Determine the learning objectives for each lesson in advance of writing the overall plan. Knowing what information you want your students to learn from each lesson will allow you to tailor your plan to make that information the primary focus of each lesson. Tailor your learning objectives to meet your school district's curriculum standards.
Outline what the goals are for each lesson plan and how those goals relate to what your students already know about the subject. When sequencing lesson plans, you need to examine the subject as whole and determine what information needs to be taught first in order for your students to build upon that knowledge to understand subsequent lessons. For example, when teaching about the Civil War, begin with a lesson that discusses what caused tensions to develop between the North and South, like the economy, industry and slavery. Then follow with a series of lessons about the beginning, middle and end of the war and then conclude the subject with a lesson about Reconstruction.
Select the materials necessary for teaching the subject and incorporate those materials into your lesson plans. If teaching from a textbook, use the order the book presents the information to help shape the outline and sequence the order of your lesson plans. Incorporate outside materials, such as handouts or multimedia presentations, into your lesson plans as a way to reinforce previously taught material, while introducing new information. For example, if you want to use a primary document that discusses Jefferson's role in writing the Declaration of Independence, hand out the document as supplemental reading when your students reach that subject in their textbook and incorporate the information from the document into your classroom lecture.
Decide if the subject is best taught through demonstration, discussion or explanation and tailor your lesson plans to incorporate the appropriate technique. If the subject lends itself to all three, sequence your lesson plans to begin teaching the subject through explanation, then demonstration and finally discussion.
Examine all of your lesson plans in sequence to judge whether your students will reach your learning objectives after teaching all the lessons. Create a rubric based upon your learning objectives so you can grade your students work as they progress through each lesson to establish whether your students are meeting your learning objectives.