A unit plan is a map for several weeks of teaching: where the unit ends, how you will know students got there, and what happens each week to get them there. This planner follows the backward-design order, so the first boxes are the goal and the evidence, and the lessons come after. Choose how many weeks you need, add a start date if you want dates on the rows, and type. Nothing you type leaves your browser and nothing is saved, so print or save a PDF before you close the tab.
Plan a unit
Changing the number of weeks keeps what you have already typed.
Unit plan
Stage 1: where students should end up
Stage 2: evidence
Stage 3: the weeks
| Week | Focus and lessons | Checks and notes |
|---|
How to use it
Write the destination
One or two big ideas and a handful of questions students should be able to argue about at the end.
Decide the evidence
Write the final assessment before the lessons. If you cannot say what a strong answer looks like, the weeks have nothing to aim at.
Size the weeks
Set the number of weeks, add a start date for labelled rows, and fill in the focus for each. Leave a week near the end loose for reteaching.
Print and revise
A unit plan is a draft. Print it, pin it up, and write on it as the unit goes.
Why plan backward
Planning from the first lesson forward feels natural and produces units that end when the calendar says so. Planning backward means the final assessment shapes every week, and the weekly checks show if the class is on track while there is still time to change course. It also makes it easier to see what you can cut. If a lesson does not help students do the final task, it is a candidate for the bin. The same discipline applies to individual lessons; the lesson plan template fits inside each week here, and clear targets help at both scales, as in how to write learning objectives.
The assessment box is worth the most thought. For ideas on building the unit test from the goals, see how to build a unit assessment, and for the checks between lessons, formative assessment.
How it compares with ClassSense
ClassSense does not produce a unit planner. This page is a blank, printable plan that you write yourself. What ClassSense does is start from a unit you upload (PDF, DOCX or PPTX) and build the student side: skill packs with explanations, worked examples, named common misconceptions and practice, plus mastery tracking for each student. It reads standards only if the codes are in your document, and it does not set a week-by-week pacing calendar. Many teachers plan the unit here and let ClassSense carry the practice. Your first 30 days are free, no card. The turn a PDF into a lesson page shows what comes out.
Common questions
What is backward design?
It is a planning order: decide the goal, then the evidence that would show students reached it, then plan the lessons. The planner is laid out in that order.
Can I save the plan?
Not on this page, because nothing is stored. Use Print and choose Save as PDF, or copy your text into your own document before closing the tab.
What happens to my text if I change the number of weeks?
Text in the weeks that remain is kept. If you reduce the number, the last rows are removed along with whatever was in them.
Does the start date matter?
It only adds the date each week begins to the row labels, counting seven days at a time. It does not know about holidays or breaks, so adjust those yourself.