How to prepare a lecture: sources, claims, deck, notes, hour
Prepare a lecture in this order: choose the two or three readings for the session, write the ten to fifteen claims a student should leave with (each with its source and page), plan the hour in twenty-minute blocks with something students produce in each, then write one slide per claim, and only then the speaker notes, the handout and the practice questions from the same list. Rehearse once with a timer. Repeat next week.
This is the overview; each step links to a guide with the detail. It is written for university instructors preparing a lecture from assigned reading, and it is a routine rather than a set of tips, because a routine is what makes week nine as good as week one.
1. Pick the readings (30 minutes)
Two or three texts per session: a chapter, a paper, a set of notes. More than that and the lecture becomes a survey; fewer and there is nothing to cite. Put them in the session's folder, and if a tool indexes sources, index them now. The reading list is also the references slide and the "read this" line of the handout, so it is worth getting right first.
2. Write the claim list (45 minutes)
Go through the readings and write down what students should be able to say afterwards: ten to fifteen sentences, each with the source and location (Silberschatz 5.3.2, fig. 5.4). This is the most important artefact of the week; everything else is derived from it. If a claim has no source, it is your opinion, which is fine, but mark it. The method is in lecture slides from your readings.
3. Plan the hour (20 minutes)
Split the session into blocks of about twenty minutes, each ending in something students produce: a chart drawn, a question answered, a sentence written. Assign claims to blocks. Decide the break rhythm in advance and what gets cut if a block runs long. This is the instructor guide; the block-and-break pattern is in breaks in a long lecture. Slide budget: about one slide per two to three minutes of teaching, so 20 to 30 for an hour (how many slides for a lecture).
4. Write the deck (2 hours)
One slide per claim, the claim as the title, the source line at the bottom, one figure or example where the block needs one, a divider slide at each block boundary. Write it as text (Marp Markdown) so it can be searched, diffed and regenerated; the Marp tutorial for teaching covers the syntax and citing sources in slides the source line. Check every slide against the claim list: nothing missing, nothing extra.
5. Notes, handout, questions (1 hour)
From the same claim list, in this order:
- Speaker notes: what is not on the slide, the source, a question for the room, a time check.
- Handout: the claims in full sentences, definitions, one worked example, reading pointers.
- Practice questions: one or two per claim, with the answer and the source.
Writing the notes first tells you which claims the handout must spell out and which the questions should test.
6. Rehearse once (1 hour)
Aloud, standing, with a timer, stopping for each example as long as it takes. Note the minute at each divider against the plan; cut from the block that overran. Export the PDF and put it where you can reach it in the room.
7. After the lecture (10 minutes)
A dated line in the instructor guide: what ran long, what did not land, what to change. Next term, this line is what you read first (updating a course for next semester).
Keeping it up for fourteen weeks
The routine takes about six hours the first time for a new session and less after that, because steps 1 and 2 are the ones that shrink when the readings are stable. What keeps it sustainable is the folder: one per week with the deck, notes, handout, questions and readings together (organizing course materials), in git if you want the history (version control for lecture slides).
With an assistant
Every step from 2 onwards can be drafted by an assistant that has the readings, as long as it cites the source and location for each claim and you check the citations. That is the design of Lecture Studio: a course is a folder of units with their readings attached and indexed; the unit's chat has starters for the outline, the deck, the speaker notes, the practice questions and the week guide, each written from the readings with citations; the editor and preview are for the deck; presenter mode runs the hour in blocks with a countdown. The app runs on macOS 15 or later and needs an Oberik project key; it is free during the beta, and marp-cli makes the PDF.
FAQ
How long does it take to prepare a one-hour lecture?
Adding up the steps above, about six hours the first time for a new session, and less once the readings and claim list are stable. The deck is the largest part; the notes, handout and questions come from the same list.
What should I prepare before a lecture?
The readings, a claim list with sources, a plan of the hour in blocks, the deck, the speaker notes, the handout, the practice questions and one rehearsal with a timer.
How do I make a lecture interactive?
End each twenty-minute block with something students produce: a question, a chart, a sentence. Plan it in the instructor guide, not on the spot.
Should I write the slides or the notes first?
The claim list first, then the slides, then the notes. The notes then carry what is not on the slide instead of repeating it.