes, I cover the same material in the afternoon class of 30 as I did in my morning class with 17, but I use completely different activities based on the dynamic of the class that day or simply because the numbers are so different.

 

[TJ's Mom]

I used to teach the AP class and I also taught the technical class, both 12th grade. She thought that I would use the same plan and just "water it down" for the technical kids.

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OK.... that is just funny! AP is the hardest class I have ever taught and the most time consuming.

 

[Daxx]

I have been at my job for years, so I don't know why I bother doing lesson plans b/c I know this stuff like the back of my hand. However, it's state law that I provide lesson plans. I know the things we're going to do and know how I'll go about teaching them. But, I will find new materials to add to what we're doing or tweak things to make them better. I often try new things out, too. As someone else said, the old plans are like a jumping off point.

We have to plan a week ahead of where we are at. That's fine w/me. I could use my old lesson plans and improve on them, but at the same time, there are new things that I want to do in place of old things, so it's just easier to do new lesson plans.

 

[JoyG]

Well in the past several years my district has pretty much scripted everything, from what you are supposed to teach to what time you teach it. They even insist that you have the teachers manual in your hands while teaching!

Back when I first started teaching, I had some play room to get creative with my lessons. But these days if it doesn't come directly from the manual I can't do it.

So yes, for the past several years I've done the same lesson plans. I do rewrite them though. Actually, the district photocopies our math plans for us and sends them to us. We just hole punch them and put them in the plan book.

 

[DisneygirlTeacher]

I use my plans from the year before as an outline, too. But, I have to say if your principal is really coming in on the weekend to look at everyone's plans that she needs to get a life....