 Once upon a time there was a teacher. Every day they would mark books and often burn the midnight oil. One day they discovered that verbal feedback had a prominent role to play in their classroom and that it was more meaningful to students. Their school leader believed it did too. They stopped day-to-day written marking and replaced it with bite-sized meaningful conversations. As a result the teacher and their colleagues got a workload-free evening and students were more immersed in their learning. It led to teacher happiness and student progress. The end. Now using the hallmarks on an effective story I've constructed a very simple narrative that's interesting and memorable. There are five elements of storytelling and I would like to argue that these could be replicated in developing an effective lesson plan to help make learning stick. One surprise two is structure three simplicity for specificity and five subtexts. If we translate these storytelling elements into the classroom they may appear as one surprise so it's an interesting story or a starter. Two structure theory and practice in the classroom for example this is the knowledge and this is how to apply it using XYZ. Three simplicity this comes from the teacher's ability to translate complex ideas into engaging content that's easy for students to access. It's probably the most difficult part of a teacher's day-to-day existence. Four specificity we know our work in memory is limited we like specific things and our preferences are influenced by our bias. Cognitive scientists would suggest more effective approaches maybe to dual code for example. Five subtexts all the other ingredients are a good lesson plan but it must be underpinned by the subtexts of our medium and long-term planning and objectives. If a teacher can consider these five elements as part of their lesson planning process then it is my belief with practice detailed written lesson plans will become a thing of the past simply because we naturally start to think more coherently and therefore more efficiently about the knowledge and skills and understanding we want our students to leave the classroom with and how to communicate this in a more meaningful memorable way.