Lesson planning

Your daily plan, your way

See how a typical Instructive lesson works. It’s simple for new staff and flexible for experts. Instructive brings explicit teaching, guided practice and personalised mastery together in one clear, easy-to-follow interface. So planning tomorrow’s maths lesson never feels like starting from scratch.

“(Instructive) allows teachers the joy of having every student achieve and improve, which is why we chose this profession in the first place.”
Lachlan Champion, Director of Mathematics

Every exercise, note and teaching prompt is right where you need it, so even out-of-field or first-year teachers can step confidently into class. Experienced staff, meanwhile, have full flexibility: they can adapt pacing, rearrange lessons, or add their own touches without losing structure or data visibility.

What a typical lesson looks like

At the heart of Instructive’s explicit teaching are the Lesson Ideas: concise, teacher-ready documents that give you everything you need to start a class with clarity.

“(Instructive) provides a platform to assist differentiating curriculum which is always something that great teachers have done.”
Craig Mattner, Secondary Maths Teacher

A typical Instructive lesson follows a familiar rhythm — short, simple, and easy to run.

Start with Explicit Exposure. Spend about ten minutes taking students through clear examples and quick checks for understanding.
Move into light practice. Students try the same concept in short, success-focused activities, building confidence while you circulate and support.
Finish with Mastery work. Each student moves into a personalised exercise at their own level, while you keep an eye on progress across the room.

It’s the same teaching structure most teachers already use, just more supported and streamlined. The Lesson Planning view shows every step in order, with notes, examples and timing built in.

“The teacher and the student pages roll the same way, like a workflow. For example, we’re doing this lesson together and then we want you to do the related exercise, followed by a connected differentiated mastery module.”
Dr Richard Mann, Head of Mathematics

New or out-of-field staff can follow the plan exactly as written and feel confident from day one. Experienced teachers can adjust, skip, or combine steps without breaking the flow. Together, it creates a calm, predictable routine for students and teachers alike. It’s a normal lesson, made smarter by design.

Using data naturally in every lesson

Once the lesson is rolling, data quietly does its work in the background, helping teachers keep tabs and tune in, without leaving the flow.

1. Check progress at a glance.

From the Lesson Planning view, you can instantly see who’s completed each exercise, who’s behind, and who’s flying ahead. There’s no spreadsheet or manual tracking — just clear icons showing live status for every student.

2. Step in when it matters.

When a student needs extra help, a small red circle appears beside their name. One click opens a Targeted Intervention: a quick, one-on-one check-in that can fill a gap, fix a misunderstanding, or re-motivate a learner — all within the lesson itself. (For Targeted Intervention details, see more on Data)

Both actions take seconds, yet they keep the whole class moving. You’re still teaching, circulating, and engaging, not stuck in admin mode.

Instructive turns data from something you review later into something you use right now to guide learning. This is where Instructive’s intelligence really shows. It gives teachers actionable insight without extra workload.

“That is one of the things I love about (Instructive). It is always aiming to make the teacher experience a good one – to be doing the data legwork behind the scenes.…That is always the aim – to make it sustainable for the teacher – to free them to focus on what matters most “
Craig Mattner, Mathematics Teacher

Mixing it up – your classroom, your way

Once the routine feels natural, teachers can start to make it their own.
Instructive’s structure gives every class a strong backbone, but there’s plenty of room to move. For example:

Add a burst of energy. Drop in a ten-minute Energiser to kick off a lesson or break up a double period. These quick, hands-on activities get students talking and thinking. (For examples see more on Engaging, hands-on learning)
Group your exposures. Combine two or three Explicit Exposure lessons in a row, or reorder exercises to suit your scope and sequence. (See more on Course and unit planning)
Run a small-group Mini-Lesson. Sit with 3–8 students while others continue mastery work — perfect for revisiting a tricky concept or extending advanced learners. (For details, see more on Engaging, hands-on learning and Data)

The balance is yours to strike. Some teachers keep to the classic flow; others remix it to fit their timetable, class dynamic, or teaching style.

Either way, you get consistent quality across classrooms and the professional freedom to teach your way.

Easy planning. Flexible delivery. Consistent quality.

With Instructive, lesson planning becomes the calm part of your day.

Everything you need – teaching notes, student data, mastery modules and intervention tools – lives in one place. New teachers can walk in ready to teach, while experienced staff can fine-tune and extend.

Every class stays structured, supported and on-track, with the flexibility to teach your own way.