My days are WILD. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think the wild-ness of teaching is part of the draw for me – I love the unexpected, and I love that every day I walk into something different – it’s new, the kids are exciting and I am not chained to a desk all day.

However, with all the chaos that is inherent to teaching, so is my natural desire to find order, simplicity and minimalism in my classroom environment. I’m a floater teacher – my regular course load this year consisted of Middle and High School Choir, 9th Grade English, Intro to Theatre, Musical Theatre and 8th Grade Theatre.

I teach in a different space Every. Single. Period. Because of my transience, 5 years ago I switched to a paperless classroom. I refuse to wheel composition books and binders home to grade with me in a cart. I refuse to spend what little planning time I have chained to the copier. I refuse to spend time, energy and money developing a way for students to turn in worksheets, or throw my back out carrying around paper copies of essays to grade. I decided to take back my life and work SMARTER, not HARDER.  Classwork, homework, novels, teaching materials are all scanned electronically and submitted using a combination of Google Drive and our online learning platform, and I finally feel like I have found balance between teaching, grading, organization, and my personal life.

…but for some reason I held on to a paper planner for the duration of my 10-year teaching adventure. I drunk the Erin Condren Kool-Aid Long ago, and I suppose it was the last thing I wanted to give up to go truly digital. In my Erin Condren days,  I spent a whole planning period on Friday afternoons filling out my lesson plans for the following week – meticulously writing each class in a different color, decorating with appropriate stickers, fashioning my to-do lists with gusto and aplomb, but I wasted so much time that I could be putting to the one million of tasks that are thrown my way in a day. Around December, out went my ritual of writing in the planner. I was just too damn busy.

Taking out my beautiful, huge Erin Condren Teacher Planner on the tiny high-top tables eventually started to stress me out. It was just another task on my to-do list, I wasn’t enjoying it, and I was falling into disorganization because I wasn’t writing my lessons down. It was also physically weighing me down because I had to carry that big beautiful planner in my teacher bag every single period. Is it really worth it?

I parted ways with my Erin Condren Teacher planner this February. It pained me to do so, because it’s gorgeous and expensive and I loved it, but it just wasn’t working with my current situation. If I still had one classroom space where I could spread out and keep it in one spot, it would be more functional for me, but with my current teaching situation as a floater, it just doesn’t work.

I just want everyone to take a moment of silence for my Erin Condren.

Ok. Thanks. Because it was a hard parting, because I do love her and she is beautiful. I just really like saving money and functionality more.

Now, enter: THE GOOGLE DRIVE LESSON PLANNER.

Game changer. Total and complete game changer.

Of course, I first turned to Pinterest and did a search for ‘digital teacher planner.’

And what I found, I was not disappointed.

Having my planner on my laptop has been a complete and total game changer. I used this particular one from Teachers Pay Teachers. There are A MILLION ways to customize this planner. Not only does she include two different themes, but she also includes the Google Drive file templates for anywhere from 1-8 classes in horizontal and vertical layouts, as well as the monthly views for each month of the year. You have all the files you need to create a custom teacher planner of your choice. If you find that digital planing is not your thing, you can always print the files and put them in your own binding. There’s also a digital sticker pack she includes to decorate with things like “Early Release” and “Field Trip” that are also completely customizable. If that’s not enough, she includes FREE updates for life. That’s right. FREE. Every year you can log in and download the upcoming school year’s templates and it’s AMAZING. I paid $17.99 ONE TIME for a planner that makes my life a million times easier, compared to the $60 I spent YEARLY on my Erin Condren. I mean, on a tight teacher salary…even TIGHTER now that we have Baby Girl’s childcare to pay for … it’s really a no brainer. I’ve even converted multiple members of our teaching faculty to this planner. It’s amazing!

I’ve been operating out of a paperless classroom for maybe 4+ years now…I have no idea why I waited so long to switch to a digital format for my lesson plan book. It only seems natural to make the switch. My students love it too, because I frequently project it at the beginning of class to set the tone for the week. “Now everybody take out your planners – let’s take a look at what we have going on this week!” and “Here’s what’s coming up…when would YOU like to take your test?” Giving them a say in something as simple as scheduling a test or project makes them feel like they are part of the process of this collaborative learning…(especially when I could care less if a test is on Wednesday or Thursday…)

My parting thoughts are that if you have any inclination or impulse to try digital planning but you feel nervous, or overwhelmed, take the plunge and DO IT. There’s no time like the present, and with being on the brink of summer, it’s a good time to try it out and get your bearings before the school year. You will LOVE it!

Here is the link again if you are interested in checking it out!

I’d love talking about planners, and I’d love to know what kind of teacher planner do YOU use? Digital? Erin Condren? Plum paper?