Teachers have a lot on their plates when it comes to planning lessons, managing assignments, and keeping students engaged. Thankfully, technology has made this process significantly easier with various lesson planning apps tailored specifically for the needs of busy teachers in 2024. These apps help streamline everything from creating standards-aligned lesson plans from scratch to sharing materials with students and parents.
This article will provide an overview of the top lesson planning apps for teachers this year, key features to look for, and tips for getting the most out of these invaluable tools in your classroom.
A lesson planner is an essential tool for teachers to organize, plan, and execute effective lessons and classroom activities. With the right planner, teachers can ensure they are meeting curriculum standards, optimizing classroom time, and keeping all students engaged. In 2024, there are more options than ever when it comes to choosing a lesson planner for teachers.
Key Features of Lesson Planning Apps
When evaluating the array of lesson planning apps available in 2024, keep an eye out for these must-have features:
- Customizable templates – Ability to build lesson plans from scratch or use pre-made common core templates
- Standards alignment – Lessons automatically aligned to state standards to meet curriculum guidelines
- Content sharing – Share lessons, assignments, handouts with other teachers and parents
- Assessment tools – Apps that allow you to create quizzes, grade assignments, provide feedback
- Parent communication – Integrated parent communication tools to provide updates on student progress
- Data tracking – Insights into student strengths/weaknesses to inform personalized instruction
- Mobile accessibility – Ability to access, edit lessons and content via mobile app or tablet
Top 5 Lesson Planning Apps for Teachers
With an overwhelming number of choices, it can be tough to determine the best lesson planning apps to meet your unique needs. Based on ease-of-use, versatility and value-added features, here are five top-rated apps for 2024:
- Common Curriculum One of the most universally designed apps exclusively for lesson planning, Common Curriculum provides adaptive features like automatic differentiation to meet each learner’s needs. Over 500 complete lesson plans spanning ELA, math, science and social studies are ready for immediate use.
Standoutfeatures:
- Built-in assessments with auto-graded assignments
- Customizable scope and sequences
- Parent communication system
- Planboard Trusted by over 5 million teachers, Planboard is one of the most popular and user-friendly planning apps available. Easily create standards-aligned lesson plans from scratch or leverage the millions of teacher-created plans searchable in their database. Seamlessly attach assignments, worksheets and projects.
Standout features:
- Integrated gradebook
- Content recommendation engine
- Self-paced learning paths
- Teachley Specifically designed for elementary school teachers, Teachley provides grade-specific, common core aligned lesson plans. Search their library by standard, subject or keyword and easily customize materials for whole group or differentiated small group instruction.
Standout features:
- Built-in student oral fluency practice
- Animated math videos
- Progress monitoring capabilities
- Edgeunity Edgeunity bills itself as an all-in-one classroom management solution for designing lessons, delivering content and assessing students in one intuitive platform. Educators can use award-winning formative assessments and instructional resources to pinpoint student needs.
Standout features:
- Personalized practice recommendations
- Interactive whiteboard integration
- Automatic standards alignment
- Lesson Plan Pro Simple, affordable and easy-to-use, Lesson Plan Pro is a great option for teachers seeking a streamlined way to organize plans while aligning to standards. A user-friendly interface makes it simple to schedule lessons, create assignments, organize by subject or standard, and share via Google Drive or Classroom.
Standout features:
- Customizable gradebook categories
- Simple resource organization
- Intuitive calendar view
Tips for Utilizing Lesson Planning Apps
With a solid understanding of lesson planning app capabilities available in 2024, here are five tips to make the most of these platforms:
- Start with templates. All apps have pre-made lesson templates aligned to standards. Use them to inspire your own plans.
- Build a library of go-to resources. Save engaging videos, graphic organizers, review games and more to reusable content libraries.
- Use mobile apps for on-the-go planning. Stay organized from home, the park or a coffee shop with easy-to-use mobile access.
- Share lessons digitally. Distribute plans, assignments and reminders to students and parents via digital channels.
- Use data and analytics. Let assessment data guide your re-teaching efforts and set a vision for student growth.
The Bottom Line
Lesson planning is time-intensive but critically important work. The right planning app, tailored to your grade level, subject area and classroom needs, can provide structure and inspiration. With the ability to access ready-made plans, easily customize materials and seamlessly share with key stakeholders, these platforms reduce teacher workload. This allows you to focus on what matters most — fostering rich learning experiences and student growth.
As 2024 progresses, lesson planning apps will continue providing teachers with innovative assistive technology. Expect advancements in artificial intelligence, virtual reality and speech recognition to reshape classroom capabilities over time. The future is bright when teachers have the right digital tools supporting their success every step of the way.
FAQs About Lesson Planning Apps
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about utilizing lesson planning apps:
Can I access lessons offline?
Some applications allow offline access to materials previously downloaded. However, most are web and cloud-based tools requiring internet connectivity.
Are lessons designed for all learners?
Many apps incorporate differentiated instruction methods within their pre-made lesson templates, supporting various learning styles. Some also have built-in accommodation tools.
What devices are compatible with these apps?
Education apps are built to be cross-device compatible. Access via web browser, iOS, Android, Windows and more. Some even have interactive whiteboard integrations.
Can I share lessons with other teachers?
Collaborative sharing tools allow strategic coordination among teacher teams, grade levels or departments. Streamline efforts and achieve continuity across classrooms.
Conclusion
In 2024 and beyond, lesson planning apps provide teachers with an arsenal of resources at their fingertips. Ultimately, finding the platform best aligned to your subject area, students, school resources and teaching style takes priority. Optimizing these apps to inspire engaging instruction while saving time allows you to focus on the meaningful work only you can do. Your students are depending on your guidance, passion, empathy and support each day. With the right planning tools in place, you can deliver on that promise now and in the future.
No comments yet