I honestly don’t know how anyone teaches without a planner of some sort. Schools function in a series of intermeshing cycles – like gears of different sizes that each need to keep moving in order for the whole system to function. School days must sync with the weeks and the months and the rhythm of a semester and school year and calendar year. Then there’s the cycles within the class itself and, in high school, the four year cycle from entry to graduation. It gets complex.
On top of that, I teach four classes on a schedule that alternates daily between AB CD/ BA DC. Two of those classes meet every day in the morning; two meet every other day in the afternoon. One of the every day classes, Reading Skills, is a team-taught ongoing class with somewhat open enrollment: students “graduate” from the class when their reading skills are equivalent to learning needs. The other is a 12th grade University prep English class. The two afternoon classes are both grade 9 English, so I have to keep track of which class ended where.
This is why I need my trusty planner. For years I used the Happy Planner Teacher Planner & I loved it. The pages turn easily and there’s plenty of space for notes and lessons. But it was pretty cutesy and increasingly expensive and eventually I wanted something new. Then I discovered the Clever Fox Planner and fell hopelessly in love. It has an area called “schedule of school events” where I can see exactly what the whole school year will bring. When my colleague asked today when our comments are due for midterm, I flipped it open and – boom! – April 20. When is graduation? Got it? Retirement parties? On it. I can look at months or weeks and keep track of whose parents I’ve contacted. And I can take notes in meetings and find the notes again. Oh, and there are ribbon page markers – and have I mentioned the stickers? I get an inordinate amount of pleasure from putting in all the stickers.
Here, let me take you on a tour of my amazing planner:
Mostly, though the planner holds some of the information that used to clog my brain. I know where we stopped watching Romeo and Juliet (down to the minute!) and what page we got to Long Way Down. I remember the new words we learned in Reading and have some idea how units will unfold in grade 12. I can see upcoming meetings and force my brain to coordinate school things and non-school things instead of double-booking. Offloading that into one place where I can find it brings me a measure of peace – and heaven knows I need as much of that as I can get. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I don’t know how anyone teaches without a planner.
Persistence and Pedagogy 
Amanda,
Same! I always kept a folder for each class and a planner. The folder was for materials unique to each class. I put the names of absent students on handouts, for instance, when someone was absent so I could pass them out upon the kid’s return. I also kept a record of attendance so I could see at a glance how many days a kid had missed. If a kid was absent, I looked at attendance for every period to see if the kid skipped my class. All that was in addition to Google Classroom and Infinite Campus because one cannot always rely on a ninth grader to access that info. I stuck post-it notes in the planner for kids, kept track of page numbers and discussion points, etc. I like a planner w/ space to write for each day and a calendar like one hangs on the wall. I never understood teachers who rely solely on tech. I’d have discussions w/ students about due dates and didn’t include those on assignment sheets for speeches and big projects because I wanted to “negotiate” those w/ the class and make kids write the dates down so they could not come back and say, “I didn’t know.”
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Yet another reason why we get along!
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Huh? A planner you say? I had completely forgotten about those. Thanks for reminding me.
I made my own a color-coded spreadsheet with my schedule. Each week I filled in a new one with notes about what I would try to teach. It had no stickers, no ribbons, and very few of the helpful details of which you speak. But at the end of the year I had 32 pages that reminded me of what we’d done. I did not do such a great job of looking far beyond the next week. My notes were in Notability on my ipad, where I had tons of different subjects and dividers. All were efforts to make a very random, disorganized person seem somewhat competent. Probably could have used some Planner PD from an expert.
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Gotta have stickers 😉
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On a wing and a prayer! That’s how we do it without planners. And we go to the people with planners to ask when something will be happening. 😉
I have been using my online calendar, embedded in the email program, to keep track of so many things. It really does help. I gave up on paper planners a while ago, but I do keep a paper calendar for the big stuff, and to help myself see how the whole puzzle fits together.
At home I have a simple planner that I use to plan our weeks, including meals. It seems crazy to have that many different calendars, but it helps me compartmentalize my tasks. At school I don’t need to worry about home, and at home I don’t need to worry about school.
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I have a chalkboard calendar in the kitchen and we share an electronic calendar for our family (for longer term things). So. Many. Calendars.
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I’ve made “finding a planner that works for you” part of new teacher training whenever I do it. It’s amazing how many people don’t write things down…does this mean they don’t plan?!? I’m always on the hunt for the perfect planner. I usually create my own and keep it in a clipboard but yours looks pretty amazing. The stickers would get me too.
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I tried a “make my own” version but I kept messing about with it & then losing pages. I recognize that there are non-planner people, I just don’t understand them 😂
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We are a divided family. My husband is full digital planning and I still cling to my paper planner by Day Designer. I was tempted by Clever Fox, but I couldn’t find any academic calendars (starting in July) and the price at Target for my planner can’t be beat.
Too bad I missed out on these planners when I was teaching!
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