I have been writing lesson plans for several years now. Like any other craft, when you practice over a long period of time, you are bound to improve. This was made painfully aware to me as I read over some of my lesson plans from Volume One. Most of those lessons were published in 2018, a whopping four years ago. And it shows. Some of those old lesson plans can’t hold a candle to the ones I am writing today. Looking back in shame, I had to right a wrong. I needed to go back through every single lesson within Volume One and make them better, and I did. Let’s take a look at how this updated and remastered Volume One is so much better than the original.

 The instructions are clearer

 While I always test my lessons many times before I create the write-up, there is no replacement for time and experience. Since most of these lessons were written in 2018, and now it is the end for the school year for 2022, I have played these games so many more times now. With all this extra experience, I could look more critically at rule sets and game mechanics, and I had more opportunities to try out different variations. My comprehension of these games got better. When it was time to look back at my old instructions, I knew where I could condense information, or expound on an area that was not so clear the first time around. Several lessons also have variations I found successful and popular with the students. Some of the variations made a game that was made exclusively for one age group like lower elementary accessible and fun for upper elementary as well. These situations are noted within the lesson plans.

 Some lessons were rebuilt from the bottom up

 There were three lessons in particular that I recreated: Timeline Foosball, Energy Balance (Soccer), and Life Cycle of a Star. Each of these lessons had a good theme, but the games were either unimpressive or the instructions were too convoluted. At the time, I thought they were good lessons, but after four years and realized that I was not playing these games, which was proof something was wrong. During my training, my mentor Michael Dorer said that if you haven’t used a material on the shelf after a three year cycle, it is either not worth teaching or you better fix your understanding of that material and get to teaching it. I needed to fix the games, and I did, and I am so much happier with how they turned out. They are essentially brand new and far superior to their older versions.

 Added Diagrams

 A picture speaks a thousand words. My write-ups are already pretty lengthy. I wanted to simplify the instructions, not write novel length lesson plans. One way I could make my instructions clearer is with simple pictures and diagrams that show the orientation of the playing area, as well as where the players and materials are in relation to each other. I always appreciate when instructions included pictures or diagrams, and I bet you are no different, so now almost every lesson has diagrams included within the lesson plan write-up.

 New Lessons Added to the Free Lessons Section!

I am so proud of these new lesson plan write-ups that I have switched which lessons are being featured in the free lesson section of the website. You will now find lessons that have never been available before for free! When you download these new lessons, I bet you will agree that they are superior to the ones I featured before. New to the free lessons section are the Clock of Eras Game, the Invention of Language Game, and Newton’s Laws of Motion Game. I also updated the lesson plans for the Invent a Sport Lesson #1, Sportsmanship (Grace and Courtesy), as well as the classroom simulation Just Following Orders. Plus Cardiovascular System Kickball is still there for you kickball enthusiasts.

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