Why I Plan All My Lessons with Slides—And How You Can Too

Each year, I try to improve myself as a teacher and change one thing in my teaching. This year, I changed one BIG thing: I structured all of my lessons with slides. Since taking the plunge, I have found that my teaching has been positively impacted in five different ways.  

1. My lessons have better flow. Everything is in one place, and I am not flipping through presentations and tabs trying to find something 
2. Classroom management is easy: By not wasting time trying to find materials, students stay more engaged, leading to fewer management problems. 
3. Lesson sequencing is easier: When everything is in one place, it is easier to see the long-term plan and to see how the lessons all work together
4. I’m planning a month at a time: Similar to the last one, it is easier to long-term plan because I can see where my lessons are going. 
5. Makes planning for subs easier: I often just leave them my slides open with directions on how to do the activities. Yes, I still leave activities that are easy for subs to teach but the structure to the lesson is easy to follow. 

Now, for some tips and tricks on how I make this all work!

What I include in my slides
The short answer is everything. I put everything I need to teach my lessons in my slides. The goal is not to have to leave the slides document while teaching and keep me on track.
Some things I include are: 

• Embedded YouTube Videos 
  
• Audio recordings for songs
  
• Lyrics for folk songs 
  
• Notation for the instrument accompaniments 
  
• Directions for games 
  
• Screenshots of worksheets/printables with directions
  
• Interactive games (check out Linda McPherson; her resources are fantastic!) 
  
• Pictures of books that I am ready to my students in that class 
  
• Any reminders I need to share about assignments, concerts, and extracurricular
  

How I organize my slides.
Finding a method to keep my slides organized was super important before I tried this. 

• I decided each grade level would have a set of slides for the month. I generally teach 4-5 sections of each grade level and didn’t want to have individual slides for each class, as I wanted to ensure that all courses in the grade level covered the duplicate content. 
• Monthly overview: All my slide decks start with a monthly overview. Here I sort each of the activities that I am doing into the different areas of my curriculum- Making, Creating, Connecting, Responding. This helps me ensure that I am hitting each area each month and helps me see what songs/activities hit multiple areas of the curriculum. Doing this has been a game-changer for assessment and report card writing!
• By lesson: Each slide deck is further broken down into lessons. I simply put the lesson number on a title page, and all of the material I need for that lesson follows that title page. When I first started using slides, I found it challenging to remember which class was assigned to which lesson. My classes are on a six-day rotation, and sometimes, I will see one class twice before I see the other class of the same grade level. To elevate this, I use a calendar that has the days in the school cycle and each class that I see on that day. Besides the class, I simply write what lesson they are doing on that calendar day.  
  
• Colour-coded grade levels: Each grade group that I teach has its own colour, just to make things easier to find when I have 7000 PowerPoints open on my computer!

Where do I find my materials? 
Now, all this information is great and all, but you may be wondering where I find my materials to include in my slides that I use to structure my lesson. I create many of my own materials, which I include in my slides. From song lyrics to games to interactive activities, lots of the content is created by me. But, luckily for you, it can be purchased on my TPT store. 

On my TPT store, I would start by looking at my Song Presentation Kits, as this is where a lot of the meat and potatoes of my slides come from. I also highly recommend joining my email list to get lesson ideas in real time right to your inbox! 

​When I choose what I am going to teach, I import those slides from my lesson packs into my grade-level slides. I often slip the lesson packs into multiple days in my monthly lessons.

Switching to slide-based lessons has completely transformed the way I teach—from streamlining my daily routine to simplifying long-term planning and sub prep. It’s made my classroom more organized, my lessons more intentional, and my teaching more effective. 
If you're looking for ready-to-use materials to get started, don’t forget to check out my Song Presentation Kits on TPT or join my email list for fresh ideas and resources delivered straight to your inbox. Teaching can be a lot, but with the right tools and systems, it can also be a lot more manageable—and even more joyful. 

​Happy planning!
Jayna