When I was 22, I wrote a ten year plan that looked something like,
Year 1: Write awesome lesson plans
Year 2: Edit/improve awesome lesson plans from year 1
Year 3: Sell all the awesome lesson plans on TPT
Seven years later, I still haven’t written that binder of awesome lesson plans. It’s looked more like:
Year 1: Tread water as I teach seven classes with no planning period or curriculum
Year 2: Throw out everything from year 1 because it’s terrible and start over
Year 3: OMG PINTEREST! The CREATIVE LANGUAGE CLASS! MUSICUENTOS! Throw away eighty percent of my lesson plans and start over again. Also, teach that AP/Spanish 3 hybrid class.
Year 4: All the changes in my personal life. Getting better at teaching and actually re-using some of my materials.
Year 5: NEW JOB! ONE PREP! TWO PLANNING PERIODS! JOY OF JOYS! I teach Spanish 1 lessons that I am quite proud of.
Year 6: Block schedule. Back to teaching Spanish 2. Semester 1 is rough with Sp 2, semester 2 is better.
Year 7, Semester 1: Teaching all Spanish 1. Life is beautiful.
Year 7, Semester 2: Teaching two preps again and wondering why with eight rounds of Spanish 1 and six rounds of Spanish 2 have I never sat down and made that binder of lesson plans??
I have always written down lesson plans on something – I had a form at my old school I would fill out, but I was inconsistent and sloppy (I have never been required to submit detailed lesson plans, which I think would have been a helpful chore my freshman year of teaching). I have been writing lesson plans in a day planner the last two years, which has been slightly more consistent, but still quite sloppy. Also, having not taught Spanish 2 since last spring, I have to have both my planners on my desk in order to plan.
Which brings me to the New Semester’s Resolution: Type my lesson plans already! And since they are neatly typed now (or will be as I teach each unit), I thought I would share them with you all. Sorry, they are on One Drive and not Google Docs as I am also sharing with my admin. Never too late to build good habits!
Spanish 1
- Unit 1: It’s nice to meet you!
- Unit 2: Who am I? (in progress as of 1/15/17)
Spanish 2
- Unit 1: Welcome Back to Spanish Class/Brandon Brown Quiere un Perro (in progress as of 1/25/17)
Above are what I have so far. I am typing them primarily for myself so I will have a record next time I teach them and to make planning less stressful. As such, they have abbreviations, typos, and comments as to how far we got each day, as well as special circumstances. My slideshows are linked at the top of each unit plan. Especially in Spanish 1, my slideshows are a bit sloppy, with slides from previous years intermixed. There is no pattern to how the slides for vocabulary, warm ups, and class activities are ordered- it is what works for me. I am sharing these in case they might be of use to another teacher, in the state that they are in, and also as another means to hold myself accountable for this goal.
What processes help you streamline your lesson planning? What was your ten year plan at twenty two? 😅
Ms. Brown Spanish 
So glad you are taking the time to get them typed and tidy. I think you’lol enjoy the wonderful feeling of sharing with other T’s 😀
Your descriptions of how you felt going into each year or semester change were hilarious- and quite accurate for me as well! I’m in year 13, and I still don’t type my plans- I’ve got the spiral notebook where I write down what we’ll do, then II end up checking off what we did and highlighting what we didn’t. My feeling is there is never enough time to do it all!