Secondary maths teachers - Is there a more painless way to write resources and lesson plans?

[queensansastark]

Just had my first interview day for teaching secondary maths. Fingers crossed.

So as part of the selection process, I had to write my first lesson plan - I used Word and Excel. Literally from a blank sheet, it was painful and time consuming, the formating, having to generate tables then graphs in Excel then pasting it into Word. Then trying to write all the signs and symbols and formulae which Word is clearly not geared up for.

I am clearly missing something! I feel I wasted too much time on formatting and word processing instead of the actual maths.

So
Any tips?
What software to you use for creating lesson plans and resources?
How does that work with the interactive whiteboard (which I have not had a test drive on yet).

TIA

PowerPoint is easier for projecting, Word doesn't fit on a screen, you have to scroll etc. Plus if you have a clicker you don't have to stand next to the computer.

Thanks noble.

What if you use Word in landscape?

I use an IWB with ActivStudio and a visualiser and love it. I mix and match resources from 10ticks, MangaHigh, Maths Ninjas, Mymaths, ExamSolutions, NRICH, TES, Corbett maths. For A level I use the textbooks quite a bit but for KS3 and 4 I find the other resources are better. Particularly awful are the LevelUp books we spent a fortune on. Hardly any questions and on-line answers that take an age to get into.

You can't plan more than a lesson ahead in maths as noble says, as it depends how the previous lesson went.