How to Turn Your Lesson Plan into a TpT Product

How to sell your great lesson plan on Teachers Pay Teachers

Many Teachers struggle to start a TpT store because they don’t know where to begin. After taking your first steps to start a store (read that post here) you need to start uploading products to sell or give away for free.

I always encourage teachers to start with a resource that they have already created, and that’s already on their computer. For most of us, that’s a lesson plan or a worksheet.

So here are 11 tips on how to turn your lesson plan into something that’s TpT worthy

1 – Make sure that it’s very obvious what the lesson plan is about

The heading needs to be at the top, in larger font than the rest of the paper.

If you have a creative title make sure under that you explain what the lesson is. For example, if my lesson plan is called Whack-A-Mole, but it’s about molecules’ atomic mass, I can title it with the fun title, but under it needs to say something to the effect of “Molecules’ Atomic Mass – A Fun Learning Game.”

To that end, make sure the standard is at the top and easy to find.

Also at the top needs to be the main objective: “Students will learn how to identify supporting details”

2 – Remember that teachers skim, so make the best stuff stick out

What makes your lesson plan great? Is it that it’s chunked really well? Does it include great learning activities? Will students have the opportunity to work in groups? Or create a product? Does it include an interactive notebook?

Make sure that these things are easy to spot when skimming the lesson plan. This way teachers will understand just exactly what it is, and will be more likely to purchase it.

3 – Make it exhaustive

Your lesson plan needs to come equipped with everything the teacher needs to be successful. In other words, all the work needs to be done for them.

For example, if you want the students to be divided into three groups based on their Lexile level, and each group will read a passage that is on the same thing, but appropriately formatted for their level, then you need to provide all three learning passages.

If you think that there’s a good teaching video out there, you need to hyperlink to it.

If there are instructions to an activity, then you need to make those instructions on a handout that the teacher can pass out.

Also consider providing the corresponding worksheets, graphic organizers, PPT presentations, images, or notes pages.

4 – Accommodations

Remember that the teachers are purchasing your lesson plans so that they don’t have to do the work themselves – or because you’ve got something really cool to offer.

Also remember that most schools, districts, administrators, etc. want to see accommodations. So list them out at the bottom. Some common accommodations include: partner with a stronger student, teacher notes provided, use of visual aids, use of technology, preferential seating, work with fewer items per line, less problems correct required for mastery, extra time given, hear instructions spoken aloud, cues to stay on task, dictate answers to a scribe, allowed to speak answers, work in small group, mark text with a highlighter, study skill instructions, binder checks, and different work assignment.

Obviously, you don’t have to provide (or even list) all of them. But ones that you are obviously included in your lesson plan should be listed.

5 – Extension Activity – Going above and Beyond

Provide an extension activity for the teachers.

You want to make sure that your lesson plan has more than enough things in it to last the entire period. So provide something extra for them to do. It could be a fun video on YouTube that you link to, or a learning activity.

6 – Give them more than what they bargained for

Make sure that your lesson plan is good, and that it does everything that you said it would. That includes providing all the resources and worksheets that they’ll need to implement your lesson plan.

But take it one step further.

Give them something extra. A bonus activity, an extra worksheet, a free resource for the next lesson plan. Something that will really make their day.

Besides being a blessing to your customer, doing this will make it more likely for them to give you a positive review, recommend you to a friend, or return to your store to purchase more.

7 – Don’t forger your name

Make sure that you add your TpT store name to your lesson plan. Put it at the bottom of every page of the lesson plan as well as the resources you provide with the lesson plan.

8 – Chunk it Up

Chunking a lesson is one of the best teaching strategies we can utilize, yet so few teachers do. So help your customers out by chunking it.

Chunking means that the lesson plan should transition between several different activities. Ideally, none of these activities should be longer than 15 minutes. So start with a Do Now (aka Bellringer), switch to a teaching or a guided discover, then a learning activity, followed by some independent practice with feedback, and then a closing activity.

By doing this, we will help our customer become a better teacher. AND… since her class did so well during this lesson, because you helped her use this great strategy, she is more likely to recommend your product or purchase another from you.

9 – Make it visually appealing

Break the sections up on the paper with spaces
Make the heading of each section stick out with larger letters, bolden them, underline the words, or even use different fonts so that they stick out
Avoid being wordy
Insert clip art, tables, or images (make sure you don’t take copyrighted work)
Put a border around it (more on this in another article)

If you have not started a Canva subscription, you need to. It’s a great resource for TpT’ers – and will help you with your Pinterest Pins and Blog post images. Canva also has beautifully formatted templates for lesson plans. You can subscribe for free and use this to make your lesson plans get a lot of attention.

10 – Create a cover image for TpT

All TpT products have one image that is featured. So you’ll want to create a good one. For more tips on how to make a cover image, click here.

11 – Editable or Not Editable

You need to decide whether or not you want your customers to be able to be able to edit your lesson plan (and all products for that matter).

The reason people like to make them un-editable (is that a word?) is that they don’t want people removing their name or editing it and then selling it themselves. These are legitimate concerns. However, no matter what you do, you will come across people who can edit and resell, or steal without paying for your downloads. That said, most of my products I do not leave as editable.

Except lesson plans. Those I like to leave as editable. This way the teacher can have a better experience with it. They are able to add and move things around as it suits them, so that it better fits their needs.

To make somethign not-editable, you can lock it or save it as a PDF. To keep it editable, I like to leave it in it’s format (a Word Document or PPT presentation).

12 – Keep it Organized

Your lesson plan should be easy to follow and implement. Make it very user-friendly. Teachers should know exactly what each resource is and where to find it in your download without spending large amounts of time reading everything. So keep your stuff organized and properly labeled, and make it super easy for your reader to know how to use each resource (as well as when to use it in your lesson plan).

What to Read Next

Inspiration to Start Your Side Hustle

Getting Started

After You’ve Started

TpT Strategies

Blogging

How to Turn Your Lesson Plan into a TpT Product