Guide No. 01 · The K-12 Series
The Lesson Planning Field Guide
Plan sharper lessons in half the time — from objective to exit ticket.
Most lesson planning advice was written by people who stopped planning lessons years ago. This guide is the opposite: a working system built around how teaching actually feels at 6 a.m. on a Sunday.
You'll learn to start every plan at the exit ticket, budget minutes realistically, build plan B into plan A, and differentiate without doubling your workload. The result is a weekly planning routine that takes minutes, not evenings.
What's inside
- 01
Start at the Exit Ticket
Why the last five minutes decide the whole lesson — and how to write them first.
- 02
The 7-Minute Planning Loop
A repeatable weekly routine: model, practise, check, adjust.
- 03
Timing the Arc
Realistic minute budgets for opening, work block, and close — with buffers.
- 04
Differentiation Without 30 Versions
Tiered tasks, choice boards, and support that scales silently.
- 05
Plans That Survive Monday
Flexibility buffers, fallback structures, and the two-minute replan.
Read an excerpt
Chapter 1 — Start at the Exit Ticket
Before you write a single activity, write the exit ticket. Three questions, five minutes, one skill. If you cannot write the exit ticket, you do not yet know what the lesson is for — and no activity will fix that.
Once the exit ticket exists, plan backwards: what must students be able to do in the final five minutes? What do they need to practise? What do they need to see modelled? What do they already know? That sequence — model, practise, check — is the whole lesson. Everything else is decoration.
More in the series
No. 02
The Calm Classroom Handbook
$14
No. 03
The Worksheet Design Manual
$9
No. 04
The Strategy Playbook
$12
No. 05
Lesson Planning: English, Grades 1–5
$8
No. 06
Lesson Planning: Maths, Grades 1–5
$8
No. 07
Lesson Planning: Science, Grades 1–5
$7
No. 08
Lesson Planning: English, Grades 6–12
$9
No. 09
Lesson Planning: Maths, Grades 6–12
$10
No. 10
Lesson Planning: Science, Grades 6–12
$9
No. 11
Preparing for a Lesson Observation
$12
No. 12
Answering Inspection Questions
$15
No. 13
Prepping Lessons After School Vacations
$5
No. 14
Handling Teacher Burnout: UAE Edition
$10
No. 15
How to Handle Subject Coordinators
$6
No. 16
How to Thrive in a Subject Department
$6
No. 17
Managing School Expectations
$7