Running Full-Tilt in a Tangential Direction

[velvetpage]

I had coursework to do this morning, but my brain wasn't up to the kind of in-depth reasoning that it called for. So instead, I focused on creating a new notebook (in Office OneNote 2007 - I LOVE that program) to replace my day planner for the fall.

My new notebook has all the functionality of a paper one, but none of the paper (unless I want to print it out for a supply teacher or something.) There's a lot I haven't done yet because I want to get my schedule sorted out more precisely, but it can be done easily. So far, it has:

1) Tabs for each month, plus extra tabs for general tracking and evaluation for each term
2) A Month-at-a-Glance Calendar, Monday to Friday only
3) Week-at-a-Glance templates for Literacy and Math - I love these because they don't fit well onto one, or even two regular-sized pieces of paper, but I can extend the page in OneNote to be as long as I want it to be
4) Daily pages for the month of September - after that I'll make up some weekday templates based on my solidified schedule for the week, again, with no page-flipping to worry about
5) A tracking sheet for all those forms that go out and come back in the first week of school - agenda money, internet consent, consent to photograph, emergency contact info, my own contact info sheet

It still needs:

1) Templates for weekdays, taking into account prep time, bell times, and duties
2) A class list template and individual pages for various subjects and strands
3) The specific elements of the school year calendar for our board, with PD days and holidays included
4) To be backed up to a key drive daily all year - it'll be the last thing I do every night. (Meanwhile, I have to show this program to my principal and see about getting a copy for the new school computers when they come. We're licensed for most parts of Office, so I suspect we're licensed for this, but nobody uses it because nobody knows how fabulous it is.)
5) Anecdotal notes and seating plan templates. I suspect this will fast become the only way I ever do a seating plan. I can just type the kids' first names and drag them around the screen into the new seating plan! For someone who doesn't easily organize visually, it will be so much easier!
6) Files for pictures and videos I'm using to assess my kids' work. I'm going to get them using those cell phones for good instead of evil - they'll use them to record short videos explaining their work.

I'll also need to figure out how to hook this laptop up to the school's printer, so that I don't have to redo everything by hand when there's a supply coming in.

I'm quite pleased with myself. But I suppose I should have been studying and saved this for later in the summer. Purposeful Procrastination FTW!

Comments

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

You could probably sell this to teachers with ADHD.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I'm planning to offer it to anyone in my course, and I'll probably offer it on my ontario_teacher community, too.

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

Could I post about it on adults_add? There's a person in that community who just finished her first year of teaching, and given the size of the community, there are probably other teachers as well.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Yep, you can post a link. Anyone who wants a copy can talk to me and I'll email it to them.

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[mercurygrrl.livejournal.com]

Hey,

Found this post through kisekileia's post in adults_adhd. I'm done with my BA and will start pedagogy this fall, which includes 18 weeks of working as a teacher. If you would be willing to share your notebook I would really appreciate it. :)

margretheaasjohnsen at gmail dot com

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Sure! Let me figure out how to share a notebook, and I'll get it to you tonight. And if August rolls around and you haven't got it yet, ping me - I got distracted and forgot to get back to it. :)

[mercurygrrl.livejournal.com]

LOL! I know all about distractions. Thank you :)

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I'm not ADD, but I'm happy to help wherever I can. When I do manage to organize something that works, it's nice to share it - both so that others can be organized, and so that I can feel good about at least one element of my life not being in total disarray. :)

[kisekileia.livejournal.com]

velvetpage is naturally disorganized enough to need to create organizational systems for herself, but is not actually ADD, and thus is organized enough to actually be able to create said systems :).