Raise Your Practice

 

Raise Your Practice: The Power of Purposeful Planning

Root your teaching in what matters most.

As educators, we often plan from the outside in—starting with standards, pacing guides, and assessment deadlines. This is why making those lesson plans becomes such a chore.  Maybe those structures matter and help keep us organized, but they’re only part of the story. If we want to teach with clarity and connection, we have to also purposely plan from the inside out.

Purposeful planning begins with purpose.

It asks:

• Why this content?

• Why now?

• What do I want students to feel, question, and remember?

• How can this unit or lesson serve both their growth and mine?

When we lead with intention, planning becomes more than a task—it becomes a practice. A way to align our work with our values. A way to raise not just what we teach, but how and why we teach it.

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Planning with Presence

Sounds like too much? Start small. Before your next unit or lesson, pause and ask yourself:

1. What is the heart of this learning?
   Not just the standard, but the story. What’s the human thread that connects this content to students’ lives or the world around them?

2. What do I want students to experience emotionally?
   Wonder? Empathy? Confidence? Intellectual risk? Our emotional intentions shape the tone and energy of the classroom.

3. What practices support both rigor and relationship?
   How will I create space for deep thinking and deep belonging?

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A Simple Framework: The 3 P’s of Purposeful Planning

Use this as a check-in tool as you plan:

• People – Who are my learners right now? What do they need socially, emotionally, and academically? What do I need to bring my best self to them?

• Possibility – How can this content invite students to wonder, question, and create? What doors could it open?

• Practice – Which strategies will best support growth? How can I center student voice, agency, and collaboration?

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Raising Practice, Not Perfection

Purposeful planning doesn’t mean every lesson will be perfect. It means we approach our work with curiosity and care. It means we’re willing to reflect, refine, and recalibrate—because our students are always growing, and so are we.

So as you sit down to plan this week, soften you eyes and take 3 deep grounding breaths.  Ask yourself,  "What really matters here?"  Then build from there.

You are not just planning content.
You are planting connection.
And that is sacred work.

Let’s rise—with purpose.

With heart,
Dr. Linda Wittmann