Does it sometimes feel like your classroom is a revolving door? Or that you are losing track of meetings and appointments? Often, we feel like we need a personal assistant or secretary to help keep up with all of the schedules. This week and next week, as part of our organization series, we are going to talk about some tips and ideas to make organizing your schedule, and your students’ schedules, much easier.
Get a Good Calendar/Planner
First things first, a calendar. It seems so simple, but there are thousands of choices out there. I have tried to do my calendar on my smart phone, I have tried to use a large desk blotter, and I have continued to go back to a paper planner. When it comes to a planner, I need to see it all. Over the years I have learned that I am very visual, so a paper planner with a monthly spread and a weekly spread is what works best for me.
Be sure to choose one that has plenty of space in it for daily appointments, changes, testing, and more. Stefanie likes to have on that is full size (so the same size as a 9 ½” x 11” page). I prefer the small size (5” x 8”) because I find it easier to stick in my bag or throw in my purse to bring to appointments. I keep my school calendar and my home/life calendar all in the same book. It keeps me streamlined and helps me make sure that I don’t double book anything.
When I get to school I pull it out of my school bag and open it up. It stays right by my computer all day long. As soon as I open an email, I immediately write down any important dates right away. I used to run into the problem of thinking that I would write it down later, but that lead to missed appointments or having to filter through emails searching for things.
My favorite planner is nothing fancy. No stickers or fancy pages or anything. My favorite planner is called Day Designer for Blue Sky. I get the one for the academic year that has weekly and monthly planners inside.
Lesson Plan Organization
Like most teachers, I do not like wasting time. It used to drive me crazy to write out plans for the week when I had to write the same headings and times over and over….reading 9:35-10:30 …reading 9:35-10:30…reading 9:35-10:30… every day of the week. I also had plan books where each box was the same size and this never worked for me. Some subjects I had a lot to write in, and other subjects I just wrote a word or two. I tried subscribing to a site to do my planbook digitally, but I was not consistent with that and I missed the ease of paper and pencil.
Over time I just created a simple spreadsheet on excel and copied it back to back as my plan book. Now I keep it in a ½” or 1” binder and it is ready to go. I don’t have to write times and subjects in over and over. I can also easily change the planning pages as the year progresses if things get moved around. The bonus to using this method is that I have the option of typing my plans on my computer if I want.
If you are interested, you can get my editable plan book pages (they are in excel fromat) for free in our Free Resource Library here by signing up for our newsletter. You might have to adjust the margins and boxes accordingly.
Keeping Track of Student Services
How do you organize and keep track of students will Special Services like OT, PT, Speech, Reading Lab, Math Lab, Counseling, etc? How do you plan lessons for the whole class when you are trying to work around all of these services? Again, I am a very viasual person, so keeping track some years became daunting when I couldn’t see it all. I tried writing it in my plan book, but over time I got tired of transferring it to the next week.
I found a great solution and I have been using it ever since. Since I keep my plan book in a binder, I now create an overlay to place on top of my plans. I use the (old school) overhead projector clear sheets. They work perfectly. I hole punch two of them and lay them over my week’s plans. Then I use colored paper to write the services and the students’ names on. I tape them to the clear plastic where they fit in the schedule.
This has been such a life-saver. When I have to schedule a time to go watch the 5th grade plays, or schedule an extra art period, I can quickly see what time I will have everyone in my classroom. It also allows me to easily share this information with a substitute. They can tell where everyone should be with a quick glance.
I hope these tips help you through all the crazy when it comes to your schedule! Check back next week and we will be posting some more tips about using Digital Calendars and Reminders, Posting Your Daily Schedule, and creating a Scope and Sequence.
Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic week and be sure to check us out on Instagram and Facebook @awordfromthird
~Heather and Stefanie
I’m obsessed with these ideas! You are a genius and I need to try this!!!