Lesson planning eats up a lot of time for teachers. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, K-12 educators spend around seven hours of every work week just on lesson planning. Teachers can reduce that burden with experience, but those new to the field often find themselves overwhelmed with the process. One way schools can help their teachers out is with AV technology. AV solutions aren't just effective lesson delivery tools - they're powerful support and planning tools, as well. They don't just work inside the classroom - they also provide value outside the classroom for educators. Here's how:

AV Opens up Multisensory Lesson Options

A primary challenge with lesson planning is getting the information to stick. Teachers are often creative here, with rhymes, songs, games, and other activities. Another proven approach is with multimodal learning. Multimodal lessons encourage students to engage multiple senses at once while learning. These methods are similar to the learning styles concept - VARK foremost among them - that group students based on how they prefer to learn. The research behind VARK and similar methods suggest that people aren't confined to a particular learning style, but instead benefit from a multimodal approach. AV is well-suited for multimodal teaching. Ultra-high-resolution displays are the ultimate visual aid, audio enhancement ensures everyone can hear, and interactive technologies add a tactile element to the lesson. With sight, sound and touch all represented, educators can get creative with how they introduce various subjects. With additional lesson delivery tools at hand, teachers can keep lessons fresh without spending too much time on planning.

AV Allows Teachers to Go In-Depth with Their Note Making

Interactive displays have become a mainstay in K-12 schools, replacing chalkboards and overhead projectors as the go-to note-making medium. Why have interactive displays like the Clevertouch taken over?

• They provide unlimited space for teachers to make notes.
• They come with excellent handwriting recognition for neater penmanship.
• They have a built-in browser that can grab media and bring it to the whiteboard.
• They have a save feature that allows teachers to pick up where they left off.

Together, these features mean interactive displays support a dynamic note-making process that is more visually appealing for students. Think back to your days in class and how difficult it was to stay focused while the teacher made notes. Interactive displays change this up by making mere note-making more visually interesting. On the lesson planning side, educators can rely on the above features to keep students engaged even during long note-making sessions. The benefits are especially important for older students and more advanced lesson concepts that cannot be easily summarized. With more note-making space and tools, teachers can confidently build tough lessons around them without losing student interest.

AV Education Software is Full of Lesson Planning Resources

AV's lesson planning potential is directly supported through various educational AV solutions. The Clevertouch, for example, comes with the Cleverstore - an online marketplace for additional lesson planning resources and applications. This software is completely unlocked, feature-wise, and contains no in-app transactions. There are thousands of apps and ideas to choose from, including quizzes, interactive games, and media packages that include all lesson content. There are numerous lesson planning software tools also available. Planbook, Planboard and Nearpod are three, but there is a dozen more quality offerings behind them. Regardless of which software solution your school goes with, it should provide the following important features:

• Lesson templates for quick planning and building.
• The ability to link content to the lesson for quick reference.
• Set up lesson schedules for the entire school year, including alternatives for early dismissal days and other special school days.
• A calendar feature that allows teachers to easily reschedule or reorder lessons.
• A library of educational standards, strategies, and accommodations to reference.
• Lesson sharing functionality, with other teachers and with students.

Leading solutions like Planbook provide a host of additional features on top of these. With their robust customization and scheduling options, lesson planning solutions help educators remain organized and efficient.

AV Can Allow Students to Lead the Lesson

Student-led instruction flips the classroom around and gives students the chance to lead their own learning. Having students take ownership of their education in this way improves engagement and allows those students to set the right pace. AV technology can facilitate this approach, giving teachers yet another lesson delivery option for their class. Interactive displays are useful in this area and effective for students in every grade. Elementary students, for instance, can use the display for creative purposes or to drill basic math or reading concepts. For older students, interactive displays are an excellent group work facilitator that can be used for STEM projects, science labs, or other collaborative projects. However, your school's displays don't need to be interactive to leverage the flipped concept. For example, a standard display can be used to run a how-to crafting video and guide students through their own hands-on projects. If you've got a room with multiple displays, learning stations can be set up that each introduce an important lesson concept or activity for students to follow. From a lesson planning standpoint, it doesn't get much simpler than this, and simpler means less time-consuming.

Lesson Planning is a Big Part of a Teacher's Job, and AV Helps Teachers Do It Efficiently

To do their jobs properly, educators regularly invest hours outside of the classroom. Many of these hours are dedicated to lesson planning, but AV solutions can help teachers save some of that precious time. If your school is considering AV initiatives, a certified AV integrator can recommend the best lesson planning solutions for your teachers so they can develop high-engagement lesson material in a fraction of the time. That way, your educators can spend more time teaching and less time organizing everything.