The SecEd Podcast: How to plan great lessons

This episode considers effective lesson-planning in the secondary school, offering practical tips, advice and ideas for teachers and subject/curriculum leaders.

Our experts discuss the difference between a planned lesson and a lesson plan. We ask what should be included in medium and short-term lesson planning. What are the non-negotiables, including key knowledge, skills, and the big questions? Which end-points should we include? What do we want pupils to think about, know and do? What are your success criteria?

How does lesson-planning link to curriculum sequencing? How do we incorporate our school’s learning values? What is the balance between departmental direction vs individual teacher planning and autonomy? How do we plan lessons that cater for different levels of prior knowledge and tackle gaps in knowledge or misconceptions?

We talk different types of lesson structure and different lesson ingredients, important lesson routines, planning for challenge & differentiation, using teaching assistants and more.