Must- Have Planners for Virtual Teaching!

I just want to open and as honest as possible! This whole Virtual teaching has been profuse and I bet teachers across the world will concur with me on this.

As I catch up with my teacher friends on zoom call over the weekends, I get to hear how insanely occupied this phase of online teaching has been for them unlike being in a physical classroom. At the same time I am amazed by their plasticity and how quickly they altered to the

new ways of teaching.

There are endless no. of duties to finish but moreover a plethora of tasks to remember. Here I postulate a few ways on how I organize my data. It would take me forever to put all the information in by hand so I love the idea of having everything in one place.

1) I create a spreadsheet with multiple tabs where I want the data to be imported. Here I have tabs which I access on a daily basis.

. Daily planner tab - It has details of lessons, objectives, the different strategies that I would incorporate in my classroom, and small group lesson details. Under ‘Feedback’, I mention points discussed during whole school meetings and under ‘Curriculum planning’, I jot down the points discussed during team meetings.

. Small group session attendance tab - We have small group sessions conducted daily which gives an opportunity for students to work in smaller groups or for the teacher to take one -on one with a specific learner. These are prime and main topics conducted during this time and I find it very important to keep a track of students missing these lessons.

. PD/Workshop/Teacher training tab - PD/ Workshops attended so far !

. Teacher ideas tab - I have ideas constantly popping up in my mind. It's easy to forget when you have so many tasks to complete and several dead lines to meet. I find the need to jot it down somewhere so I add it here. I can come back to it later!

. Reading module (confidential) - It helps me keep tab of the books that I assign to my students on a weekly basis.

. Formative tracker tab - It helps me collect data on a daily basis and keep record of my observations. Every lesson where students were communicators and have shared their thoughts is recorded here. This also helps me prepare my anecdotes for student report card.

2) E-Attendance tab - I like to maintain a personal log of student and teacher attendance. It helps me to monitor attendance and keep track of which student is absent on a regular basis.

3) I have a second spreadsheet which has more personal information which I look up only when needed.

. Roll no. tab - These are unique identification nos given to students at the time of admission. It helps me sort students when assigning books, during field trips, or various events in schools. Example, Sports day, etc.

. Student birthday tab - Helps me plan what to give or do that will make learners day extra special.

. Student info login sheet - Here I have all my student login information , way to keep all of the usernames and passwords in one place so it’s super easy for me to reference

. Student information tab - It has information regarding student allergies, students food habits, or any special requests catering to a particular learner.

. Parent Communication log tab -

4) Next, I began by adding icons to my chrome browser so that my bookmarks are all setup and I am prepared for most bit well in advance. I put it in the order that I want all in one folder named (Daily). I have been constantly adding as the school year is progressing. I can sync all my bookmarks, all tabs open at one time, it takes barely few seconds and it’s an absolute time saver. I make sure to keep the below icons open before the class begins,

. Official Email Inbox

. Google Drive - Used to access the various links.

. Google Slides - Used to access the ppt, and videos prepared for the lesson . Calendar - Used for students to refer to during morning meeting.

. YouTube - Used for story videos, concept related videos, etc.

. Seesaw - Used for parent communications and check students work.

. School related website (confidential) - Used to mark the attendance, log book, etc

. Readers Manuel (confidential) - Digital reading platform.

. Toy Theater - It's a very nice platform where you access Math related games, reading, puzzles , etc

. Bitmoji Extension - I love to copy paste them wherever I can. I have used them on 'Meet the teacher' flyer at the start of the school year and various google slides. It makes it fun and engaging for the students. My kiddos love to see Ms Arati Bitmoji's inserted in the lesson related slides.

My goal was to give you some ideas. That was a basic tutorial for keeping a track of different things on your agenda. It’s a time saver and I hope the information was helpful and you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it ! Please like if you did :)