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“A clear vision, backed by definite plans, gives you a tremendous feeling of confidence and personal power.” – Brian Tracy

Planning is fundamental for a teacher. In particular, with the prevailing standards of the educational industry, there is a lot a teacher needs to deliver. Learning needs to be effective. A teacher can find many strategies towards the goal but one thing for certain, use of strategies and different tools must be there to guide a teacher to be more proactive, dynamic and efficient. 

A teacher planner facilitates a teacher to schedule lesson/s and plans the classroom work from time to time. Making one for yourself can help you to be well prepared for the academic year, important dates and goal achievements.

Especially with young learners, time management and engagement can be a bit challenging. You as a teacher might have to dedicate a fair amount of time in those areas. Therefore, you need to be certain with the planning part. Pre and Primary Teacher Training Course allows you to understand the need for organization skill that will enable you to prepare your teacher planner productively.

Before you are down to prepare the teacher planner, a few things need to be kept in mind:

Your personal goal – Especially when you have spent a year or two in teaching, you may have few set goals to accomplish or few challenges that you faced a previous year and you want to overcome them in the present year.

Keep an eye on the core objectives – The whole purpose of making the planner is to keep track of each lesson, the delivery and how successful it was. Hence making a planner should be accessible and suggestive.

Few essential contents of teacher planner:

• Lesson plan on day to day basis
• Curriculum mapping and the syllabus
• Instructional strategies
• Time tables and Academic calendar
• Classroom management plans
• Seating arrangement layouts
• Notes for Substitute
• Students birthdays
• Essential contact number (important staff member, school admin, parents’ contact number and medical information of children)

(Ref: https://apieceofprimary.com/how-to-use-your-teacher-planner-effectively/)

So, how to maximize the use of teacher planners effectively???

Choose the right planner or customize your planner

There are many teacher planner notebooks that are already available in the market with necessary layouts and headings, cool stickers and accessories. If you are comfortable, you can do your own bit of research and choose accordingly.

And if you are curious to make your own planner, you can do so. Many teachers enjoy a custom-made planner as it provides a lot of room for creativity and personalized preference. There are plenty of websites for the same, one can make their custom-made teacher planner through Google sheet, Microsoft OneNote, Canva etc. and make a physical copy of the same.

Keep a weekly track

When you are planned and organized for the week you feel much prepared. Keeping this short-term check allows a thought through the accomplishment of classroom activity. As a result, time management becomes much easier.

Make a checklist for each lesson

Checklists are the key areas where you can focus on and follow the core standards of the curriculum. You can also keep a track of the lesson objective in here.

Make it all time accessible by making it digital

Usually, a planner is made for the whole academic year. This helps a teacher to see the big picture and do the classwork accordingly. And when you are a custom planner making your planner digitally accessible allows you for quick glance any time you want. Also, we should not forget the need for technological improvisation in the educational industry. Not only does it make the planner easily available but it makes you much familiar with trending technologies.

Why you need a planner you ask?

Time management – It saves up a lot of time to figure out your classroom goals and help to keep track time to time basis. A teacher’s planner allows you to focus on classroom activity efficiently by enabling a clear view at a glance.

Reduces workload – Nowadays teacher do have to follow the standard of the board also there often few school criteria that need to be fulfilled by teachers, and with continuous on the growing pressure on teachers, a prepared planner allows teachers to focus on the delivery of the lesson rather than having to figure out suitable time and strategies every time for each new lesson.

Personal resource – Throughout the process of completing each lesson and reviewing the planner, a teacher has a wide range of learning to do. Often time teachers become more aware of their strengths and weakness and this, in turn, creates a huge space for improvisation.

Making a teacher planner is not only productive, its an enjoyable process. Sure it takes time and effort, nonetheless, it keeps you ready and more relaxed in the classroom environment. It works like a lifeline for a teacher throughout the year.

Prepare yourself with courses like pre and primary teacher training course, where you will be able to understand the need of planning ahead and why it is important while nourishing your skills to attain the demand of today’s educational system.