{"id":149317,"date":"2023-01-04T12:00:20","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T17:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/?p=149317"},"modified":"2023-01-03T18:38:37","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T23:38:37","slug":"8-ways-to-adjust-lessons-for-student-needs-without-sacrificing-advance-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/8-ways-to-adjust-lessons-for-student-needs-without-sacrificing-advance-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"8 ways to adjust lessons for student needs WITHOUT planning everything last minute"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Advance lesson planning is the\u00a0first and main step in reducing my work hours, and I believe it is the <em>only<\/em> way to end the cycle of falling behind on other work because there\u2019s always urgent planning for the following day.<\/h2>\n<p>And yet when I coach teachers on this, a frequent response is, \u201cI can\u2019t plan that far ahead because I need to adjust to student needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Adjusting to student needs versus planning ahead is a false dichotomy, and I\u2019ve found that advance planning enables me to adjust to student needs far more effectively than planning lessons every night for the next day.<\/p>\n<p>For example, imagine my 9th-grade world history students are struggling with a particular concept when teaching about the Industrial Revolution \u2014 communism versus capitalism. In last-minute planning mode, I decide to spend one more day practicing this concept than I originally meant to. Students get more practice, and the unit assessment ends up being a day later than it would have been \u2014\u00a0not a big problem.<\/p>\n<p>But what if I take a similar approach often? If I add an extra day on a topic every other week, that\u2019s 10 days in a semester \u2014\u00a0which could easily equal an entire unit! That\u2019s 20 days or 4 weeks of school in a whole year &#8211; definitely a problem if I run out of time for that much of my curriculum. Sure, I can say my students understand communism versus capitalism \u2014\u00a0but what did they miss in those 4 weeks of instruction I\u2019ve skipped or had to abandon?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-149854 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lesson-without-last-minute-planning-tall-1-333x500.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"333\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lesson-without-last-minute-planning-tall-1-333x500.jpg 333w, https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lesson-without-last-minute-planning-tall-1-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lesson-without-last-minute-planning-tall-1-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lesson-without-last-minute-planning-tall-1.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 333px) 100vw, 333px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In advance planning mode, I know exactly how many days I should spend on the Industrial Revolution unit to ensure I get through the whole curriculum, and how many days within that unit I have for communism versus capitalism. If I realize my students need more time on this concept, I can look at the big picture and make choices to meet this need <i>without<\/i> throwing off the rest of the year. I can look at the Industrial Revolution unit and see if there\u2019s a topic coming up that I can spend less time on, or skills practice that I can combine with more communism versus capitalism practice.<\/p>\n<p>I can look at the rest of the semester and decide to spend an extra day on this unit, knowing exactly where I will have to cut that day later on. I can look at my full curriculum and decide that since communism versus capitalism will come up again in two later units, I will use the assessment data from this unit to inform my instruction later, making sure to spiral back to what students misunderstood and build on what they did grasp.<\/p>\n<p>When I have an advanced plan, I have many options, and I can choose among them knowing exactly what the consequences will be. When I plan at the last minute, every time I adjust for immediate student needs, I\u2019m setting myself up to fail to meet their needs in the future, because I don\u2019t have a clear idea of what the consequences will be.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read about my advanced planning method here:<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"016ewiGqGa\"><p><a href=\"http:\/\/truthforteachers-j2cwlay4.on-forge.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/streamline-your-lesson-planning-process\/\">A peek inside one teacher&#8217;s lesson planning process (and how she streamlines to stay ahead)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;A peek inside one teacher&#8217;s lesson planning process (and how she streamlines to stay ahead)&#8221; &#8212; Truth For Teachers\" src=\"http:\/\/truthforteachers-j2cwlay4.on-forge.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/streamline-your-lesson-planning-process\/embed\/#?secret=UxgNPzp2pw#?secret=016ewiGqGa\" data-secret=\"016ewiGqGa\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Before getting into specific strategies, it\u2019s important to reflect on your current practice. How much are you really adjusting to student needs when you plan at the last minute?<\/p>\n<p>Be honest with yourself. I think it\u2019s easy to use \u201cadjusting for student needs\u201d to justify to ourselves why we plan at the last minute when in reality, we&#8217;re just too busy to plan in advance.<\/p>\n<p>Also, reflect on the ways in which you currently adjust to student needs or the ways you\u2019d like to add. Brainstorm a list of the types of adjustments you make, so you can look for strategies to make those adjustments within the framework of a larger plan.<\/p>\n<h3>Needs that often prompt me to adjust my lesson plans<\/h3>\n<p>In my teaching, I often adjust lesson plans due to the following:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Extra practice:<\/strong> some or all students need more practice on a skill or concept<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Reteaching:<\/strong> based on formative assessment, some or all students need more or different instruction to master a skill or concept<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Student interests:<\/strong> something comes up that students are super interested in, and I want to embrace and encourage that spontaneous interest in learning; or students in a particular class really enjoy a specific type of activity (for example, my 4th hour loves debates but my 6th hour prefers discussions)<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Differentiation:<\/strong> I need to modify instruction, assignments, or assessments to meet the needs of learners as outlined in IEPs, ILPs, 505 plans, etc.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Time:<\/strong> an activity takes longer than I anticipated, or an unexpected event interrupts teaching<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Unprepared students:<\/strong> the activity I\u2019ve planned depends on students having done some kind of preparation or homework<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Strategies I use for last-minute adjustments to planned lessons<\/h2>\n<p>Below, I\u2019ve outlined strategies to address each of these needs within the framework of advance planning.<\/p>\n<h3>Strategy 1: Building in buffer time.<\/h3>\n<p><strong><em>Helps with: adjusting for extra practice, reteaching, or student interests<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As described in my <a href=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/streamline-your-lesson-planning-process\/\">planning article<\/a>, I start every semester by tallying how many teaching days I have and dividing those days up by unit. I start planning each unit by dividing up the days by learning target or topic. Whenever possible, I build in buffer time at these steps.<\/p>\n<p>I might assign 80 of the 83 days in the semester to units, leaving 3 days as a buffer if I need to extend any unit. Or I only plan instruction and activities for 14 of the 15 days in a unit. I can also leave buffer time in a single week\u2019s or day\u2019s plans \u2014\u00a0I might know Tuesday\u2019s activity won\u2019t take the entire period, but I don\u2019t plan anything else to fill the time.<\/p>\n<p>Buffer time left at the end of the semester, unit, or class period can be used to meet many different student needs. Whether you need to take an extra day of practice on a concept like in my opening example, reteach a concept to a small group of students, or run with the conversation that got students excited or curious, you have time to do so without trashing your whole semester plan or curriculum. You can also designate specific buffer time for specific needs, such as including at least one reteaching day and one student interest day in every unit plan.<\/p>\n<h3>Strategy 2: Creating a standard student-interest activity.<\/h3>\n<p><strong><em>Helps with: adjusting for student interests<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One way to adjust for student interests is to include a lot of choices in learning activities \u2014 allowing students to choose a topic, group, format, or type of assessment. But what about those magical times when a specific topic comes up and carries the whole class away with fascination? How can we plan ahead to make the most of those times and not end up doing last-minute preparation? My strategy is to create a standard activity that can apply to any topic of interest.<\/p>\n<p>In a history class, this might be a primary source gallery, where every student finds a primary source on the topic and we share them around the room, with a standard protocol for students to process and discuss the sources. I do a similar activity in psychology, with students searching for current research on a topic. I also do mini-inquiries, with students proposing hypotheses on a high-interest question, researching as individuals or small groups, and then sharing conclusions. This works well with current event topics, such as, \u201cWhy did Russia invade Ukraine?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other possibilities are Socratic seminars or student-led discussions. With each of these activities, I can have a template pre-made and all I have to do is throw in the specific topic that has sparked the class\u2019s interest. Since we use the same format multiple times, students get familiar with the directions, so we can use our time more efficiently to get right to the good stuff.<\/p>\n<h3>Strategy 3: Incorporating self-paced days.<\/h3>\n<p><strong><em>Helps with: adjusting for extra practice, reteaching, student interests, differentiation, and unprepared students<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Last year\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/modern-classrooms-project\/\">Episode 252<\/a> introduced me to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.modernclassrooms.org\/\">Modern Classrooms Project<\/a>, an approach to teaching that incorporates blended instruction (using videos), self-paced structures, and mastery-based grading. When I listened to Angela\u2019s conversation with MCP co-founder Kareem Farah, I felt like I had come around a corner to discover something I\u2019d long been searching for \u2014\u00a0a structure that can actually enable students to keep working on a concept or skill until they master it. I\u2019m working on incorporating the whole Modern Classrooms approach in my classes, but for me, the quickest and easiest component to use is self-paced days.<\/p>\n<p>A self-paced day is a bit different from just an open work day, with more structure for students. This year, I\u2019m planning to have a self-paced day about every other day in my AP European History classes. I will prepare the lessons for the entire unit, and students will work through them at their own pace (with periodic hard deadlines to keep them on track). I can use the class time for one-on-one conferences or small group instruction, making this structure perfect for providing reteaching and differentiation.<\/p>\n<p>The mastery approach of Modern Classrooms means students must master each lesson before moving on to the next, providing a structure for extra practice. I can incorporate optional lessons or one of my standard student interest activities for students who finish the required lessons quickly, to make space for students to pursue their interests. And students start a self-paced day from wherever they left off, meaning there\u2019s really no such thing as an unprepared student. Students who have missed a lot of class or didn\u2019t do the homework have the chance to catch up rather than being dumped into instruction they\u2019re not prepared for.<\/p>\n<p>You might be thinking, sounds great, but there\u2019s no way I have time for that in my curriculum. So far, having worked on shifting my first 2 units to this model, I\u2019ve been surprised at how easy it is to make every other day a self-paced day. I\u2019m not really <i>adding<\/i> the self-paced days, I\u2019m just rearranging activities. I already incorporate a lot of self-paced or small group work into my teaching. I frequently give students a task to complete individually or with a group and then call the class together to process what they did. It only takes a slight shift to turn the first part into a self-paced day and incorporate the follow-up for 2 or more lessons into the same instructional day.<\/p>\n<h3>Strategy 4: Spiraling content and skills (separately).<\/h3>\n<p><strong><em>Helps with: adjusting for extra practice, reteaching, and differentiation<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In my opening example, I talked about spiraling content. Spiraling in a curriculum means circling back to the same skills or content again and again, but each time, at a more advanced level &#8211; creating the shape of a spiral.<\/p>\n<p>In a content-heavy class like social studies, a lot of content does not spiral &#8211; we learn the effects of the Industrial Revolution, and later the causes of the Cold War, and they\u2019re not related or repeated. But core disciplinary concepts <i>are<\/i> repeated, such as capitalism versus communism, causes of wars, phases of a revolution, or characteristics of democracy. And these big concepts are the ideas we really want students to take away from our classes, so it\u2019s worthwhile to spiral them.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s often easier to think of skills as spiraling. It\u2019s easy to practice and advance the same reading, writing, and analysis skills as we move through new content. Even better, in a class like social studies with both, we can spiral content and skills separately from each other, and individually for students. The writing assessment for the Cold War doesn\u2019t always have to be a three-paragraph essay. If most of the class mastered that a couple of units ago, I can make the Cold War writing assessment a five-paragraph essay incorporating primary sources. And the students who need more practice on a three-paragraph essay can be assessed at that level, allowing for differentiation.<\/p>\n<p>When students are struggling with a concept or skill, I consider whether and when that concept or skill comes up again. Do I need to reteach or give extra practice now, or can I use the current data to plan for more effective instruction and practice the next time? In some cases, it may be important to reteach immediately \u2014\u00a0if the next concept builds directly on the current one, for example. But in some cases, I can plan for reteaching the next time the spiral comes around to the concept or skill.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"JqdLvNa7Th\"><p><a href=\"http:\/\/truthforteachers-j2cwlay4.on-forge.com\/8-ways-to-stay-ahead-in-lesson-planning\/\">8 ways to stay ahead in lesson planning (without sacrificing student needs)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;8 ways to stay ahead in lesson planning (without sacrificing student needs)&#8221; &#8212; Truth For Teachers\" src=\"http:\/\/truthforteachers-j2cwlay4.on-forge.com\/8-ways-to-stay-ahead-in-lesson-planning\/embed\/#?secret=QbwcIwLBht#?secret=JqdLvNa7Th\" data-secret=\"JqdLvNa7Th\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Strategy 5: Using mastery or standards-based grading.<\/h3>\n<p><strong><em>Helps with: adjusting for extra practice, reteaching, differentiation, and unprepared students<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Both self-paced days and spiraling work best in the context of mastery or standards-based grading. In the self-paced structure, students need to master a lesson before moving on, and the number of attempts it takes them to get there shouldn\u2019t affect their grade, as long as they achieve that mastery (within reasonable limits, of course). If I\u2019m going to spiral content like communism versus capitalism, then students\u2019 level of understanding in the earlier unit shouldn\u2019t count against them if they get it in the later unit.<\/p>\n<p>Mastery or standards-based grading enables students\u2019 grades to grow as their knowledge and skills do. I used a simple form of mastery grading in my AP Euro class for years with essays. When I first started teaching the class, it was quickly obvious that it didn\u2019t make sense for students\u2019 first essay attempts, which are frequently terrible by AP standards, to drag down their grades for the whole semester. Yet I also needed to give students accurate grades (not participation or \u201cyou tried\u201d grades), and I needed them to pay attention to and care about the feedback (which many would ignore if the essay simply didn\u2019t count in their grade).<\/p>\n<p>In mastery grading, each new essay score replaced the last one, and at the end of the semester, I counted their last and their best scores. This structure enables extra practice, differentiation, and spiraling as I gave students practice tasks individualized to their level of writing at that time between each full essay. It enables reteaching, as I can give more instruction on any writing skill many students are struggling with. And if students are unprepared on a specific day or for a specific essay topic, they will have a chance to show their true skill level in the next essay.<\/p>\n<p>Full standards-based grading can be more complicated, with the need to assign a score for each learning target, whether content or skills. It usually requires a completely different grade book setup, record-keeping approach, and type of assessment. This year I\u2019m moving my AP Euro class to full standards-based grading for the first time, and I\u2019m sure there will be a learning curve. I am super excited about this voluntary change, however, because I believe standards-based grading will work together with self-paced days to allow students to learn at their own pace more than in a traditional classroom.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-149857 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lessons-quote-1-500x500.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lessons-quote-1-500x500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lessons-quote-1-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lessons-quote-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lessons-quote-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lessons-quote-1.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Strategy 6: Planning for essentials only (the pandemic approach).<\/h3>\n<p><strong><em>Helps with: adjusting for time<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As teachers, time gets away from us for a variety of reasons \u2014 activities take longer than we expected (which is really a planning issue); there was a fire alarm or a student crisis, or we just keep having to add extra days and push the curriculum back. When I find myself in this position, I now return to the lesson of the pandemic years \u2014 stick to the essentials.<\/p>\n<p>Whether it was totally asynchronous instruction in the spring of 2020, or A-day, B-day hybrid in 2021 (meaning I only saw students 2 days a week), I simply did not have the instructional time I was used to. Over the last few years, we\u2019ve all had to strip our classes down to the absolute essentials \u2014\u00a0the core disciplinary concepts, the foundational skills for the next class, the bare minimum. I think this is actually a gift from the pandemic years \u2014\u00a0I\u2019ve never been better at focusing on fewer things, better.<\/p>\n<p>So when you find yourself out of time, identify the essentials, and cut the rest. Is there an activity that helps students learn, but you mostly include because it\u2019s fun? Do they mostly learn that content from something else? Do you typically include four examples or four chances for practice \u2014 can you cut that back to two? Would you normally introduce a new topic with student reflection or discussion questions, but you can really get right to the instruction? None of these choices is ideal, but time is finite.<\/p>\n<h3>Strategy 7: Creating a differentiation toolkit based on common accommodations.<\/h3>\n<p><strong><em>Helps with: adjusting for differentiation<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Differentiation is a huge category of planning. Every student is an individual, with specific strengths and needs. However, we can still plan for a lot of our differentiation in advance, before even knowing our specific students, because while the students\u2019 needs are varied and unique, many of the accommodations to meet those needs are not.<\/p>\n<p>There are many reasons students struggle with writing in English, whether a learning disability, dyslexia, emotional trauma, missed school, or being a native speaker of a different language. But the accommodations that support these students are often the same \u2014 sentence stems, outlines, and checklists for writing tasks. So I can make a version of any writing assignment with those accommodations ahead of time.<\/p>\n<p>On my World History teaching team, we\u2019ve been creating a differentiation toolkit for every unit we teach. We have a short list of common accommodations and strategies that work for students with various needs. The toolkit will have a version of each of these accommodations and strategies based on the content for that specific unit.<\/p>\n<p>For example, for students with intellectual disabilities, we often have modified versions of tasks with pictures rather than words, so the toolkit includes an image bank for all the vocabulary of the unit. We use drag-and-drop type activities with these students as well, so every unit has a version of that. We will always need to tweak these activities for certain students, but we can make the whole toolkit ahead of time, so we\u2019re never starting from scratch on differentiation.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"yyKGWi6x4u\"><p><a href=\"http:\/\/truthforteachers-j2cwlay4.on-forge.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/day-by-day-lesson-planning-trap\/\">How to move out of the day-by-day lesson planning trap and think big picture<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;How to move out of the day-by-day lesson planning trap and think big picture&#8221; &#8212; Truth For Teachers\" src=\"http:\/\/truthforteachers-j2cwlay4.on-forge.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/day-by-day-lesson-planning-trap\/embed\/#?secret=OM9kAQCFZa#?secret=yyKGWi6x4u\" data-secret=\"yyKGWi6x4u\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Strategy 8: Flipping days around.<\/h3>\n<p><strong><em>Helps with: adjusting for time and unprepared students<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is a simple but powerful way to adjust for student needs, and it\u2019s only possible in advance planning mode. When I have an entire unit planned out ahead of time, I can move the days around like puzzle pieces to find the right fit.<\/p>\n<p>If a fire drill is scheduled for 3rd hour on Wednesday, and I don\u2019t want it to interrupt the discussion, I can flip it with the activity on Friday. I use this most often when I\u2019ve planned an amazing interactive activity that depends on students having background knowledge or specific preparation, and on the day, I find many students haven\u2019t done the prep work. If I power through the activity, I will have students who are lost, disengaged, and simply not learning what they need to learn. Instead, I can look at my whole unit plan, and flip with a day that doesn\u2019t require any student preparation. This would simply not be possible in last-minute planning mode.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-149856 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lessons-quote-2-500x500.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lessons-quote-2-500x500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lessons-quote-2-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lessons-quote-2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lessons-quote-2-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lessons-quote-2.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>You can plan in advance AND make day-to-day adjustments<\/h3>\n<p>Though I\u2019m committed to advance planning as the best way to meet student needs <i>and<\/i> maintain work-life balance, I definitely still make day-to-day adjustments \u2014\u00a0I\u2019m not a robot compulsively following a plan.<\/p>\n<p>I plan ahead to include a warm-up or exit ticket, but I adjust the specific prompt based on how the class went the day before.<\/p>\n<p>I plan ahead for a discussion or group work time, but I adjust the amount of class time for that activity based on students\u2019 level of focus.<\/p>\n<p>I plan source analysis with four sources ahead of time but decide during class how many sources to require, or how many to analyze together as a class versus in small groups or individually.<\/p>\n<p>And sometimes, I simply have to push the end of the unit back a day.<\/p>\n<p>The goal is not to create a rigid plan that never changes. The goal is to create a flexible advance plan so that when you need to change it, you can do so deliberately and effectively, enhancing student learning rather than sacrificing it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Advance lesson planning is the\u00a0first and main step in reducing my work hours, and I believe it is the only way to end the cycle of falling behind on other work because there\u2019s always urgent planning for the following day. And yet when I coach teachers on this, a frequent response is, \u201cI can\u2019t plan &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/8-ways-to-adjust-lessons-for-student-needs-without-sacrificing-advance-planning\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44913,"featured_media":149855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5,7540],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-productivity-strategies","category-teaching-tips","category-truth-for-teachers-collective"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Truth For Teachers | How to adjust lessons for students WITHOUT last-minute planning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/8-ways-to-adjust-lessons-for-student-needs-without-sacrificing-advance-planning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"8 ways to adjust lessons for student needs WITHOUT planning everything last minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Advance lesson planning is the\u00a0first and main step in reducing my work hours, and I believe it is the only way to end the cycle of falling behind on other work because there\u2019s always urgent planning for the following day. And yet when I coach teachers on this, a frequent response is, \u201cI can\u2019t plan &hellip; Continued\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/8-ways-to-adjust-lessons-for-student-needs-without-sacrificing-advance-planning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Truth For Teachers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TruthForTeachers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-04T17:00:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/angelawatson-2017.s3.amazonaws.com\/truthforteachers\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/25205621\/adjust-lesson-without-last-minute-planning-plain.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Megan Faherty\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"8 ways to adjust lessons for student needs WITHOUT planning everything last minute\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lesson-without-last-minute-planning-wide.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Megan Faherty\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"16 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/8-ways-to-adjust-lessons-for-student-needs-without-sacrificing-advance-planning\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/8-ways-to-adjust-lessons-for-student-needs-without-sacrificing-advance-planning\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Megan Faherty\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/37b20ce0c83ac39a79642bc25676604a\"},\"headline\":\"8 ways to adjust lessons for student needs WITHOUT planning everything last minute\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-04T17:00:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/8-ways-to-adjust-lessons-for-student-needs-without-sacrificing-advance-planning\/\"},\"wordCount\":3447,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/8-ways-to-adjust-lessons-for-student-needs-without-sacrificing-advance-planning\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/truthforteachers.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/adjust-lesson-without-last-minute-planning-website.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Productivity Strategies\",\"Teaching Tips &amp; 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