Lean lesson planning: A practical approach to doing less and achieving more in the classroom

by Peps Mccrea

This book is for any teacher who's interested in improving their lesson planning and practice. It outlines a set of mindsets and habits you can use to help you identify the most impactful parts of your teaching, and put them centre stage. It's about doing less to achieve more. But it's also about being happier and more confident in the classroom. Building stronger routines around the essentials will give you more time and space to appreciate and think creatively about your work. Lean Lesson Planning draws on the latest evidence from educational research and cognitive science, to present a concise and coherent framework to help you improve learning experiences and outcomes for your students. It's the evidence-based teacher's guide to planning for learning, and sits alongside books such as Teach Like a Champion, Embedded Formative Assessment, and Visible Learning for Teachers.

112 pages, Paperback

Published October 29, 2019

About the author

Peps Mccrea is an award-winning teacher educator, designer and author. He is Dean of Learning Design at Ambition Institute, author of the High Impact Teaching series, and holds fellowships from the Young Academy and University of Brighton. Peps has three Masters degrees, two lovely kids, and dances like no one is watching, which is probably for the best. Visit pepsmccrea.com for the full shebang.

Reviews

[Rory Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lean in focus and Lean in content, these 65 pages nevertheless convey some important principles of Lesson Planning.

Experienced teachers will probably find some of the advice ‘obvious,’ like the idea that when you plan a lesson you should start with clarity about what learning outcome(s) you are looking for. Yes, that is indeed as obvious as saying that when you get in a car you should be clear about your destination. But in the heat of the moment, even experienced teachers can sometimes find themselves thinking about what the class is actually going to do, rather than thinking about what the learning outcome is supposed to be.

This means that the book’s careful setting out of principles can provide a timely reminder for all educators, drawing attention back to the thinking processes involved in effective lesson planning.

Where I think the book was a little less clear was about the issue of ‘differentiation.’ There was a passing reference to the concept when the author commented that it is better for pupils to go ‘deeper’ rather than to rush forward in the curriculum. But there wasn’t really an appreciation that planning for students of different abilities means that there may need to be different learning outcomes for some pupils: otherwise how can those pupils go ‘deeper’ into the issues, in a purposeful way?

Another related issue occurred when the author queried whether there was any point having a quiz at the beginning of the lesson to see what students already know. He states that it is too late at that point to plan differently for any students who do already know the material. That is true. But is it better to know that some pupils need an urgent adaptation to the lesson plan at the beginning of the lesson, or is it better to discover that fact half way through the lesson when the students who already know the content will have wasted half the lesson time?

This is a short sharp focused book which is well worth reading by anyone involved in delivering learning, but its brevity means that there are aspects of lesson planning which it doesn’t fully deal with.

(These comments are based on the 2016 edition).

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

With a couple of brews, I’ve binged this book in an hour or two. It was such a refreshing way to reflect on my current classroom practice and I particularly loved the use of questioning. I came across Peps during my NPQLTD through Ambition and also as a mentor and love the informal and honest style of his writing (also his humour). Mindsets was one of my favourite chapters as many of us fail to see ‘planning as a process rather than a product’. A useful book for teachers old and new. Look forward to the next one!

[Reb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise read which pulls together key concepts from leading educational researchers.

It's definitely helped me think about lesson planning more deeply as a new teacher, so I would say I found it useful.

I found part II and part III more useful - the first part less so - "lean process" is essentially having lesson objectives and checking they are met, and "lean mindset" was the very basics of planning that most adults will be familiar with. But later parts link key educational research concepts to the planning process, which is useful.

It's a quick read so worth the time

[Andy Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great guide to making better decisions about planning lessons. Very helpful to a guy like me who gets caught up in all the little decisions to be made, and lost in the philosophy of it all. Need to review this at regular intervals to get back on track as it does not come naturally to me. Biggest takeaway: be super specific about what exactly it is you want students to walk away knowing at the end of the lesson.

[Thomas Houghton · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly useful book about lesson planning, detailing the latest finding in teaching research and how to increase your own motivation/drive as an educational practitioner. A must read for trainee teachers and seasoned professionals alike.

[Adeel Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. Not bad, not great. Although a very short, practical book, I regret spending £11 to buy a physical copy. It is worth reading simply due to its conciseness and I'm sure you'll pick up a thing or two.

[David Simpson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very short and brief. Size is surprising.