5 Tips for Designing Lesson Plans that Maximize Core Instructional Materials

Introduction

As teachers, we know that high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) can provide powerful instructional support. They can save planning time, keep lessons aligned to standards, and provide a clear path to help students grow. But with so many curriculum resources available, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. 

The good news: a few intentional planning strategies can help you get the most out of your district’s core HQIM while still making space for your own creativity and responsiveness. 

Here are five evidence-based planning tips you can use right away.

1. Start with the standards and essential questions in the material.

When lesson planning, begin by looking closely at the standards, goals, and essential questions in your core material. They are designed to drive instruction and connect to assessments, so they provide a solid foundation for your lesson. 

Then verify that the material is truly aligned to those standards. Ask yourself: 

• What does the standard require students to know?  

• What level of rigor is required? 

That determination will help you identify where your material is aligned to the standards you intend to cover and where adjustments are needed to fill gaps.

Tip: Learning List’s Alignment reports provide page-specific evidence of whether a material is aligned to the content, context, and cognitive rigor of each standard, saving you hours of work. 

2. Decide what is non-negotiable and what is flexible

Sometimes we feel pressure to “cover” everything in our core material’s lessons, but you can still implement a material with fidelity even if you do not use every part of it. One study puts it this way: “Implementation is not simply a matter of delivering a program as written but of ensuring that core features are preserved while adapting to local contexts.” (ERIC)  

When planning, decide which pieces you will keep as written (e.g., anchor texts, key discussion questions, assessments) and where you can be flexible (e.g., examples, timing, or group structures). Identifying the “must-do” parts and the “teacher-choice” parts of the material’s lessons enables you to keep your lesson focused and meet the needs of your students without losing your own style. 

Tip: Use your material to support alignment to standards, provide consistency in instruction across classrooms, and make your life easier, but adapt those lessons as necessary to meet your students’ needs. 

3.  Plan scaffolds and supports ahead of time

Every class has a range of learners. Core HQIM usually suggest scaffolds. Planning how you will use them ahead of time will ensure that you are ready to support struggling students or extend learning for advanced ones whenever the need arises. For example, you might: 

• Add guiding questions for a challenging text

• Model the first few problems before independent practice 

• Think through where students might get stuck and plan your “if/then” moves (e.g., If students struggle, then pause for guided practice; if not, move on).

This blog post suggests that to deepen learning, “assign tasks that require students to provide an explanation or meaningfully organize the material.” (Great Minds, November 29, 2022) 

Tip: Use Learning List’s Editorial Review as a starting point for understanding how your material supports all learners. 

4.  Use the built-in assessments to check for understanding

Your materials probably include quick checks for understanding, formative assessments, and unit tests designed to measure standards-based learning. Using them as designed saves you planning time and ensures you are measuring what the lesson intends students to learn. 

Tip: If you adapt an assessment, make sure that the alignment to the standards is not lost. Instead of reinventing the wheel, use the provided assessments, making small tweaks only if the change better measures student learning.

5. Reflect and adjust after the lesson

Strong implementation of HQIM requires continuous improvement. Taking a few minutes after class to jot down what worked, what did not, and where students struggled will help you get even more out of your materials the next time.  As CORE Education notes, strong implementation of materials is not a one-time effort but requires “intentional launch and continuous feedback cycles.” (CORE Education) 

Tip: After each lesson, ask yourself: 

• Which parts of today’s lesson really engaged students? 

• Which parts felt rushed or unclear? 

These quick notes can shape your lesson planning moving forward and help you maximize the effectiveness of your instructional materials. 

Final Thoughts

Using core instructional materials does not mean teaching on autopilot. It means leveraging your HQIM for standards alignment, efficiency, and equity, while adding your professional judgment and creativity where it matters most. By grounding your lessons in the standards, anticipating supports, using built-in assessments, reflecting regularly, and balancing fidelity with flexibility, you will get the most out of your materials and your students will, too.