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Creating Strategic Teaching Plans

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Teaching Arts

Overview

In this lesson, we introduce the concept of strategic teaching plans—high-level planning over weeks, months, or seasons rather than single classes.

Objective

Gain understanding of how to create a strategic teaching plan that guides your classes over time, balances seasonal influences, and deepens student learning.

What You'll Get

You'll discover how to step back and plan your teaching with intention, whether that means honoring the seasons, progressing through a philosophical theme, or building toward a peak pose over several weeks. This isn't about rigid scripts—it's about clarifying your direction so you can teach with more confidence and less scramble. You'll also see how strategic planning opens up marketing opportunities, helps you develop your signature style, and makes your week-to-week class prep faster and more effective. Whether you teach one class a week or ten, this approach brings coherence to your work.

Questions Answered Here

How is strategic planning different from creating an individual class plan?
Name up to five examples of the purpose of a strategic teaching plan?
What teaching opportunity do you gain by planning ahead of time?
What benefit does a strategic plan enable you to deliver to students?
What marketing and promotion opportunity do you gain?
Describe how the focus you set in a plan can guide your practice and study.
How can strategic planning make your overall class planning time more efficient and effective?
How might considering your signature style assist you in your planning?
Describe various possible formats for your plan.
How can you use seasonal considerations in your planning? Philosophy? Yoga tools?
What resources can you use to support your planning?
Give an example of a monthly plan.

Your Strategic Teaching Plan

We invite you to begin drafting a “Strategic Teaching Plan” — a high-level look at your teaching over a period of time, such as a season, month, or week. You can create a basic plan in less than an hour and see how it makes you feel as you use it to guide your teaching. Then you can build on it over time as you wish.

Here we’re referring to something different from an individual class plan. (For individual class planning, see the Planning & Sequencing Hub.)

With a Strategic Teaching Plan, you clarify your intention for a particular time period or multiple time periods. The plan may be designed to:

Balance the effects of seasons.
Honor holidays and observances.
Respond to particular conditions.
Guide students deeper on a topic, whether philosophical, physical or other.
Or, progress through a series of related topics.

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