One of the most satisfying parts of my job is teaching. I enjoy planning lessons and activities. I love engaging with students to increase their knowledge and enhance their skills. These activities are cup-fillers for me. A key to helping me with efficiency is templates for as much of the process as possible.
Time Tracking
If I’m not careful, the planning lessons and preparing for class interactions expand to fill all available time – leaving nothing for scholarship and service.
I regularly track my time with toggl track to make sure that I spend my time in ways that align with my mission, values, and goals.
The key to enjoying my class planning and preparation without spending too much time on it is templates.
Templates are the answer
I use templates for planning the assignments and activities for each week of class. Students appreciate the predictability, and I appreciate the “fill in the blank” approach to lesson planning. Here is a sample I use for the introductory linguistics course I’m teaching this semester.
Flipped Learning Template Creation
I created my weekly template in part on Robert Talbert’s Flipped Learning for Higher Education Faculty(aff). If you’d like you can read more about his book in a review I wrote with a colleague.
The format is essentially the same for every course I teach. To get a copy of the Weekly Lesson Plans template, go here.
Templates Save Time for Presentations
I also use temples for my presentations. I used a flipped classroom approach; so, these lectures are recorded and shared in the course LMS. During class we follow up and dig deeper into the information shared during the lectures.
I’ve edited the PowerPoint master slides (you can also do this in Google Slides) to include the layouts, colors, and fonts I like. I created a flow for the lecture format. Any time I need to do lesson for the class, I open the template and get started.
Because I am not re-inventing the wheel with each weekly lesson plan or lecture presentation, I have more time to think about the content, activities, and how it all fits together. You can get a copy of my PowerPoint template here.
Templates save me time and brain space. I bet they can do the same for you!
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