Without a road map, it is difficult to reach a journey’s destination.

In the same token, a good lesson plan serves the same purpose, local educators say.

A team of three third-grade teachers at Robert H. Jackson Elementary School in Frewsburg said lesson planning is important and they have developed a tool to make it more efficient.

Kolene O’Brien, third-grade teacher, said as a veteran team of teachers, it takes them a shorter time to create their lesson plans for the week, but a newer teacher might need more time.

O’Brien and her colleagues, Stacy Anderson and Dee Nelson, created a weekly template to streamline lesson planning while making sure each lesson meets learning standards and the Danielson Framework. The Danielson Framework is the standards that teachers at Frewsburg Central Schools are evaluated on each year as a part of the Annual Professional Performance Review or APPR.

“This is just a blank template,” said Anderson, showing the calendar-like sheet which lays out each section of the day and which goals are to be met during each lesson. “We have ( a collaboration period) for 30 minutes (each day) where we bounce ideas off each other.”

O’Brien said the template has made lesson planning much easier.

“We plan a road map,” she said. “Lesson plans definitely give you a framework of where you are headed.”

Nelson said the lesson plans are turned in and looked over by administration. However, this may not always be the case in every district.

The teachers have their own classrooms, but often collaborate which has proven to be successful. Anderson said their third-graders took first place in the county for math assessments, according to Buffalo Business First.

“All three of us know exactly what the others are doing,” said O’Brien. “Planning is very important.”

The group also practices differentiated learning, where students break up into groups and are given instruction that is tailored to their needs.

All in all, O’Brien said it is important to make sure lessons are student-based and that teachers remain flexible in their day-to-day teaching.

“Building a lesson plan on paper is good,” she said. “But, we’re constantly pulling out our bag of tricks.”

Ann Morrison, building principal, said good teaching skills haven’t changed much.

“Good teaching is good teaching,” Morrison said. “I think everything remains the same.”

She said overall, creating a good lesson plan can take time, but it is possible it can be reused. However, it depends on the students a teacher has.

“Sometimes, I think they have to tweak the lesson plans they have,” Morrison said. “(The teachers) really are adapting these plans and these resources to best fit the needs of the students. The teachers are designing these lessons with the students in mind.”

The collaborative practices and lesson planning template used by the third-grade teaching team is the approach taken by the entire school.

Each grade level uses their own template so they can plan together, Morrison said.

“No one is alone,” she said. “They all have time to work together.”