TC Resource Hub
Lesson Planning
Templates for daily and observed lessons, plus a quick guide to what makes a lesson plan clear and complete.
Templates
Daily Lesson Plan (DLP) Template
The standard template for day-to-day lesson plans throughout your placement.
UDL Lesson Plan Template
An inclusive lesson plan format built on Universal Design for Learning, used for observed lessons.
Analysis & Reflection Guide
A structured guide for reflecting on your teaching and student learning after a lesson.
Each link opens a Google Doc you can copy into your own Drive. For any other official PLNU forms — filming permission slips, competency rubrics, and more — use the PLNU Teacher Candidate Forms page so you always get the current version.
Writing a Clear Lesson Plan
A lesson plan isn't just a compliance document — it's a window into your instructional thinking. A reader should be able to glance at it and quickly understand what students are learning, what they're reading or engaging with, what questions are being asked, and what steps they're following to reach the objective.
What to include
- The specific text(s), tasks, or materials students are using.
- 3–5 clear student process steps (what students actually do to meet the objective).
- 1–2 sample questions you plan to ask during instruction.
- At least a couple of sentences explaining any section that describes instruction or assessment.
Before you submit
- Process steps are what students do, not what you do. List the steps a student follows to reach the objective — not what you'll be doing while they work.
- Could a student follow those steps without you in the room? If not, they're too vague. "Discuss the text" isn't a step. "Underline the detail that shows how the character feels" is.
- Post the steps where students can see them. They can't follow steps they can't see.
- Check for three things: what students are reading, what you'll ask, and what they'll do. Missing one means it isn't finished.