When I was a teacher I used to plan like mad. I would create whole unit plans that would cover 4 or 5 weeks of work, then break that down into a weekly overview and would develop detailed plans for each individual lesson. Planning really helped me work out what I wanted to include in my classes, as well as what I needed to include to reach particular teaching and learning objectives; it helped me stay on track when it was so easy to deviate or get distracted. I am a HUGE fan of planning, but I learnt really early on that the ability to throw the plan out of the window when needed is of equal importance to planning.
