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INTO Advice
From college to classroom:
Short-Term/Weekly Planning
Structuring your short-term/weekly plan and reflections on some of the key questions to be posed when planning
Recommendation: Try to ensure that your plans are focused, concise and meaningful for your class
Date
Strand
Class level
Subject
Strand Unit
Content objective(s) Choose the content objective/s appropriate for this week
Skills Are there appropriate skill(s) that you need to focus on in this subject area this week? Refer to
Primary School Curriculum (1999) and NCCA Planning Tool
Learning objectives (Based on content objective(s) above and
children’s prior learning).
Learning activities (Informed by
Approaches/ Methodologies/ Strategies in long-term plan.
1. Key question to ask before you begin ‘What do you want the
pupils to learn this week?’ Refer to long term/termly plan.
Choose the content objective(s) appropriate for the weekly
plan.
1. Key question here is ‘How am I going to achieve what I have
outlined under the learning objectives for the week?’
2. Break down the content objective into teachable chunks,
including skills as appropriate. Establish key specific learning
expectations for that week.
3. Write the learning objective(s). Begin with appropriate verbs
to frame the learning objective e.g. identify, describe,
compare, etc., Refer to Appendix B in Guidance Regarding
Short-Term Planning and Preparation for support when
writing learning objectives.
4. Ensure that learning objectives are specific, attainable,
realistic and can be assessed.
The number of objectives depends on the question in number
1 above plus the learning needs of the class. You will have to
make the professional call as to how much should be planned
for the class and the amount of time allocated to the subject
area this week.
2. Think about what methodologies and learning activities will
be most appropriate to fulfill the learning objectives e.g.
Listen and respond to a story e.g. Owl Babies (S. Infants)
Talk and discussion Questioning, based on the story; pair
work, recalling what came first/ next/ at the end
Improvisational drama Children will adopt the role of one
of the characters in the story
Active learning Children will help the teacher to put the
pictures from the story in order (large format cards)
Think also about how you are going to organise and manage
the class from the point of view of pair-work, group-work,
individual work, plenary work.
Resources Identify and list the
appropriate resources that
you intend to use this week to
support the learning outlined
above.
Differentiation How do you intend to differentiate the lesson for pupils with varying abilities including special
learning needs or exceptionally able? Use pupil’s initials only or refer to group by letter or number. Refer to Appendix E in Guidance
Regarding Long-Term Planning and Preparation for differentiation strategies. Keep it specific. Avoid generalisations.
Assessment How will you assess what the pupils have learned? Refer to Appendix F in Guidance Regarding Long-Term Planning
and Preparation for assessment methods. Select the specific and most appropriate methods.
Linkage and Integration Only if it links or integrates naturally. Refer to Circular 0056/2011 in relation to integration of Literacy
and Numeracy.
For further guidelines on short-term planning visit the planning section of www.teacherinduction.ie. The inter-agency planning
committee responsible for drawing up the draft planning guidelines comprises representatives from the NIPT, DES, NCCA, PDST &
Colleges of Education. Queries from NQTs in relation to planning should be emailed to mary.burke@spd.dcu.ie
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