Curriculum-Planning Tips and Strategies

• Countdown to Your First Year: Making Planning Manageable (Teaching Channel, 2014)

  Need help figuring out where to start with planning the content for your first year of teaching? Lily Jones gets right to the point with general questions to consider and a few go-to resources for first-year curriculum planning.

• Backwards Planning Takes Thinking Ahead (Edutopia, 2012)

  Rebecca Alber, a teacher educator, compares backwards lesson planning to preparing for a vacation; she clearly outlines five steps to help you get started.

• Understanding by Design Overview (Vanderbilt University)

  This helpful overview of Understanding by Design, a book and framework developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, walks step by step through the backwards design approach, an approach to designing courses whereby teachers first consider what they want students to learn before they plan how to teach it.

• 3 Ways to Plan for Diverse Learners: What Teachers Do (Edutopia, 2014)

  Teachers aiming to differentiate learning in their classroom can focus on content, process, and product during their lesson planning, and on giving students opportunities to grow and shine as individuals. For more on differentiated instruction, the other posts in this series are great resources -- also be sure to visit Edutopia’s Differentiated Instruction page.

Crafting Unit and Lesson Plans

• Planning the Best Curriculum Unit Ever (Edutopia, 2014)

  Good curriculum is in the details, so focus your teacher super powers on the granular aspects of planning ahead for the new school year. Be sure to download the printable checklist associated with this post, as you work through the elements of your unit plans.

• 9 Ways to Plan Transformational Lessons (Edutopia, 2014)

  Transformational lessons don't just happen. They require planning, mindfulness, and a commitment to shift away from educational approaches of the past. Todd Finley outlines nine tips to help light the way. You can download a printable tip list for easy reference.

• Curriculum-Planning Guide (Edutopia)

  This curriculum-planning guide from KIPP King Collegiate High School includes helpful guidance on creating long-term curriculum and assessment plans.

Aligning Instruction to Standards

• Common Core and Planning: Organizing a Unit of Instruction (Edutopia, 2014)

  Todd Finley explains how the Common Core allows for creativity in the ways teachers can plan a unit, and suggests several strategies for hitting the standards while still exercising your free will.

• Lesson Planning and Common Core: A Unit Based on TED.com (Edutopia, 2011)

  Follow Heather Wolpert-Gawron as she shares how she planned a common-core-aligned blended genre unit where students research and write their own persuasive speeches in the TED.com format.

• Resources for Understanding the Common Core State Standards (Edutopia, 2013)

  Looking for resources to help you navigate the Common Core State Standards? Explore Edutopia’s educator's guide to websites, organizations, articles, and other resources looking at the new system of standards and how they will be assessed.

Finding Open Resources

• Open Educational Resources Meet Instructional Design (Edutopia, 2015)

  To find the best OER, consider the skills you're teaching, how content aligns with standards, ease of assessment, and whether you'll provide an active, creative experience.

• Open Educational Resources (OER): Resource Roundup (Edutopia, 2013)

  This educator's guide to open educational resources (OER) includes information about online repositories, curriculum-sharing websites, sources for lesson plans and activities, and open textbooks. VideoAmy’s "Five-Minute Film Festival: 10 Sources for Free Lesson Plans," included in this guide, highlights some of the “best of” free lesson-planning tools and resources out there.

• Academic Sponge Activities (Edutopia, 2014)

  A "sponge activity" is a lesson soaking up precious time that would otherwise be lost. Find some examples here. Hint: it should be fun as well as educational.

• Bell Ringer Exercises (Edutopia, 2014)

  Todd Finley presents an overview of bell work -- short, focused exercises to help students make the most of valuable classroom time. Consider trying out some of the activities he describes to see how well they work for you.

Planning for Project-Based Learning

• Getting Started With Project-Based Learning (Edutopia, 2015)

  Hoping to pilot project-based learning (PBL) this year? Explore Edutopia's curated compilation of online resources for understanding and beginning to implement PBL.

For more curriculum-planning resources, visit Edutopia's Curriculum Planning and Lesson Plans pages. Looking for additional resources for new teachers? Visit the "Resources Toolkit for New Teachers" page for other curated guides, check out all of Edutopia’s content on the New Teachers page, and participate in discussions for new teachers in Edutopia’s community.