How to create your personalised teacher planner

For many teachers, being organised is crucial to remaining calm and achieving goals in a busy educational environment. With so much information to manage, having a central place to hold essential data and ideas is vital. A teacher planner solves this organisational problem by helping to arrange each day, week, and term, ensuring you know what is happening in your classes and how learning will develop for each student over the year.

The Teachit Teacher planner is flexible and adaptable so that you can personalise it throughout the academic year. Available in two designs, it can be used for any subject or key stage. Plus, it is FREE for subscribers or only £5 to buy.

What's inside a teacher planner?

There are several key components you should expect to find in an effective and supportive teacher planner. Inside our Teacher planner, you'll find:

	Academic or monthly calendars. Up-to-date calendars help you mark important dates, keep pace with curriculum changes or events and enable you to fully prepare for training days, meetings or parents’ evenings.
	Timetable, seating and grouping plan templates. Flexible templates that can be downloaded and printed to suit each class that you teach help you know and understand every student. Seating plans and grouping charts enable you to visualise where students are sitting and move seating plans or groups around to suit different tasks, learning styles or needs.
	Daily or weekly plans. Being prepared for the day or week ahead is vital for teachers with full timetables and hectic schedules. Plot out your time so that you always have the correct resources ready and can support each student with everything they need.
	Student assessment record forms. Individual or class student assessment record forms enable you to track your students’ progress over the half term, term or academic year as evidence of their development and ability to achieve targets. These are useful for parents’ evenings, CPD meetings and for target setting and report writing.
	Space for meeting notes. Teachers attend lots of meetings every year. Having a record of meetings can be supportive so that you can refer back and know what priorities you should be focusing on or what you need to finalise before the next meeting takes place.
	Communication logs. Useful for recording interactions with parents and carers, communication logs ensure that all correspondence is documented and accessible for future reference. This tool helps maintain clear communication, track follow-ups and ensure consistency in messaging across different channels.
	Parents’ evening notes space. Ideal for preparing for parents’ evening, you can use these spaces to make notes on each student before the meeting. In addition, you can add to these notes during and after the parents’ evening with information you have gleaned from parents and carers.

Every teacher is different and may want to tweak and individualise their planner. For many, these are essential organisational tools that help each term progress smoothly and efficiently.

How to set up and customise your teacher planner

• Choose a planner style. Select a planner style that suits your classroom feel. The Teachit teacher planner offers two design styles to choose from.
• Select your binder. Decide where to store your planner. Coil binders or ring binders are popular choices as they allow you to add or remove pages as needed throughout the year.
• Review and select pages. Go through all the potential pages or sections you might need, such as calendars, seating plans and assessment records. Select and print the ones that are most relevant to your needs.
• Organise your planner. Arrange the pages in an order that makes sense to you. Many teachers prefer to organise pages consecutively in date order so that evidence, notes and resources build as the year progresses.
• Add dividers. Use dividers to separate different sections of your planner, such as daily plans, assessment records and meeting notes, for easy navigation.
• Include a notes section. Add plenty of space for taking notes during meetings, parents’ evenings, and for jotting down ideas or reminders.
• Regular updates. Keep your planner up-to-date by regularly adding new pages or sections as needed, such as intervention plans or new seating arrangements.

By following these steps, you can set up a personalised teacher planner that helps you stay organised and effectively manage your schedule and student progress throughout the academic year.

How to use your teacher planner most effectively

To use your teacher planner effectively, consider the following tips:

1. Personalise your layout. Arrange the sections in a way that makes sense to you and fits your daily routine. Whether you prefer to have calendars and assessment pages at the front or seating charts at the back, choose a layout that works best for you.
2. Stay consistent. Use your planner consistently by updating it daily or weekly. This will help you keep track of important dates, lesson plans, and student progress without overwhelming yourself.
3. Prioritise tasks. Use your planner to prioritise tasks and set achievable goals. Mark high-priority tasks and deadlines to ensure you stay on track with your responsibilities.
4. Reflect and adjust. Regularly review your planner to evaluate what is working and what isn’t. Don’t hesitate to adjust the layout or sections to better fit your needs as the academic year progresses.
5. Track progress. Use assessment record forms to monitor student progress. Regular updates to these records will provide valuable insights for report writing and parents' evenings.

By following these tips, you can maximise the effectiveness of your teacher planner, keeping you organised and helping you manage your schedule and student progress efficiently throughout the academic year.

Create your ideal teacher planner

Teaching can be overwhelming if you aren’t properly prepared. Make sure you get ahead and stay organised throughout the year with a tailor-made teacher planner that is reasonably priced, printable and flexible - just like the Teachit teacher planner.