What do lesson planning and laundry have in common?
As soon as you think you’re done, there’s another load to tackle. In my first year of teaching, I wasted so much time lesson planning because I tackled it in the wrong way.
Planning Enrichment Philosophy
Unpopular opinion: we need to plan enrichment for our gifted and high achieving students instead of “early finisher task cards” or “free choice”.
I know… big words, especially from someone who loves choice boards. But, hear me out. Students will give back what we give them. If my lesson plans are a hot mess and thrown together, student work will be too.
Lesson Planning for Enrichment Workbook
I can hear your sighs now.
If you’re like me, you don’t want one more thing to do. But, this “workbook” is really just a couple of graphic organizers. I created them to help plan my enrichment lessons and thought they could help other teachers, too. Feel free to copy them, share them, or repurpose them. Make them yours! My goal is to make planning easier, not stressful.
Download your lesson planning workbook here:
3 Ways to Support Your Lesson Planning
1- share the enrichment planning pathway with students.
I’m a big believer in sharing my map with students because when they can see the end goal, they are more likely to fully engage. In addition, sharing my thinking keeps confusing and misunderstandings at a minimum. Now, my students know the how and why, which keeps them motivated on the task.
2- keep examples of student work for kids to reference.
Every year there is student work that I just beg to keep. As part of a novel study project last year, students could create an artifact to accompany with their book. So, I’m now the proud owner of a beautiful a portrait of Van Gogh made out of colorful paper clippings. It currently sits on my bookshelf!
During the year, I keep any work my students want me to have because I can use them as examples for various stages of work or perspectives of the assignment. When I get ready to teach that lesson the next year, I exchange examples to keep things updated and fresh.
3- create a “makerspace” or “acceleration station”.
If I won a classroom makeover, I would want a full maker space with peg boards and tools and all the craft supplies. Since that’s not likely to happen any time soon, I make due with a little hutch full of scrap paper, various cardboard boxes, glass jars, and more.
For example, I keep my “writer’s basket” full of exemplars, reference tools, writing prompts, and my Story Coins Game on the top. This space is perfect for sparking creativity and imagination with my gifted students.
In a Pinch? Try One of These Ideas
Sketch notes for reading- easy one pagers you can download for free and use with any text! Or, have kids choose a quote from the text they read and then surround it with sketches, reasoning, and connections.
Story Coins Game for writing- I created this hands-on game to add excitement to storytelling. Sometimes kids just need to feel like learning is fun!
Lego for designing & critical thinking- when in doubt, get out Lego! It’s amazing what kids can create when given a little time and imagination.
Pin Ideas
