I am interested in changing up the way I plan for next year. I am considering creating a loose leaf plan book for myself. I've spent four years in the same grade now. I'll be in that same grade next year. I know what I have to teach. I know what material I have. I feel that if I can begin somewhat sequentially organizing my material now it would cut down on my planning time for next year quite drastically and I would feel more prepared. I could "kind of" group each subject sequentially and keep myself more organized. Along with my sketchy plans I could list the resources I have and include some of those directly into my "plan book" that should end up being quite large. I know I'm doing a miserable job of explaining what I mean. I would probably have to show you what I mean. My problem is, to do this, I would need a very different lesson plan format that what I've been using. I would need much more space for notes/plans/resources. Does anyone know of a company or teacher supply store that has already created that creature or will I need to give birth to this animal myself? The animal I'm referring to is the loose leaf plan sheets or something along those lines. Of couse, I would have to fill in my own "stuff" to use in teaching. I hope I don't get booed off the stage for this post. It probably doesn't make a lick of sense.
I've always used a loose leaf binder for planning. Everyone at my old school did and I *think* people use them at my new school but we don't pass in plans so I'm not sure what people use. We all type up a master copy and then photocopy it many, many times. At my old school, I even had the standards typed into my plan sheet. Good luck.
Your post got me thinking. I teach MS and we are on a block schedule so I only plan for 3 classes a day. I use a template I adapted from someone here on PT and put it in a binder. I'm thinking that next year I could keep a copy of my worksheets/lists of materials needed behind the lesson plan, so that the following year I could just look at the plans make and necessary changes and then get things together. Is that what you are talking about? It all sounds good, but i struggle with doing anything organizationally that will save me time. I think I secretly like work obscene numbers of hours on school work.
Hey, I have an idea---why don't you ask and expert---your ST I say a prayer every day for you that you have the patience to make it through without killing her!
I have a form that I created in Excel. It is similar to a regular planbook but I have a space for core standards. I used to print it and write in it. Now I fill it in on the computer and print a copy for myself. I e-mail it to my principal. One thing that I like is that I can work from last year's to do this year's plans. What I mean is that I teach the same stories in my reading book from year to year. We work on a Monday-Friday schedule with the story. So I have last year's plans in the computer and I can cut an paste to move the elements around. I can see what I did last year for ideas. I can change things that I didn't like. It is much neater than my handwritten book was.
I also have sections in the binder for imporatant information that I need to keep--schedules, reference materials.
Yes, that's what I'm talking about.
I thought maybe if I could just sequence my plan book, list my resources, and include materials that would fit easily all in one spot I could use it from year to year. Nothing would be dated, just sequenced in the order I think I'll need it.
However, I will have to turn in "a" plan book at the end of the year. I would not turn in the one with all my stuff in it. I'd either make a copy of just my plan pages from it or throughout next year I'll continue to fill in one of those spiral bound type they pass out on the first day of inservice each year at my school. I would just fill it in with information from my already created really good cool plan book that I would keep.
I haven't checked yet to see if I "have" to use the spiral bound type or not for next year.
I'll ask my student teacher and see what she recommends............NOT!!!!!!
Your post made me think about what I am going to do next year. We do all of our plans on the computer. Even though they are placed on the computer for the principal to check...I still need to have a hard copy for a sub to see and having them in a notebook with a place for resources and other need items is a great idea.
It is the best thing I have done to help in planning more quickly and also having detailed plans for RW and WW. I got the plans from a PT member and it has worked out great.
I used the basic template and then copied and pasted it to my own document. Then I made changes to reflect my schedule and needs.
The great part is that I don't spend time copying over the times, etc.
Here is the template I have used for RW and WW. (I'll have such a great foundation to use next year as I reflect back and see where I was at certain times of the year. It will also help me in my long-range planning.)
I would make the pages and print them out, then fill them out in the binder.
The problem I see with this, is that you will have SO many more pages to turn in for a week. Instead of one page with everything on it, you will have 5 pages of math, of reading, etc.
The good thing about it, is that you could essentially use the same pages the following year... just change the date. For each week, I would pull out the already planned lessons, and copy those. You can use them year after year, and continually add to them. Knowing myself, I would end up doing a new lesson first THEN writing it down later!!! It would be a good idea, as I could then do it again, and again.
I made up a little mock template b/c I like the idea. I don't write any plans down now, but I am guessing a few more years of that and I will have too many in my brain to keep track!
I also found this, which I worked on this summer and never finished.. ha!
Maybe this was more like what you were thinking of. I don't use or really feel I need plans, and no one asks me to turn them in, so it's fine... however, I have lots of ideas and was trying to keep track of them.
I've used and binder for years now - actually several of them... I had one for each grading period. The "plan" part of it was basically just a lessonplan book template. The rest of the binder were any resources that could be used with that grading period. Now that I pullout, I have one for each grade level with the materials for that grade.
As for turning in plans, I've handed them the whole binder when I first started, gave a better concept of the "planning" when they could see the whole thing. Now I just print out two copies of the actual lesson plan and give them one and I keep one.
I created my own lesson plan format using Excel. It allowed me to color code my subjects. It also made it easy to copy and paste information.
I also created unit binders instead of an actual lesson plan book. I have a break down of what to do for each chapter, section, or whatever. I have a detail of what I used on the pages in front of each unit in a page protector with a tab letting me know what it is about in the binder. I have one for each topic in social studies. I have all of the lit. sets that I have ever taught in several binders. I have one for math as well. My English varies a little. I have binders for each area kind but not with specific plans. Each year it seems that different classes need different areas stressed more than other.
I have attached one of the earlier versions of my plans, because I now have 2007 and wasn't sure if it would open correctly for everyone.
04-19-2008, 04:48 PM
I say a prayer every day for you that you have the patience to make it through without killing her!
Simple View
