Why Every Author Needs Lesson Plans

Here's a quick one, but don't let the short version fool you — this is one of the highest-leverage things an author can build, and most never do.

Three reasons every author needs at least one lesson plan

1. It speaks the language schools already use. Standards, objectives, assessments — that's the vocabulary administrators are listening for. Without it, your pitch sounds like a sales pitch. With it, it sounds like a resource they already know how to evaluate and approve.

2. It doubles as a workshop. The same activities you build for a classroom can become the foundation for a parent session, a corporate training, or a keynote breakout. You're not building one thing — you're building the raw material for several.

3. It's the difference between a one-time read and a lasting impression. A book gets read once. A lesson plan gets taught again and again, to new students, new years, new rooms, long after your launch week is a memory.

You don't need to overthink your first one

• Start with one core lesson tied directly to your book's central theme or takeaway.
• Write it so someone who has never met you could pick it up and teach it confidently.
• Keep it short and structured — objective, activity, discussion questions, done.

You don't need ten lesson plans to start opening doors. You need one, done well — and from there, every school conversation gets a whole lot easier.