5 Steps for High-Impact Planning

Photo by Dragos Gontariu on Unsplash

I recently listened to this podcast episode in which Kate Northrup, author of Do Less, talks about how to figure out the best ways to spend your time. It was great. It is so simple, yet so powerful. So, I want to share it with you here. I also want to encourage you to check out her book! I have not read it yet, but it is on my “To Read” shelf, and I am excited about it. It is written for a mom audience, but from the glimpses I’ve already had, it seems incredibly relevant for teachers or anyone who is busy! 

So, what’s this strategy all about?

Basically, you’re going to inventory what planning activities you do, and then figure out which ones are giving you the biggest wins in terms of results (i.e., student growth and achievement). I’m adapting this slightly for a teacher planning lens, but use it however you would like! Here's the step-by-step: 

1. Draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper (or make a 2-column table in Google Docs if you prefer to do this digitally) 
2. On the left side, list all the activities you do to prepare for class
3. On the right side, list your biggest wins (i.e., student engagement, growth, achievement) 
4. Draw a line(s) from each big win to the activity(s) that helped make it happen
5. Highlight, circle, or take note of the activities in the left column that have the most lines (they are connected to the most big wins, and are thus, high-impact)  

In the podcast, Jenna and Kate talk about how this reflects the 80/20 rule: 80% of your results come from 20% of your work. The goal is to identify what that 20% is, and then stress a lot less about the other 80%, and maybe even cut some of it out completely! 

Is this activity a bit challenging for you? 

Here are some tips to get you going: 

• To generate your left column list of activities, track what you do in your planning time for a full week. I made planning inventory printables for teachers and leaders. So, click the relevant button below, print it, and start tracking! 

Get your teacher planning inventory printable!

Get your leader planning inventory printable!

• To generate your right column list of big wins, consider looking at the following data sources: 
  • Student assessment results (Where were they particularly strong?) 
  • Growth from one assessment to the next on the same skill/content (Where did they collectively jump from not getting it to really getting it? Where did even a handful of students show big growth?) 
  • Active engagement during class (This could be “excited faces” or “no one looks tired” or “all students are working” or multiple student comments like “I liked class today”) 
• To figure out where to draw your lines (which activities led to the big wins), journal after class (What do you think went well?), ask a co-teacher, coach, or colleague to take a look or talk about what you did to get their take, or ask your students! 
  • How to ask your students: Share the big win data with them, celebrate, and then ask them which class activities helped them be successful (in other words, be engaged, show growth, or learn the content). You may want to collect student input as part of a regular practice at the end of each lesson, week, or unit.   

Your challenge this week: identify your high-impact activities. Which activities are getting you those big wins? This may help you let go of some of the other time-consuming planning activities that just aren’t getting you the results you want. 

Sure, other activities may move the needle forward, albeit slowly, but once you know which activities will move the needle way forward, let yourself: think big (we want those big wins), act brave (take a small step and shift your planning for just a week to test this theory) and be your best self (which is not likely when you are consumed by endless planning that does not yield big results and leaves you feeling exhausted and unfulfilled). 

Once you have identified your high-impact planning activities, don’t keep it to yourself! Share your high-impact activities in the comments section below or on social media. Keep me posted! I’m @lyons_lb on Twitter and Lindsay Lyons on LinkedIn.

​I cannot wait to hear what you come up with.