The lesson an observer can follow

Evaluation-Ready Lesson Plan Template

Built around what an evaluator looks for: the learning target and success criteria in student language, what you know about these students, a sequence with your planned questions beside it, the evidence you will collect, and what happens if students don't get it or already have.

For the day someone is watching

Evaluation-ready lesson plan template

Portrait observation lesson plan with learning target box, a sequence table that includes a questions-I-will-ask column, and boxes for formative evidence and if-they-don't-get-it

Word Google Docs

Evaluation-Ready Lesson Plan — Word & Google Docs

Learning target and success criteria in student language, what you know about these students, a questioning plan beside the sequence, and what happens if they don't get it.

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PDF

Evaluation-Ready Lesson Plan — fillable PDF

One page, portrait. Type into the fields or print it blank and handwrite.

Download fillable PDF

Specifications: US Letter, 8.5 × 11 inches. Word files are editable .docx that open in Word 2007 through Microsoft 365, including Word for Mac; the Google Docs link makes a copy in your own Drive; the PDF has real form fields and prints as plain hairline boxes when blank. Free to use in as many classes as you like, no account, no watermark.

Why it is laid out this way

About the observation template

Observation rubrics vary by state and district but ask the same questions of a plan: do you know what students should learn and how you will tell, do you know these students, have you planned the questions and not just the activities, and is there a plan for the ones who are lost and the ones who are ahead. This sheet answers each in a labelled place, so the pre-conference conversation is reading down the page.

The field names are generic on purpose. The best-known evaluation framework is proprietary and its owner restricts reproduction of its components, so this template does not use its names or numbering; it uses the plain-language equivalents a rubric from any framework maps onto. If your district gives you its own planning form, this one is a drafting sheet that fills it.

Questions teachers ask

Observation lesson plans, answered

What is the difference between a learning target and an objective?

An objective is written for the teacher and the plan; a learning target is the same intention written for students, often as an I-can statement, with success criteria that tell them what good looks like. Observers increasingly look for the student-facing version on the board, which is why the box asks for it that way.

Why plan the questions in advance?

Because questioning is the part of a lesson most rubrics weight heavily and the part most likely to collapse into yes-or-no under pressure. Three or four written questions, placed next to the segment they belong to, is enough to keep the discussion open.

Should I write the reflection before or after?

After, honestly, and keep it. A reflection box filled before the lesson is an advertisement. One filled after, with what the evidence actually showed, is the thing a post-conference is for.