Short-term planning

Key stage 3

There are different ways of describing short-term plans. For the purpose of these materials, a short-term plan is a set of activities for a week or a lesson.
Short-term planning is based on the needs of individual schools and teachers. Teachers often use short-term plans to think through the structure and content of a lesson and to note information such as key questions, resources, differentiation and assessment opportunities, especially where this is not already included in the medium-term plan.

Many teachers use lesson plans selectively, for particular activities or subjects, rather than for every lesson. Experienced teachers often work direct from a medium-term plan and make notes as and when needed to support their teaching.

Elements in short-term plans

Activity/lesson plans (for a single lesson or related lessons in a subject, taught over the course of a week) should show:

• detail of the planned activity, including points to be covered by the teacher in introducing tasks and supporting the pupils' learning during and after each lesson
• key questions to be covered/addressed during each activity
• a breakdown of specific tasks in detail (steps the pupils need to go through, rather than the overall activity)
• differentiation and grouping of the pupils, and any relevant staffing details
• details showing how the lesson(s) will link to existing provision for special educational needs, such as learning support assistants or individual education plans
• information about hours needed for the activity
• resources needed for the activity
• learning objectives
• expected learning outcomes
• assessment opportunities
• space for notes about specific group or individual performances.

Annotating the short-term plan should also support the teacher in preparing subsequent activities in the medium term plan, in response to the pupils' performances or the outcomes of tasks.

Short-term planning might focus on a single activity or lesson, or on lessons in history within the same week, where it is sensible to list resources or organisational details jointly, or where key questions need to be reiterated or revisited over more than one activity.