This school year I decided to try an online planning tool instead of m standard spiral-bound, store-bought planner. Can I just say I LOVE IT!! Back in August, I checked into two different online providers http://planbookedu.com and http://planbook.com. Both seemed like great sites, but I settled on PlanBook.com mainly because it was only $12 a year versus $25 (and for an experiment I don't like to pay too much!) I also like that the planning boxes for this site would be as big as your text (the other site had a standard format and created a scrolling box if you needed more space.)
What I see as the pluses of this online planner:
What I see as the pluses of this online planner:
- It is easy to adjust lesson plans - cause let's face it we all know plans change! There is an easy bump forward/bump backward feature that changes just that subject/class. I can also simply copy and paste changes. With my old planner I always used pencil and post-its and my notes were a mess by the end of the week!
- The set up was logical and organized for my needs. I was able to set up as many classes/boxes as I needed and adjust dates (some of my groups meet quarterly.) There are then tabs within each lesson that have room for the lessons, standards, homework, and notes. I can select from the common-core standards which one matches my lesson for the day (only thing I wish is that it correlated with Colorado's standards which are more specific.)
- It is color-coded. I teach 3rd, 4th and 5th grades during the day. I have always color-coded their folders, etc. I can match the color of my lessons to the grade so I stay organized on what plan is for what grade.
- I can now access my plans anywhere. I have a Microsoft Surface tablet and this site looks the same on my computer at school, at home, and on my tablet.
- I have it set up to link with my class website. Students and parents can see as much as you want to show them. I have mine set to simply let them look at the homework tab so in case their planners fail them, this is the back-up. If we got to a point where my principal needed to see my plans, that would be easy as well.
- My links to YouTube or Khan Academy videos or games are all hot-links! This might be one of my favorite options! No more bookmarking at home when planning and then having to find the same content back at school.
- I can still easily print a copy. This is still necessary for me at this point. Someday I won't need it right in front of me, but for now I still print a PDF version to have quick access to.
- Lastly, I think I will love this next year. I always refer back to old lessons to remind myself of pacing and additional resources I used to supplement. This should make it easier to access previous lesson plans. If I really got organized, I'd leave myself notes too (someday...!)