Five routines that make planning English lessons more manageable

When you are new to teaching English, almost anything can become a planning task: choosing an extract, writing questions, making slides, finding a picture, creating a worksheet and trying to anticipate every possible answer. A lesson can take hours to prepare without becoming much clearer.

The aim is to build a few routines that make your decisions easier. The suggestions below are starting points to discuss with your mentor and adapt to your department’s curriculum, behaviour and feedback expectations. They are not a replacement for those expectations, or an extra set of jobs to complete.

1. Write the answer before designing the activity

Before opening a slide deck, write a short version of what you want pupils to be able to explain by the end. For example: “Scrooge’s treatment of the charity collectors reveals his belief that poverty is someone else’s responsibility.” This is more useful for planning than a broad ambition such as “understand Scrooge”.

Now work backwards. Which passage will pupils read? What vocabulary might prevent them understanding it? What knowledge from earlier lessons do they need? What question will tell you whether they can make the intended connection?

Keep the final task close to that answer. If the goal is to explain a character’s attitude, a beautifully illustrated character profile may not reveal whether pupils can explain it. You could instead ask for a paragraph supported by one carefully selected reference.

2. Reuse a structure, while changing the thinking

A familiar lesson structure can reduce the number of decisions you make. For example: revisit prior learning, read a manageable extract, model one thinking step, let pupils practise and finish with a check. The content and pace can change without redesigning the entire format.

Build a small bank of reusable resources: a quotation-analysis layout, a vocabulary explanation template, a comparison planning sheet and a simple exit question. Label them by the job they do, rather than saving several files called “good lesson”.

After using a resource, keep one brief note with it. “Explain ‘surplus’ before reading” is more useful next year than “went well”. If a worksheet takes longer to explain than the actual task, simplify it before polishing its appearance.

Start from your department’s shared materials where available. Ask what is essential to preserve and what you can adapt. Reusing a colleague’s sequence thoughtfully is different from teaching slides you have not read in advance.

3. Decide what evidence you need to see

“Does everyone understand?” rarely tells you which part needs another explanation. Prepare a question that reveals a likely misunderstanding. In an analysis lesson, ask pupils to distinguish an interpretation from a plot summary, then explain their choice.

For example, show “The character leaves the room” beside “The character’s silence suggests reluctance”. Ask what the second statement does that the first does not, and what evidence it would still need. This makes the distinction visible without requiring a whole essay.

Choose a response format that allows you to hear from more than the quickest volunteers: a short written answer, a mini-whiteboard or a planned partner rehearsal followed by individual writing. The method should suit the question and the classroom.

Decide in advance what you will do with the answer. If many pupils share the misunderstanding, explain it to the class. If a few need support, plan a smaller intervention while others practise. A check is useful when it changes the next decision.

4. Plan the response to feedback

Before giving feedback, identify the piece of work pupils will improve and the action you want them to take. “Develop your analysis” is difficult to act on. “Choose one quotation and explain what its verb suggests about the character’s attitude” gives a clearer next move.

A simple routine is to identify a common gap, model a short correction and ask pupils to improve one relevant section of their own work. Check a few revisions before moving on. If pupils have only added words without improving the explanation, show the difference again.

Work within your school’s feedback policy and discuss workload with your mentor. The EEF’s Teacher Feedback to Improve Pupil Learning focuses on the principles and purpose of feedback rather than treating written or verbal delivery as the main issue. It also recognises the time feedback takes.

5. Take one concrete question to your mentor

“How do I get better at teaching?” is a hard question to answer usefully in a short meeting. “Pupils can identify quotations but stop after naming a technique; can we look at my model?” gives your mentor a specific point to work with.

Bring a short, anonymised example through your school’s approved process, or a task you have written. Discuss what pupils seem to understand, what is missing and which change is worth trying first. Avoid changing the task, model, seating and feedback routine all at once if you want to understand what helped.

Keep a short note of the agreed next step and return to it. That creates a useful thread across meetings without turning reflection into another long piece of writing.

A ten-minute planning reset

At the end of the week, choose one class and answer these questions:

• What did pupils explain more clearly than before?
• Which misunderstanding needs attention next lesson?
• Which existing resource can I reuse?
• What is one precise question for my mentor?

Use the answers to shape the next lesson. A manageable routine should leave you with fewer competing decisions and a clearer reason for the work you ask pupils to do. If the routine itself becomes another burden, make it smaller.