SUMMER SERIES EP 4 — Planning Without The Panic

Planning can swallow an elementary teacher’s life, especially when you’re responsible for every subject and every minute feels accounted for. We tackle a question from Sarah, a literacy coach, about how to support teachers who are struggling with planning and how to make that support realistic in the day-to-day constraints of school.

We start by challenging the default “teach, then worksheet” pattern. When we broaden what a lesson can look like, planning gets more flexible and often faster. We talk through practical minimalist teaching moves like swapping heavy prep materials for simple checks for understanding, including quick exit tickets and student talk routines that still reveal what kids learned without creating piles of paperwork.

Then we get concrete about systems: how to chunk planning time so it actually works, how to reuse high-leverage routines across subjects, and why repeating structures students already know is a feature, not a flaw. We also make a case for integrated planning, using science and social studies content that already appears in many literacy programs as an anchor so content learning doesn’t disappear when schedules get tight.

If you’re an instructional coach, literacy coach, or classroom teacher looking for sustainable lesson planning strategies, this one is for you. Subscribe for more quick summer answers, share this with a teammate who’s planning everything, and leave a review with the routine that saves you the most time.

Transcript

Welcome To The Summer Q And A

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Hey there, and welcome back to the Minimalist Educator Podcast. The podcast that fits perfectly into your summer break. Over the next few weeks, the Minimalist Educator Podcast is keeping it short and sweet. Just quick answers to the questions you've been wondering about. Perfect for however much summer break you've got left today. A coffee break, a pool lounge, or those first few minutes before you remember you don't have to lesson plan. So relax, you've earned it. Quick questions,

The Planning Struggle Question

SPEAKER_01 0:38

quick answers, all summer long. Let's dive into today's question. Hello everyone, and welcome to our fourth episode of our summer series QA. What question are we tackling today, Tammy?

SPEAKER_00 0:58

We are looking at a question from Sarah, the literacy coach again. She had a couple questions. And this one is do you have advice for how to support teachers who are struggling with planning? In particular, elementary teachers who have to plan all subjects. This is a big that's a heavy question. That's a big one. This is a big yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Of course, it it is highly dependent on what kind of school you're in,

Rethink Lessons Beyond Worksheets

SPEAKER_01 1:32

what you're expected to do within your planning. It can be very variable. So we'll try and give some sort of broad advice, I think, here, Tammy. Yeah. But I think a really good experience for me. You know, our school in Singapore, we were really encouraged not to use worksheets. And I think that really actually stretched some planning muscles for me. Not that I was always, you know, a massive worksheet user, but just that idea of, you know, often when we're teaching in elementary school, it feels like, you know, you have to have the lesson and then do something. Have a lesson and then do something, right? And so being encouraged to move away from worksheets or things like that, it was really encouraging you to think differently about what a lesson can look like, like how you structure the lesson. It doesn't always have to be teacher up front explaining, and then the kids go and do something, it can be a many very different things. So I think that's kind of freeing in a little way.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Yeah, I like the direction that you went with this because planning can be really fun and it's such a creative process. So even if you have a program that you're using, if there is even a little bit of flexibility where you can kind of pick and choose things and then create variations of things. So, like you said, just being able to think differently is helpful.

Use Time Blocks And Low Prep Checks

SPEAKER_00 3:04

So I think one of the first things maybe that Sarah, you might think about is or any coach or you know, whoever you're working with, even for yourself as a teacher or instructional coach, think about how you use the planning time, right? So, and you have to look at what your structure is. So, how many planning periods do you have? How do you use that time? And then can you use chunks of your time for specific parts of planning? So, do you need a little bit of time to first, you know, just review what's coming up for the week? Do you need time to brainstorm some things that are in that lesson? Do you need time to create things? But we like Christine said, not everything has to be a worksheet, right? So instead of that creating a sheet or a template or a something for the kids to use, can you have different kinds of exit tickets for them to just jot down or tell someone that what they learned that day so that it lessens the prep time on the teacher end? Oh, I feel like there's so many things I could say.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

So many

Repeat Routines That Students Know

SPEAKER_01 4:20

things that we could say. Yeah. Another thing I I was thinking of is if you if you and your class really enjoy particular routines or procedures or structures, just keep using it. There's nothing wrong. Like if you really, if you really like a C think Wonder, just keep using it. You can use it for just about everything. And if if it's something that your kids are familiar with the procedure of doing, that's actually going to be really supportive for them. So there's nothing wrong with like repeating the same approach again and again and again. I personally I love a bingo card for review or retrieval practice. I don't know why. It just really playing bingo, I've played it for literacy, math, all sorts of things. So love a bingo card. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Yeah, that's such a good point. Just those visible thinking routines that you can use in any content area, but you just use them depending on what your content is. So if that's because I know a lot of math programs already have, it's not a C think Wonder, but it's a notice in wonder. So if you like doing that in your math, then do that in your literacy as well. So some

Integrate Science And Social Studies

SPEAKER_00 5:30

of those stream like streamlining the routines and procedures across content areas, that's always helpful. And then when can you also, like if you have a literacy program, you often have social studies or science content in the reading. And so you can also just say, because unfortunately, a lot of content time, at least in American public schools, is dropped out because the focus is always on literacy and math. And so there isn't that always that deep development of science or social studies content. I would say less so science, because it's just sometimes even harder for teachers to find materials or be comfortable teaching. But you can do some plan in some integration. So if you know that your week's reading from whatever your reading program is, is about this certain like forces and magnetism or something, then build in something in your literacy time that or later in your day when you have pockets of time that would technically be for science, let's say, just use that reading as your anchor point to whatever science unit you could be teaching. So it does even if you don't get to teach a full science unit like you would well, like we're supposed to be teaching, but sometimes we just can't because of things that are going on. Just find ways to pull the integration out of the literacy and just build in something a little bit more for students because they need to have, they need to understand those concepts before moving into the next grades because they all build on each other. I do. I love integrated planning, it's the best. Yeah, it does take a little bit of different understanding sometimes, but if you I feel like if you don't think too hard about it, it just it really does come naturally for teachers to want to build things together and make it make it easier for ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yeah, just as humans, connected connected learning makes sense. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

Right, right, yeah, exactly.

Quick Wrap Up And Send Off

SPEAKER_00 7:42

So we hope that helped you, Sarah.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

And that's today's question answered. Thanks for spending a few minutes of your summer with us. Remember, quick questions, quick answers all summer long. We'll see you next time on the Minimalist Educator Podcast. Now go and enjoy the rest of your break.