If you’ve spent the last few weeks hearing the word ILAW in every faculty meeting and still don’t fully get what it means, you’re not alone.
DepEd issued a new lesson planning order introducing the ILAW framework as the official lesson plan format starting First Trimester, SY 2026–2027. It replaces the Detailed Lesson Plan (DLP) and Daily Lesson Log (DLL) prescribed in DepEd Order No. 42, s. 2016 — which means the format every teacher has used for almost a decade is officially retired.
The official toolkit describes ILAW as a “simplified framework for designing learning experiences” and reminds teachers that “the template is a guide, not a checklist.” That’s true. But for a teacher staring at a blank template on a Sunday night, “guide, not checklist” doesn’t quite tell you what to write.
So here’s the plain-language version.
What ILAW Actually Stands For
ILAW is an acronym. Four letters, four parts of a lesson:
- I — Intentions
- L — Learning Experiences
- A — Assessment
- W — Ways Forward
That’s the whole framework. No subsections within subsections. No 17-part template. Just four questions, in order:
- What am I trying to teach, and why?
- How will my students experience this lesson?
- How will I know they got it?
- What do I do next, based on what happened?
If you can answer those four questions in writing, you have a complete ILAW lesson plan. Everything else — the teacher’s name, grade level, subject, time, resources — is just the header.
Let’s go through each one.
I — Intentions
The DepEd phrasing: “Articulate curricular intentions.”
What that actually means: Write what you want students to learn, and tie it to a competency from the MATATAG curriculum guide.
This is the section that used to be called “Objectives” in the old DLP. The shift isn’t cosmetic. “Objectives” tend to be teacher-centered (“To discuss the water cycle”). “Intentions” pushes you to be learner-centered (“Learners will be able to explain how water moves between the ocean, the air, and the land using a labeled diagram”).
A simple Intentions section looks like this:
Competency (MATATAG): S4MT-Ie-7 — Describe the different stages of the water cycle.
Session Objectives:
- Identify the four stages of the water cycle (evaporation, condensation, precipitation, collection).
- Explain how the sun drives the cycle.
- Draw and label a diagram showing one full cycle.
That’s it. Three sentences. You don’t need a paragraph of pedagogical justification — just say what learners will be able to do by the end of the session.
L — Learning Experiences
The DepEd phrasing: “Design learning experiences suited to your learners.”
What that actually means: This is what you and your students will do during the lesson — in order, with rough timing.
This section replaces what the old DLP split into “Reviewing previous lesson,” “Establishing a purpose,” “Presenting examples,” “Discussing new concepts” — eight to ten separate boxes. ILAW collapses all of that into one flowing narrative of activities.
You don’t need to label every minute with a Bloom’s Taxonomy level. You don’t need to fill every cell of a grid. You just need to describe what happens, in the order it happens, in enough detail that a substitute teacher could pick up your plan and run the lesson.
A simple Learning Experiences section looks like this:
1. Hook (5 min): Show a 1-minute video of rain falling on a roof. Ask: “Where does the water go after this?” Let learners volunteer answers.
2. Mini-lesson (15 min): Using a labeled poster, walk through the four stages. Point to each stage and ask one learner to repeat it back.
3. Guided practice (15 min): In pairs, learners draw the water cycle on bond paper using crayons. Circulate and check labels.
4. Wrap (5 min): Three learners share their diagrams. Class identifies any missing stages.
Four steps. Forty minutes. Clear roles. That’s a complete Learning Experiences section.
The new template specifically mentions inclusive resources — bond paper, crayons, metacards, markers, maps, multimedia. You’re not required to use technology. You’re required to think about what your specific learners need.
A — Assessment
The DepEd phrasing: “Assess progress carefully.”
What that actually means: How will you check, during or right after the lesson, whether learners got it?
ILAW emphasizes formative assessment — the check-ins you do while learning is happening, not the unit test three weeks later. The point is to catch confusion early enough to fix it.
A simple Assessment section looks like this:
Formative check: During guided practice, collect each pair’s diagram. Mark any diagram missing a stage. Re-teach the missing stage to those pairs only, while the rest move on to the wrap activity.
Exit ticket: Each learner writes one sentence answering: “What makes the water cycle keep going?” Expected answer references the sun’s heat.
Notice what’s not here: a 20-item multiple-choice quiz with an answer key and a table of specifications. That’s a summative test, not a formative check. ILAW doesn’t ban summative tests — it just doesn’t require one in every daily plan.
W — Ways Forward
The DepEd phrasing: “Use reflection as a way forward.”
What that actually means: After the lesson, write down what worked, what didn’t, and what you’ll change tomorrow.
This is the section most teachers will be tempted to skip, because it’s written after the lesson and no observer is going to grade it in real time. Don’t skip it. This is the section that actually makes you a better teacher.
A simple Ways Forward section looks like this:
The hook video pulled in attention, but the mini-lesson ran long because three learners kept asking about clouds — they’re a class ahead of where I expected. Tomorrow: open with a quick clouds review, cut the poster walkthrough to 10 minutes, give the extra 5 to guided practice. Two pairs missed “condensation” entirely; re-teach using the cold-glass demo before moving to the next competency.
Three sentences. Specific. Actionable. The version of you who opens this lesson plan next year will thank the version of you who wrote that paragraph.
The Declaration of AI Use
There’s one more thing the template asks for: a Declaration of AI Use, referencing DepEd Order No. 03, s. 2026, Annex A.
This is short. If you used AI to help draft the plan, say so. If you didn’t, say so. Examples:
“Used Claude AI to generate the initial draft of Learning Experiences; activities were reviewed and adapted based on actual class profile.”
“No AI tools were used in preparing this plan.”
That’s the entire requirement. DepEd Order No. 03, s. 2026 explicitly allows teachers to use AI for lesson planning, quiz generation, and content development — the declaration is about transparency, not permission.
What ILAW Replaces — And What It Doesn’t
It replaces: the DLP and DLL formats from DepEd Order No. 42, s. 2016.
It does not replace: your MATATAG competencies, your PPST indicators, your RPMS portfolio, or your professional judgment.
The order also explicitly says: schools, divisions, and regions shall not require lesson plan templates, add-on forms, or documentation beyond the prescribed form. If your division memo asks for an extra “ILAW-Plus” template with twelve more columns, that’s against the spirit and the letter of the order. The whole point is that one template is enough.
Why This Shift Matters
The DLP format was thorough. It was also, for most teachers, performative paperwork — pages of compliance produced for observers, not for students. Filipino teachers already work over 400 unpaid hours a year. Forty-page lesson plans for a 40-minute lesson is a tax on the people we can least afford to tax.
ILAW is shorter on purpose. It moves the weight from documenting the lesson to designing the lesson. The four parts — Intentions, Learning Experiences, Assessment, Ways Forward — are the parts that actually shape what happens in your classroom. The rest was scaffolding.
If you can write a single page that answers those four questions clearly, you have done the planning DepEd is now asking for. That’s the whole framework.
A One-Page ILAW Template You Can Steal
| Section | What to write |
|---|---|
| Header | Teacher, learning area, grade & section, date/time |
| Intentions | MATATAG competency code + 2–3 session objectives in learner-centered language |
| Learning Experiences | Numbered activities with rough timing — hook, mini-lesson, practice, wrap |
| Assessment | One formative check + one exit ticket |
| Ways Forward | 2–3 sentences after the lesson: what worked, what didn’t, what changes tomorrow |
| Resources | List materials needed |
| Declaration of AI Use | One sentence — did you use AI, and how |
Print it. Use it. Iterate.
At NextGuro, our lesson plan generator already outputs in ILAW-compatible format, complete with MATATAG competency citations and a pre-filled Declaration of AI Use. If you’d rather spend Sunday night with your family instead of with a blank template, give it a try.
The new format is shorter for a reason. Don’t make it longer than it needs to be.
Sources: DepEd Guidelines on Lesson Planning and Learning Design (ILAW framework); DepEd Order No. 03, s. 2026 (AI Policy for Basic Education); DepEd Order No. 42, s. 2016 (repealed); DepEd Learning Sciences Toolkit for Teachers (sites.google.com/deped.gov.ph/lsguide).