One Sentence, Better Lesson Plans
Renata and Colin break down Norman Eng’s one-sentence lesson plan formula—what students will do, how they’ll do it, and why it matters—and show how clear purpose can transform teaching.
They also walk through a real example on evaluating sources, with practical tips for using AI tools to draft stronger lessons and make the “why” feel immediate and relevant to students.
Chapter 1
The One-Sentence Reality Check
Renata Salas
I was looking at this lesson plan template the district sent out last week—it is literally five pages long, Colin. Five pages of boxes to tick before I even walk into third period. And it made me think of Norman Eng’s piece from a few years back on Cult of Pedagogy. October 2017, I think. He argues you can shrink that entire monster into a single sentence: Students will be able to WHAT by HOW, so that WHY. That is it.
Colin Whitfield
Five pages is a bureaucratic crime, Renata. Truly. But this Norman Eng formula... WHAT by HOW so that WHY. It sounds almost too simple, doesn't it? Like one of those corporate mission statements that looks nice on a mug but doesn't actually tell you what to do when the kids are staring at you at nine a.m.
Renata Salas
No, but that-that is the magic of it. It is actually a diagnostic tool. If you can't write that one sentence, your lesson is probably not actually ready. And the part where everyone trips up—every single time—is the WHY. The-the "so that" part. Because if the WHY in your head is just "so they pass the standardized test next month" or "because it is on page eighty-four of the curriculum map," the kids smell that immediately. It is hollow.
Colin Whitfield
Right. "Because it is on the test" is the ultimate academic cop-out. It lacks what... well, what John Hattie calls "teacher clarity." If we look at the Visible Learning data, when students actually know what they are learning and—crucially—why they are learning it, the effect size is around zero-point-seven-five. In educational research, zero-point-seven-five is massive. That is nearly double the average effect of a standard school year's growth.
Renata Salas
Wait, zero-point-seven-five? That is huge! I mean, we bust our tails trying to get even a zero-point-four nudge on some of these reading interventions. And you're saying just being crystal clear on the "why" does that?
Colin Whitfield
Exactly. It-it is about agency. If a student can't answer three basic questions: "What am I doing today? How am I doing it? And why on earth should I care right now?" then we aren't actually teaching them to think. We are just... we are training them to follow directions blindly. We are saying, "Trust me, do this worksheet, and maybe in five years you will thank me." Spoiler alert: they won't.
Chapter 2
Writing the Sunday Night Lifeline
Renata Salas
They definitely won't. So let's actually build one of these. Imagine it is Sunday night, you're exhausted, and you need to prep for Monday. Let us take Eng's own example. We start with the WHAT. One verb, one clear target. "Students will be able to evaluate the credibility of a source." Clean, right?
Colin Whitfield
Right, but "evaluate" is still a bit... airy. How do they actually do that on a Monday morning? That is where the HOW comes in. And it needs to be observable. Not "by thinking critically," but "by triangulating three different sources on the exact same claim." Now, as a teacher, I can actually see them doing that. I can walk around the room and point to the three sources on their desk.
Renata Salas
Yes! I can grade that! But here is the kicker—the hurdle. The WHY. If I write "so that they can write a five-paragraph essay," my ELA kids are going to groan and tune out. But what if the WHY is: "so that you can tell whether a TikTok health claim is trustworthy before you share it and look foolish"? Suddenly, it is real. It is a life skill, not school wallpaper.
Colin Whitfield
Oh, the-the TikTok angle is brilliant. It hits them right where they live. And look, if you are sitting there on Sunday night staring at a blank screen, you don't have to write this from scratch. Use the technology. Pop into ChatGPT or Claude, or use one of those teacher AI assistants like MagicSchool or Brisk, and literally prompt it: "Give me three drafts of a Norman Eng one-sentence lesson plan on evaluating sources." But—and this is the key—don't just copy the first one. Pick the one with the most visceral, teenager-facing WHY, and then tell yourself why it wins.
Renata Salas
Oh, absolutely. I actually started doing this thing—I write the winning sentence on my whiteboard every single morning. Right at the top. And during the first three minutes of class, instead of reading some boring agenda, I read that sentence out loud. I point to the "so that" part. It shifts the entire energy of the room because they know I had to think about why they are here today. It makes the plan a-a live classroom move, not some dead document sitting in my Google Drive for my principal.
Colin Whitfield
I love that, Renata. It holding you accountable, too. Because if you get stuck on that Sunday night draft, and you cannot for the life of you find a real-world "why" for a lesson... well, that is your diagnostic. It means the lesson isn't actually ready for Monday morning, and it is time to go back to the drawing board.
Renata Salas
Exactly. If you can't explain it in one sentence, don't teach it yet. Alright, that is our quick take for today. Talk to you next time, Colin.
Colin Whitfield
Cheers, Renata. See you.