BuildYourOwnCurriculum (BYOC)
HOW TO: Lesson Planning Training Guide
HOW TO: Lesson Planning training guide
for educators and administrators
Published: November 17, 2011
School Software Group, Inc.
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HOW TO: Lesson Planning Training Guide
Table of Contents
Lesson Planning Philosophy ________________________________________________________ 2
Administrative Functions - Setting up Lesson Planning __________________________________ 4
Enabling Lesson Planning _______________________________________________________________________ 4
Creating Lesson Plan Schedules __________________________________________________________________ 5
Creating a Lesson Plan Template _________________________________________________________________ 6
Educator Functions – Creating Lesson Plans ___________________________________________ 8
Lesson Planning by Class ________________________________________________________________________ 9
Lesson Planning by Course _____________________________________________________________________ 15
Lesson Planning Philosophy
The core concept of Lesson Planning in BuildYourOwnCurriculum is that a teachers Lesson Plan should be
derived from the district defined curriculum. BYOC takes the components traditionally found in a Lesson
Plan and splits them into two basic components, the Activity and the Lesson Plan.
Activity
Stands the “Test of Time”
Content Specific
Student Generic
General What and How
Lesson Plan
Student Focused
Scheduling
Point in Time
When and Exceptions
Activities define how a teacher is going to teach particular content, Topics and Learning Targets. Activities
are typically repeatable across years and classes, and are often shared with a teacher’s peers and
sometimes the general public. Lesson Plans basically are a means of scheduling what content is being
taught (Topics and Learning Targets), how it is being taught (Activities) and any exceptions or classroom
management considerations.
The goals of this basic approach are twofold, one is to foster consistency in what is taught by deriving
Lesson Plans off of the core district curriculum, and two is to make Lesson Planning easier by introducing
the Activity which contains a large portion of the traditional Lesson Plan content and should be reusable
across years and classes.
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HOW TO: Lesson Planning Training Guide
To effectively implement Lesson Planning in BYOC, we strongly recommend that a district consider it the
third step in a three step process.
1. Develop, review, and publish the Core Curriculum – this step establishes the blueprint of what
content teachers in the district are expected to teach, and what the “normal” pacing for a course
should be. This is critical to establishing consistent, repeatable goals for the district and creating an
environment that can be systematically improved. Basically this stage defines “What” should be
covered and “How Long” on average it should take.
2. Create Activities within the Core Curriculum – Activities represent “How” individual teachers will
address the content, “What”, defined in the curriculum within the constraints, “How Long”, that
exist.
3. Start Lesson Planning – Assuming that steps 1 and 2 are in place the physical act of Lesson Planning,
introduces scheduling and student management into the process by allowing a teacher to specify
what components of the curriculum are being covered when and by utilizing activities to specify
how it is being covered.
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HOW TO: Lesson Planning Training Guide
Administrative Functions - Setting up Lesson Planning
In order to implement Lesson Planning a district must first define at least one Lesson Plan Template. Much
like BYOC utilizes a district template to define what fields exist at the Course, Unit, and Topic levels, we also
utilize a template to define what fields exist in a Lesson Plan. However, unlike the templates for the core
curriculum components where one template is used for the entire district, at the Lesson Plan level, the
district can have an unlimited number of templates so that they can best meet the diverse needs of their
teaching staff.
Enabling Lesson Planning
To access the Lesson Planning options log into the BYOC Administrative Site as a System Administrator. Go
to Administrative Functions in the left hand navigation, then choose District Options in the left hand
navigation, and finally choose the Lesson Plan Configuration link located on the page.
1. Check the “Use Lesson Plan component” option - choosing this option will enable all of the other
Lesson Plan options and enable the “My Lesson Plans” link for teachers on the BYOC Public site.
2. Set the desired global options
a. Show Lesson Plans by Unit – this adds a link to the Unit Page on both the Administrative
and Public sites where teachers and administrators can view a listing of all Lesson Plans
whose “Primary Unit” is the current unit. Teachers can see their own Lesson Plans and any
Lesson Plans which their peers have chosen to share; administrators can see all Lesson
Plans.
b. Predefine Lesson Plan Schedule – this is typically applicable at the middle and high school
levels. By default Lesson Plans in BYOC are date and time specific. This option allows you
to predefine the bell schedules so that teachers can pick a predefined period instead of
needing to manually specify the start and end time. Turning this option on will add a new
option, “Lesson Plan Schedules”, to your left hand navigation which we will discuss later.
c. Lesson Plan by Class, Lesson Plan by Course, or Lesson Plan both ways – historically BYOC
has taken two approaches to Lesson Planning – student/date/time specific Lesson Planning,
typically seen at the elementary level, was referred to as Lesson Planning by class, content
specific/student generic Lesson Planning, often seen at the high school level was referred
to as Lesson Planning by course. This approach was before districts were able to customize
activities by adding fields and many districts used Lesson Planning by course as an activity
replacement tool. Today, we STRONGLY RECOMMEND only Lesson Planning by class,
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Lesson Planning by course will likely be removed in a future release as its purpose has been
replaced by activities.
d. Lesson Plan Name – not all districts like the name Lesson Plan, if you would prefer a
different name please enter it here. We recommend keeping the name short if possible
purely for visual esthetics within the system.
Creating Lesson Plan Schedules
Simply put, a Lesson Plan Schedule is a copy of your schools “Bell Schedule”. The purpose of the Lesson
Plan Schedule is to allow your staff to select a predefined time period when working on a Lesson Plan
instead of having to manually enter a start and end time for the plan.
1. Access the Lesson Plan Schedule via the Administrative Functions >> Lesson Plan Schedule option.
If this option is not visible please review item 2b in the Turning on Lesson Planning section earlier in
this document.
2. To create a new schedule select the “Add New” button, to edit an existing schedule simply click the
desired schedule name.
3. To create a schedule
a. Schedule Name – give the schedule a meaningful name. Typically the building that the
schedule applies to is a good naming convention to follow.
b. Period Name – give the period a meaningful name typically used in the district.
c. Start Time and End Time – specify the start and end time for the period.
d. Click Add Period to add it to the schedule
e. Repeat items b – d to finish populating the desired schedule.
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HOW TO: Lesson Planning Training Guide
Creating a Lesson Plan Template
The Lesson Plan Template is the heart of implementing Lesson Planning for your district. Unlike the rest of
BYOC where we require “one template fits all” at the course, unit, topic, and activity levels, we allow an
unlimited number of templates to meet the diverse needs of your various departments and grade levels.
To create a template select the “Add Template” button from the Lesson Planning section of the District
Options page.
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1. Template Name – Give the template a clear, understandable name that indicates what teachers
should utilize it.
2. Lesson Plans are viewable by the public? – By default Lesson Plans are only for internal use,
however some districts do want them visible to parents and students. If you district would like
them visible, check this box. The Lesson Plan will now be available via the “Class Information”
page.
3. District Name for Lesson Plan Text Area 1 – 10 – Use these areas to define the information, or
paragraphs that you would like included in your Lesson Plan. Please keep in mind that the Lesson
Plan, by default links to Learning Targets and Activities previously defined, therefore the fields
required at this level may be less than you initially think. The goal of the BYOC Lesson Planner is to
reuse work done during curriculum development to make Lesson Planning easier.
4. Required 1 – 10 – Specifies if the corresponding text area is required or not.
5. Public 1 – 10 (not shown in the previous screen image) – Specifies if the corresponding text area is
should be visible to the general public or not. These fields only display and are only applicable if
the template is configured for public viewing as discussed in Step 2, above.
6. Show Course Fields and Show Unit Fields – The goal of this section is to allow you to select key
information from the curriculum that you would like displayed on the Lesson Planner for the
teachers to keep in mind when planning.
7. Require Lesson Plans to be Approved – BYOC has the ability to support electronic review and
approval of Lesson Plans. Please be careful with this option as the number of Lesson Plans to be
reviewed and approved has proven to be overwhelming for the approvers in some cases.
a. The two dropdowns located below this option are for you to specify the approver and
backup approver, if applicable, for Lesson Plans associated with this template.
8. Tie Lesson Plans to Classes – As discussed earlier in this document, BYOC currently supports “Lesson
Planning by Class” and “Lesson Planning by Course”. Checking this option indicates that this
template is to be used for “Lesson Planning by Class”.
9. Allow Sharing of Lesson Plans – This option allows other educators, in your district, to see this
Lesson Plan.
10. Allow Attachments on Lesson Plans – This option allows the educator to attach files directly to their
Lesson Plan. As a rule, we would recommend attaching files to the Activities used in the Lesson Plan
vs directly on the Lesson Plan. The reason being that the Activity is more reusable over time than
the Lesson Plan.
11. Date/Time Configuration – This section specifies if the Lesson Plan should be date and time specific
or not. As a rule, we recommend making Lesson Plans date and time specific. For elementary
typically you use the option “Allow Teacher to specify times” at the high school and middle school
level, typically you use the “Use Predefined time schedules” option which is discuss earlier in this
document.
12. Time Schedule – Use this option to specify which time schedule this Lesson Plan should utilize.
Defining time schedules is discussed earlier in this document.
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13. Lesson Plan Help – Use this section to provide any usage hints to your staff. This help will only be
accessible from the Lesson Plan edit page when using this template.
Educator Functions – Creating Lesson Plans
The purpose of this document is to walk you thru the process of creating electronic Lesson Plans. The
Lesson Planner is extremely configurable based upon the needs of the individual district and/or
department. This document will discuss the two most common means of utilizing the Lesson Planner, but
an individual district or department may choose to utilize the Lesson Planner in another fashion.
The two most common means of utilizing the Lesson Planner are to plan by class or to plan by course.
- Lesson Planning by class is the traditional approach to Lesson Planning where an individual teacher
utilizes the tool to create a Lesson Plan which is tied to a particular class on a particular date and
time.
- Lesson Planning by course is a process of creating Lesson Plans that are more tied to a particular
spot in a course regardless of class and date. These Lesson Plans tend to be more generic that
traditional Lesson Plans and may often be shared among educators. We do not recommend this
type of Lesson Planning. This capability is typically best accomplished through the use of Activities.
All Lesson Planning is done from your district’s public BuildYourOwnCurriculum website, logged in as an
Educator. To get logged in, please do the following:
1) Access the internet and navigate to XXXXX.BuildYourOwnCurriculum.com (where XXXXX = your
district).
2) This will take you into the public side of the BuildYourOwnCurriculum. Once you are in the site,
click on the Educator Login on the left side of the screen.
3) At the Educator Login page complete the following steps:
a. Type in your User ID (supplied to you by the district)
b. Type in your password (supplied to you by the district)
c. Click on Login
d. If this is the first time you are going into the system you will get a screen on which you can
change the password to whatever you desire. It might be best to keep this password the
same as your system password.
e. If this is not the first time you have logged into the system you will be taken to the Course
Search page.
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Lesson Planning by Class
To create your Class(es) please do the following:
1) On the left hand menu select “Class Maintenance”
2) On the Class Maintenance page
a. Click on the “Add New” button.
b. Enter the name of the desired class. Classes will always be filtered by educator first,
therefore there is no need to enter “Mrs. Johnson’s First Grade”, “First Grade” would be
just as definitive.
c. If you are creating this class just for the Lesson Plan feature, you can leave the Introduction
/ Overview / Greeting box empty.
d. Use the Lesson Plan Template drop down to select the appropriate template for this class.
Templates are defined by the district and determine what fields will be available on your
Lesson Plan.
3) Once you have entered the desired fields for your class, please click the “Save” button.
Once you have created your desired classes navigate to the Lesson Plan list page by selecting “My Lesson
Plans” from the left hand navigation. (Please note: The Lesson Planner is renameable so the menu item
may have a different name)
The Lesson Plan list page displays the Lesson Plans for a particular week. If any Lesson Plans exist for that
week, a calendar will be displayed showing the dates and times of the Lesson Plans.
-
To view a different week’s Lesson Plans, either choose the calendar icon to select a different
week, or use the forward or back arrows to move one week forward or back.
To add a new plan, at the bottom of the page, choose the appropriate class and select the “Add
Plan” button.
If a calendar is present you can:
o Edit a Lesson Plan entry by clicking on the entry in the calendar
o Add a Lesson Plan by using your mouse to select a time slot in the calendar
o Print a Lesson Plan by selecting the print icon beside the desired Lesson Plan in the list
below the calendar
o Filter the entries shown on the calendar and in the list by selecting a particular class from
the “Show Plans for” drop down at the top of the page.
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o
Add a new Lesson Plan by selecting the desired class from the “Class” drop down at the
bottom of the page and selecting the “Add Plan” button
Once you have chosen to add or edit an existing Lesson Plan entry you will be taken to the Lesson Plan edit
page
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If you are adding a new Lesson Plan and
did not select a class from the class list
page, the initial edit page will display
with the vast majority of the fields
protected.
In order to proceed please select you
desired class from the “Class
Dropdown”. Selecting a class will cause
the Lesson Plan edit page to be
configured according to the Lesson Plan
template that you have associated with
the selected class.
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From this point on the fields that display on the Lesson Plan edit page are based on the definition of the
template you have selected. A common situation would be as follows:
1.
Specify the date for the
Lesson Plan. This will
default if you came to the
edit page by selecting an
area on the calendar
displayed on the Lesson
Plan list page.
2. Either select a period for
the Lesson Plan or enter
the start and end times.
Whether you enter the
period or directly enter
the times is defined by
the template being used.
Periods are most
appropriate for Middle
and High Schools,
whereas directly entering
the times makes the most
sense for Elementary
Schools.
3. In the Lesson Plan Primary
Course, Unit, and Topic
area select the content
that this Lesson Plan will
be primarily focused on.
Once you select the
primary topic any Key
Concepts/Learning Targets and Activities associated with that Topic will be displayed. Use the
check box beside each of the Key Concepts/Learning Targets and Activities to indicate any that your
Lesson Plan will be leveraging or focusing on. Based on the template you are using other
information associated with the course and/or unit may also be display for informational purposes
during this process.
4. Enter what you would like to call the Lesson Plan in the Lesson Plan Name field.
5. If you would like Key Concepts/Learning Targets or Activities from other Topics, use the Additional
Content Selection Filters area to navigate to the desired Topics and use the check box beside each
of the Key Concepts/Learning Targets and Activities to select them. Based on the template you are
using other information associated with the filter course and/or unit may also be display for
informational purposes during this process.
6. The fields that your district has defined for this template will be displayed below the selection
filters, any field with a red “-R” beside it is a required field and must be completed.
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7. Once you have completed filling in the desired Lesson Plan information select the Save button
located at either the top or bottom of the page to save the Lesson Plan.
8. If, the template you are using is setup to allow Lesson Plan attachments, you will be left on the
Lesson Plan edit page after successfully saving the Lesson Plan, otherwise you will be returned to
the Lesson Plan list page.
9. If your template allows attachments and you would like to attach files or web links to this Lesson
Plan scroll down the page until you see the Attachment area.
10. To add an attachment do the following:
a. Enter what you would like to call the attachment into the Display Name field.
b. If desired enter an order. Order is helpful if the Lesson Plan will have multiple attachments
and you want to control the order that they are displayed. If order is not specified
attachments are displayed alphabetically. If order is used, they are displayed in order
number from lowest to highest.
i. If you want to attach a web link enter the website address into the link field then
click the “Add Attachment” button.
ii. If you want to attach a file, select the “Browse” button to select your desired file.
Click the “Upload” button to copy the file to the web server, and then click the
“Add Attachment” button.
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11. If the Lesson Plan template that you are using is setup to require a review of this Lesson Plan you
may submit it for review by hitting the “Send to Review” button located near Save and Cancel
buttons in the upper right hand section of your page. This will set the Lesson Plan status to pending
review and submit the Lesson Plan into the reviewer’s work queue. Additionally you can send
comments to the review and get comments back from them via the comments section located at
the bottom of the page.
L
esson Plan Statuses are:
c. In Progress – a Lesson Plan is being created for a template that requires approvals but has
not been submitted for approval yet.
d. Pending Approval – a Lesson Plan has been submitted for approval but has yet to be
approved.
e. Feedback Waiting – an approver has sent comments to the Lesson Plan author, the author
needs to act on the comments then resubmit the Lesson Plan for approval.
f. Approved – a Lesson Plan, which required approval has been approved.
g. Live – a Lesson Plan was created using a template that did not require approvals.
12. If the Lesson Plan template that you are utilizing has district defined help associated with it a help
icon will be displayed in the upper right section of the page. Clicking on this button will cause the
system to open a new window and display the help information.
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Lesson Planning by Course
Lesson Planning by Course is most commonly initiated by navigating to a unit within a course. Once you
have navigated to the desired unit, select the “Lesson Plans” link located in the upper right section of the
Unit page. This will take you to a list of Lesson Plans associated with that unit.
The Unit/Lesson Plan List page displays Lesson Plans associated with the unit, grouped by their primary
topic. From here you can select a Lesson Plan to view or edit it, print a Lesson Plan, or add a new plan by
clicking on the “Add Plan” button located in the upper right section of the page.
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Once you have chosen to add or edit an existing Lesson Plan entry you will be taken to the Lesson Plan edit
page
If you are adding a new Lesson Plan
in this fashion, the department,
course and unit will default.
In order to proceed, please select
you desired Lesson Plan template
from the “Lesson Plan Template
Dropdown”. Selecting a template
will cause the Lesson Plan edit page
to be configured according to the
Lesson Plan template that you have
selected.
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From this point on the fields that
display on the Lesson Plan edit
page are based on the definition of
the template you have selected. A
common situation would be as
follows:
1. In the Lesson Plan Primary
Course, Unit, and Topic
area select the content
that this Lesson Plan will be
primarily focused on. Once
you select the primary
topic any Key Concepts /
Learning Targets and
Activities associated with
that Topic will be displayed.
Use the check box beside
each of the Key Concepts /
Learning Targets and
Activities to indicate any
that your Lesson Plan will
be leveraging or focusing
on. Based on the template
you are using other
information associated with
the course and/or unit may
also be display for
informational purposes
during this process.
2. Enter what you would like
to call the Lesson Plan in
the “Lesson Plan Name”
field.
3. If you would like this Lesson Plan to be visible to other educators within your district select the
“Allow this Lesson Plan to be shared” checkbox.
4. If you would like Key Concepts/Learning Targets or Activities from other Topics, use the Additional
Content Selection Filters area to navigate to the desired Topics and use the check box beside each
of the Key Concepts/Learning Targets and Activities to select them. Based on the template you are
using other information associated with the filter course and/or unit may also be display for
informational purposes during this process.
5. The fields that your district has defined for this template will be displayed below the selection
filters, any field with a red “-R” beside it is a required field and must be completed.
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6. Once you have completed filling in the desired Lesson Plan information select the Save button
located at either the top or bottom of the page to save the Lesson Plan.
7. If, the template you are using is setup to allow Lesson Plan attachments, you will be left on the
Lesson Plan edit page after successfully saving the Lesson Plan, otherwise you will be returned to
the Lesson Plan list page.
8. If your template allows attachments and you would like to attach files or web links to this Lesson
Plan scroll down the page until you see the Attachment area.
9. To add an attachment do the following:
a. Enter what you would like to call the attachment into the Display Name field.
b. If desired enter an order. Order is helpful if the Lesson Plan will have multiple attachments
and you want to control the order that they are displayed. If order is not specified
attachments are displayed alphabetically, if order is used they are displayed in order
number from lowest to highest.
i. If you want to attach a web link enter the website address into the link field then
click the “Add Attachment” button.
ii. If you want to attach a file, select the “Browse” button to select your desired file.
Click the “Upload” button to copy the file to the web server, and then click the Add
“Attachment” button.
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10. If the Lesson Plan template that you are using is setup to require a review of this Lesson Plan you
may submit it for review by hitting the “Send to Review” button located near Save and Cancel
buttons in the upper right hand section of your page. This will set the Lesson Plan status to pending
review and submit the Lesson Plan into the reviewer’s work queue. Additionally you can send
comments to the review and get comments back from them via the comments section located at
the bottom of the page.
Lesson Plan Statuses are:
a. In Progress – a Lesson Plan is being created for a template that requires approvals but has
not been submitted for approval yet.
b. Pending Approval – a Lesson Plan has been submitted for approval but has yet to be
approved.
c. Feedback Waiting – an approver has sent comments to the Lesson Plan author, the author
needs to act on the comments then resubmit the Lesson Plan for approval.
d. Approved – a Lesson Plan, which required approval has been approved.
e. Live – a Lesson Plan was created using a template that did not require approvals.
If the Lesson Plan template that you are utilizing has district defined help associated with it a help icon
will be displayed in the upper right section of the page. Clicking on this button will cause the system to
open a new window and display the help information.
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