When it comes down to planning a course in education, the key is organization. Here are some tips to make sure you are ready for the upcoming academic year:
The first step in keeping organized when it comes to teaching is to make sure you have read the course textbook. If you are finding you are really crunched for time and perhaps have only found out that you can teach the course at the last minute, try to at least read the first five or six chapters of the book. Chances are you are teaching the course because you are already familiar with the course topic. Once the course has started, you can concentrate on making sure that you read the entire textbook. I find this to be helpful because when you are using the textbook as a discussion point in class, you will be knowledgeable of what it covers.
Once you have done that, you can start planning the course outline for the class. In some cases, you may already receive a course outline from the coordinator of your program. If not, then make sure you follow the guidelines of the school to plan out your week by week breakdown of what your classes will entail. This will help you to be really organized and to know what to plan for. As well, if you do this early enough and would like to have a special guest speaker come to class, or plan a class trip, you will be organized enough to make sure this happens.
The next step is start planning your individual lesson plans, week by week. I do recommend you do this all before the class starts. This will allow you to have more time to mark during the semester, as well as to take on more teaching projects if the opportunity arises. If you have a full-time job and are only teaching one course, preparing your lesson plans in advance will help you to manage your workload. If you are a full-time professor, planning your lesson plans in advance could give you more time to work on outside projects, such as publishing, attending conferences and professional development that are also important to the academic working experience.
