Handy helpers for lesson planning

Lesson planning is one of the most crucial aspects of a teacher's work, and each of us strives to make this process as efficient as possible. 

How can you keep everything organised without getting overwhelmed by a flood of tasks and deadlines? 

The good news is that there are handy tools that can simplify and streamline this process. 

Let's take a look at some of them.

Google Calendar never forgets important dates and tasks. 

All your assignments and key dates are stored in one place, accessible from any device. 

You can create and customise lesson schedules, add reminders for events and deadlines, and share plans with colleagues or students.

You can assign different colours to various types of events, such as lessons, meetings, or tests. 

This makes it easier to visually distinguish between different activities and navigate your schedule more quickly.

If you have regular classes or events, Google Calendar allows you to set up recurring events. 

You can specify the frequency: daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly — so you don’t have to input them each time.

Both options sync with each other, providing seamless access to your schedule anytime and anywhere. 

The good news is that Google Calendar is available for free for all personal accounts.

Trello is a true ally for teachers. 

It simplifies the process of lesson planning and organisation, which is particularly important when juggling a large number of tasks and responsibilities.

In Trello, everything starts with boards. 

You can create a board for each project, class, or group of students. 

On the board, you create lists where task cards are placed. 

Cards in Trello can be easily dragged from one list to another, allowing you to visually see at a glance what stage different tasks are at. 

This is particularly useful for task management, as it enables you to quickly assess what has been done and what is still in progress.

For instance, a checklist might include items like "Prepare presentation," "Write test," "Print handouts." 

This helps ensure that no detail is overlooked and allows for more detailed lesson planning.

If you’re collaborating with other teachers or sharing lesson plans with the administration, Trello makes it easy to organise teamwork. 

You can add colleagues to cards, assign tasks to them, and discuss details directly in the comments.

The Trello Standard plan, at $5, offers unlimited boards, 1,000 workspace command runs per month, and advanced checklists. 

The Trello Premium plan, at $10, also includes unlimited workspace command runs, priority support, and convenient data export. 

In the Enterprise package, priced at $17.50, you can add more than 100 users to a workspace, facilitating team collaboration. 

This package also guarantees an enhanced level of security and control.

Notion is a versatile tool that can be customised to meet any teaching needs. 

It allows you to gather all materials, lesson plans, schedules, and assignments in one place, providing easy access to all the necessary information. 

In Notion, everything begins with creating pages. 

Within each page, you can use various blocks such as text, images, tables, checklists, and even embedded files. 

Notion also allows you to create databases, which can be used for different purposes. 

For example, you might create a database to track student progress, where each row represents a student, and the columns include grades, behaviour notes, assignments, and other information. 

Alternatively, you could use a database to store teaching materials, making it easy to quickly find the resources you need for lessons. 

Like other tools, Notion supports team collaboration. 

You can share pages or databases with colleagues, granting them editing or view-only access.

This means you can work with Notion on any device, and all your information will sync between them, which is particularly convenient for teachers who often move between the classroom and home.

The free version of Notion offers a wealth of features that will suit most teachers. 

It includes the ability to create and edit pages, build databases, and collaborate with up to 10 guests. 

Paid versions (Plus, Business, and Enterprise) add additional features, such as the ability to invite up to 250 guests, advanced permissions, data export, and priority support. 

These paid plans are especially useful for schools and organisations that require teamwork on a larger scale and more complex access management. 

The Plus plan costs $10, the Business plan is $15, and the price for the Enterprise plan can be obtained from a sales manager.

Evernote can also assist in lesson planning and organising the teaching process.

Evernote offers a variety of templates that can simplify planning.

Templates help standardise the planning process and allow you to quickly create new lessons based on a proven structure.

In Evernote, you can create notes for everything related to teaching: lesson plans, task lists, ideas for activities, lesson outlines, and much more. 

You can group notes into notebooks, which is particularly useful for separating topics or classes. 

For instance, you can create a notebook for each class, where all the materials and lesson plans for that particular course are stored. 

You might create tags for different topics, such as "grammar," "reading," "vocabulary," or for tasks like "homework" or "exams."

Evernote is available as a website and as an app for computers, smartphones, and tablets. 

The free version allows you to create 50 notes and use 1 notebook with a maximum size of 25 MB. 

The Personal plan, costing $2.10, lets you create up to 150,000 notes and 2,000 notebooks, with a maximum notebook capacity of 200 MB. 

The Professional plan, priced at $2.80, offers a 20% discount on an Adobe Acrobat subscription and includes AI Edit & AI-Powered Search. 

Lastly, the Teams plan, which costs $5.60 per month, allows you to create up to 500,000 notes, 10,000 notebooks, and share your workspace with your team.

If you're looking to simplify the organisation of your lessons and manage the teaching process more efficiently, Planboard could be an excellent assistant. 

Planboard offers an intuitive interface where you can create daily, weekly, or monthly plans, adding details for each lesson, including objectives, materials, assignments, and timeframes. 

Planning becomes incredibly convenient with the ability to easily move and edit lessons within the calendar. 

You can plan your lessons and see an overview of your entire academic year. 

You can set up a weekly schedule, add special events like exams or school activities, and manage your time more effectively. 

You can record grades, mark assignments as completed, and get an overall view of each student’s performance.

Planboard is available both through a web browser and as a mobile app. 

Planboard offers a free version that includes most of the essential planning features. 

There is also a premium plan for $99 per year, which includes additional features.

In today's educational environment, where teachers have to juggle multiple tasks, having reliable tools for lesson planning becomes especially important. 

The programs we've discussed help save time and effort for teachers, making the planning process more flexible and adaptable to changes. 

Regardless of your preferences and needs, each of these tools help in creating effective and engaging lessons. 

Ultimately, all of this is aimed at one goal — improving the quality of education and ensuring a comfortable and productive experience for both teachers and their students.