Lesson planning... help you to "own" the subjects you are teaching or will be teaching. Make no mistake though, the first thing you have to realize is that the fundamental skill required is that of planning. If you have reached adulthood, you have surely planned events, trips, parties, and so on. Well, lesson planning uses those same skills, except the objective is the learning of your students in a very specific way and under very specific conditions. The process of lesson planning always results in a physical object -- a lesson plan. It may be a sheet of paper or a digital computer file, but there is always a visible dimension to any lesson plan. The real trick is to engage in planning that results in an effective lesson plan that by definition is clear, unambiguous, and communicates clearly what is supposed to take place in terms of reaching a specific objective with your students.