Lesson Plan Time Management for Teachers

The importance of lesson time management for teachers should never be underestimated. Kids are perceptive little buggers and if you don't have every aspect of your lesson planned and timed, they will take advantage of that, start playing, and you will lose control of your class.

Of course, there are many areas where time management for teachers is important, but I feel that the timing of your lesson is the most important. In areas such as craft time, toilet time, or lunch time, it will go unnoticed if you are finished early or a few minutes late. But during lesson time, those few minutes can make or break you.

For new teachers, I suggest that you write out the times for each aspect of your lesson and put it on the wall, someplace where you can easily see it. Then stick to it. If you find that you've finished a particular section early, see if there's a way you can extend it a bit longer. If something is going on too long, try to cut it short. (An exception to this is if you've started a game and not every child has had a turn. At this young age, I think that it's very important to make sure that every child has a turn. So in this case, keep playing and cut something else out of your lesson.)

Here's an example of what my lesson timing looks like, for my daily 2 year old class:

  • 10 min-- Hello Song, Short Conversation Practice, things that are repeated every day (e.g. weather, ABCs, days of the week)
  • 7 min-- Easy Vocabulary (colors, numbers, shapes, etc.) followed by a quick activity to reinforce it.
  • 10 min-- Harder Vocabulary (animals, food, vehicles, etc.) followed by another activity to reinforce it.
  • 7 min-- Singing and Dancing time.

Your lesson plan timing may differ, depending on the amount of time you have to work with, the number of things that you must cover in your lesson, and the attention span of your students.

It may take a few tries to get the timing of things just right, but once you do "get it", your lessons will run smoothly and efficiently.

However, we all face times when things just don't go the way that we planned them. For times like these, it's always good to have a few backup ideas in mind. Quick and Easy Activities for ESL Students will help you out in these cases.

I hope to continue to add more ideas for time management for teachers, so please check back. Or click here to be added to the newsletter.

Love,
Shannon Sensei

Click here to go from Time Management for Teachers to the main Classroom Management page.