Happy Friday, Pink Bow readers!
Today I've decided to forego my usual Friday Favorites for a look at another one of my favorites: the Erin Condren Teacher Lesson Planner! (This is not the newly-designed one, which, if you ask me, looks pretty similar to this one. This was purchased during the teacher appreciation sale!)
As a high school art teacher, I want something that works for my planning style and is aesthetically pleasing.
This will be my second year using this planner for my classes, and I could not possibly love it any more! It's perfect for how I plan my lessons, plus it's super colorful which is a must-have for me.
Last year I went with the Party Pops in a custom colorway. I had them switch the Red and Goldenrod colors for Hot Pink and Aqua.
This year I chose the Paisley design. I also love the watercolor shine and watercolor palette, but (if I remember correctly), they weren't available when I ordered.
Here you'll see newbie and oldie together:
The cover of my planner held up really well for how much I carried it around. I'm not a gentle person. It was on my desk literally every single day--I was painting, gluing, drawing, crafting, sliding it around and that's how the cover looks. There are a few scratches, but it's a lesson planner, not a car. :)
When you open up the planner you see this Holidays and Dates to Remember page. I rarely used this last year.
Next up you'll see the "Absent" tab. I didn't use this last year either because my school uses Powerschool--an online way of tracking attendance. But I DO plan on using this in the upcoming school year to track habitual tardies and absentees instead of having to log in to Powerschool to do so.
The "Graph" tab is just as you'd assume--a graph. I just used this page to doodle on and test some pens and pencil colors. Since I see 7 classes every day, I don't have a set seating chart.
I am very excited to utilize this "Year Plan" spread this year. Last year I just put holidays and art shows in it. This year I'm doing a Cultural Unit that coincides with the theme of my room and each month my artists will be decorating the school in a different way with art from the culture. In addition to that, I'll be doing something different with my approach to art history, so these pages will also be used for that.
After the year plan, you have a spread for each month. I know a lot of people are annoyed that you have to fill in the dates. I kind of agree with this. It's not really that big of a deal to fill in the dates, but if they came pre-printed, that would be ideal!
The quotes at the top of each page are cute and add a little pop of color to the already lovely spreads, so I can't complain about the aesthetics of these pages at all. They're fabulous.
Here's August, whose dates I've filled in already:
And here's Febraury, dates left blank:
Next is the real reason I buy this planner. The "Lessons" tab. Here's the page before the Lessons pages begin--a nice big note (or in my case, doodle) page and a quote page. (Am I the only one that doesn't like this quote? I don't understand it for the life of me!)
Here are how the lessons are laid out! This is PERFECT for my day because across the top I can put the names of my classes, "Art," "Crafts", etc...and then just plan down for the week.
The next tab is "Checklist."
Last year I chose to add all the extra checklist pages I could, but I didn't use even half of them. This year I just went with the minimum checklist pages. I used them to track who had their supplies, who had paid fees, etc...
The end of the planner is full of four pages of stickers. The pre-labeled ones don't really work for me as a high school teacher, but I plan on using the blank, colored stickers to keep track of my Cultural Unit and Art History plans.
I also adore the laminated pocket, clear sheet protector and zip pocket. They work great for keeping track of seminar schedules, etc...things that I'm always referring to, that if I stuck in my desk would disappear into the mysterious black hole, never to be seen of again.
I plan on using the Erin Condren Teacher Planner for many years to come, or until it no longer meets my needs. I adore the colors, the lesson layouts and, if you buy it during the sale, it's really affordable for how awesome it is!
Wanna buy your own?
Use
this link and you'll get $10 off!
*I was not given a planner to review. I purchased this planner with my own money and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
