When we conceived of PlansForUs the notion of sharing lesson plans seemed like a no brainer, when we surveyed teachers across a wide range of age groups we found that 90% of teachers feel comfortable sharing their lessons.

However, what happens when you actually take something that you have worked so hard on and post it for the world to use. A couple weeks back my wife and I were out to dinner and I asked her that question. She immediately said that she planned to share her neighborhood study. This was an extensive curriculum that she built for her 5-6’s around neighborhoods, in this case New York City’s Chinatown. She invested enormous amounts of time and energy in this effort and the outcome has been an exceptional one, her students, co-teacher and parents all were taken on an amazing learning experience.

However, upon reflection my wife felt a twinge of regret at letting all this hard work be opened for the publics use. Wouldn’t she be doing the work of others by sharing this work product? I then asked her the question, Is it worth keeping this great information locked in your drive and used once a year or can it be used by other teachers to equally positive effect?

Her answer reinforced why we had created PlansForUs. She acknowledged that the possibility that other teachers could use her plan to great effect in their classrooms was an exciting prospect. She has since posted her curriculum. If you are a k-3 teacher, search “neighborhood study” and check out her stuff, I hope it works as well in your classroom as it did in hers.

by Tyler, CEO