Lesson Planning Redesigned

         Lesson planning used to be a major chore. Most teachers I know are not too happy when they have to sit and create their lesson plans for the week. It is also hard to do in advance, especially when you have a class where you may need to change your plans half way through the week, due to students not grasping a concept or students comprehending more than anticipated. In the world of teaching, teachers need to be flexible with their plans and be able to change/move things around if need be. I have chosen to adopt Planbook as my lesson planning design tool.
 
     

       Above, is an excerpt of a week out of my lesson plans on Planbook. This particular excerpt was from my long-term sub (LTS) position in second grade.

Features of Planbook:

Class Setup-

        In Planbook, you are able to add all the classes (or subjects) you teach during the day. You are able to create your schedule to match your school day routine. Teachers can also include cycle days. I used cycle days 1-6 because that is what my school used. They also accommodate different types of cycle days. This tool allows teachers to schedule an entire year, term or certain range of dates. 

Standards-

        Planbook makes lesson planning simple and easy when you have all of your standards right at your finger tips. All I have to do is go to the drop down menu and pick the standards that I want to apply to the lesson and I am done. It helps me in the fact that I do not have to go looking for the standards that I need to add to my lesson.

Sharing-

This program allows me to share my lesson plans with other teachers that use planbook as well. If a teacher is absent due to illness or other reasons, they can simple share the plans with another teacher for them to print out for the substitute. Also, if there is a long-term substitute, you can share your lesson plans with the sub so that everyone is on the same page. It makes lesson planning a breeze and puts everything right in front of you so that you don't need a whole bunch of different documents.