Once you have created an overview of what you plan to teach for the year, you can begin to break down the material into semester, term, quarter, monthly, weekly and daily plans. That does not mean that you need to create separate plans for each of these time segments. The Overview Plan helps you to divide the units you are teaching into realistic timetables. From there, you can take each of the units and create an outline of the main points within the unit. These then become the basis of your weekly and daily lesson plans. When you create lesson plans that have clearly defined objectives, meaningful activities for your students to do, related to the objectives and valid assessments, you are on the right track. Use the list below to see how many of these qualities apply to your lesson plans. DETAILED Your lesson plans contain enough information that you, or anyone else teaching your class, can follow the plan easily and gather materials you need quickly. VARIED You use different activities throughout the curriculum unit and include materials that appeal to a variety of student learning styles and skills. FLEXIBLE If your lesson is not going well, you have a major interruption or something else that causes you to make adjustments, you are still able to use your plans to accomplish the objectives with your students. COMPREHENSIVE Your plans contain details that allow you to informally assess student comprehension as well as provide your students opportunities to apply higher-order thinking skills. CONNECTED The work that you do with your students, as outlined in your lesson plans, connects to prior learning and to information they will learn and use in the future. Sample lesson plans that will help you achieve these qualities are available at www.teachinflorida.com/teachertoolkit/LessonPlans.asp and Lesson Plans for Everyday Use.