Best questions for teacher survey about lesson planning

Here are some of the best questions for a teacher survey about lesson planning, plus great tips for crafting them. If you want to generate your own set of questions or launch a conversational survey in seconds, you can build one with Specific.

Best open-ended questions for a teacher survey about lesson planning

Open-ended questions are powerful—they give teachers space to share candid thoughts and uncover details we might not even think to ask. This matters when you truly want to understand teachers’ day-to-day experiences, challenges, and needs. Open-ended questions are fantastic for gathering richer data and unanticipated insights because they allow for free expression, not just ticking a box. They reduce bias and help us find context behind every answer, making the insights more actionable and grounded in real experience. This is why surveys with qualitative questions often see higher engagement and more authentic input[1].

1. What is your overall approach when planning a new lesson?

2. Can you describe a recent lesson planning challenge you faced and how you addressed it?

3. What support or resources would make your lesson planning process easier?

4. How do you adapt lesson plans for students with different learning needs?

5. What tools or materials do you find indispensable for lesson planning?

6. Can you give an example of how you measure the success of your lesson plans?

7. What topics or skills do you find most difficult to plan lessons for?

8. How does collaboration with colleagues influence your lesson planning?

9. What would you change about your current lesson planning workflow?

10. In what ways does lesson planning impact your overall job satisfaction?

These open-ended prompts not only let teachers be honest and creative but also help us spot emerging trends and unconscious needs—essentials for designing better supports or programs[2]. If you want to rapidly generate questions for your context, AI tools like Specific make it effortless.

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for a teacher survey about lesson planning

Single-select multiple-choice questions are best when you want to quantify responses or lower the effort for teachers, especially if you’re aiming for higher completion rates. Sometimes, it’s easier for someone to pick from clear options and then elaborate, rather than write lengthy responses from scratch. This format also lays the groundwork for follow-up questions, where you can dive deeper if needed.

Examples:

Question: How much time do you typically spend on lesson planning each week?

• Less than 1 hour

• 1–3 hours

• 4–6 hours

• More than 6 hours

Question: Which lesson planning tool or resource do you use most frequently?

• School-provided templates

• Online lesson plan platforms

• Self-made resources

• Collaboration with colleagues

• Other

Question: What is your biggest obstacle when planning lessons?

• Lack of time

• Insufficient resources

• Changing curriculum standards

• Student engagement

• Other

When to follow up with “why?” If a teacher chooses “Lack of time” as their biggest obstacle, always ask why. This follow-up might uncover deeper issues—like administrative workload or extracurricular demands—that a simple choice can’t explain. Unpacking the reasons behind each answer leads to far more actionable understanding.

When and why to add the “Other” choice? “Other” lets teachers share insights you didn’t anticipate during survey design. Always prompt a follow-up asking them to specify—those unexpected responses can expose crucial gaps or opportunities you’d otherwise miss.

NPS questions for lesson planning: why we use them

NPS (Net Promoter Score) asks, “How likely are you to recommend X to a colleague?” It works surprisingly well for teacher surveys on lesson planning, because it distills broad sentiment into a single score. You can quickly gauge satisfaction or loyalty towards your lesson planning tools, resources, or processes—then dive deeper with follow-ups, segmenting promoters, passives, and detractors. For teachers, this can spotlight key improvement areas or successes in how lesson planning is supported. Try out an NPS survey tailored for this use case at Specific’s NPS survey generator.

The power of follow-up questions

Open-ended and even multiple-choice responses, on their own, often lack depth. Automated follow-up questions—like those offered by Specific—are a game-changer. They make surveys conversational, uncovering context, clarifying vague responses, and surfacing motivations behind every answer. If you want to see how these automated follow-up questions work in detail, check out our full write-up on automated survey follow-ups.

• Teacher: “I spend too much time looking for resources.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you share what kind of resources you find most difficult to locate, and why?”

Without that follow-up, we’d know there’s an issue…but not what to do about it.

How many follow-ups to ask? Going 2–3 layers deep usually yields the richest feedback, while still respecting respondents’ time. It’s smart to set up the survey to collect what you need, but also let people skip if they’re done. Specific lets you easily customize this—meaning you gather meaningful context without frustrating participants.

This makes it a conversational survey: The dynamic flow keeps teachers engaged, turning a stale questionnaire into a natural, chat-like exchange—which is proven to boost response quality.

AI analysis, unstructured responses: Even with a ton of narrative replies, you don’t have to fear analysis overload—Specific uses AI to instantly analyze and summarize themes and insights. See more on easy AI response analysis.

These automated follow-up flows are new—give the experience a try with Specific’s survey builder, and see firsthand how much richer your feedback becomes.

How to ask GPT (or ChatGPT) to write teacher survey questions for lesson planning

You can prompt ChatGPT or any GPT model to quickly draft question lists. Start with:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for teacher survey about lesson planning.

But always add context for better results. For example:

We’re surveying K-12 teachers in public schools about their lesson planning process. Our goal is to understand their biggest pain points, current workflows, and what would make planning easier. Suggest 10 insightful open-ended questions.

Then, to further organize insights:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Finally, pick categories you want to dig into, and prompt:

Generate 10 questions for categories “challenges and obstacles” and “collaboration with colleagues”.

With this approach, you can go from zero to well-structured survey in minutes.

What is a conversational survey?

Conversational surveys are modern surveys that feel like chat—questions arrive naturally, and follow-ups come based on your actual responses. Unlike static web forms, they’re dynamic, uncovering context that other formats miss. Just as important: they’re mobile-friendly and familiar, since teachers are already used to messaging-style platforms.

Why use AI for teacher surveys? AI survey generators like Specific save you hours on setup, instantly produce smarter questions, and ensure you capture the context that’s essential for actionable feedback. Plus, with conversational AI, your survey feels like an interview, not yet another tedious form. Want the full breakdown? See how to create a teacher survey on lesson planning in minutes.

You get an AI survey example that’s not just quick to build but smart, yielding deeper and more useful insight than any spreadsheet-based alternative. The result: a best-in-class user experience both for you (the survey creator) and for teachers responding conversationally—a win for actionable feedback, every single time.

See this lesson planning survey example now

Start collecting deeper insights from teachers—use a ready-to-launch conversational survey that asks smart follow-up questions, adapts naturally, and unlocks the full context behind every answer. Experience the benefits of conversational AI surveys with Specific.