Raise your hand if you can remember those awful “Plan Books” your admin passed out when school started every year. You know the ones with all those big boxes and the whole thing was larger than a legal size piece of paper. And it did not fit into any cute teacher bag you had …
Then along came some companies that started making a planner that works for a teacher with ten tons of extra pages for everything that you might ever need. Except, I don’t need all those extra pages.
I am a specialist. I teach one subject. I have 361 students and I do not need a page for their birthdays in my planner. Or their personal passwords.
So, I started making my own planner.
Specialists Have Different Needs
I knew when I started making this planner a few years back that I would need some specific things. I need a year-at-a-glance page. In fact, I need that for each grade level. I need smaller boxes to write my actual plans on. I need a grade sheet and a health sheet. I need a calendar that has room to write things for the whole school and my own classroom.
With a few things in mind, I started creating a planner for ME.
Planning Pages
This is where I started. I needed specific spaces for several grade levels and the extra classes I teach. But, I do not need those ginormous boxes to write in. The size I created works perfectly for me to jot down what each class is completing in STEM for the week. I added some things on each side for To-Do Lists and Notes.
The Entire Year
I knew from the beginning that I would need to track what each grade level is doing, so I needed a Year-at-a-Glance page for each grade. I save these so every year I can check back and see what we completed.
This gives me space to write down the projects each grade completes and I can avoid any overlap.
Calendars, Oh, My!
What to do? Do I need a two-page spread or can I make use of a one-page calendar?
I made both and use them for different things. The larger spaces are for on the 2-page set are for school. I use the 1-page set for personal items.
Covers
This has been the most fun to create! I have made so many different covers in the last few years. The images below show you covers, inserts, and title pages in many forms.
Each specialist page has matching calendar covers and inserts for your personal information.
Check the gallery below for some different versions in cacti, serenity, tropical, and floral decor.
The Notes Section!
This is my favorite new section. I wanted a personal journal-type section in the back of my planner and I started making these notes pages. They turned out so gorgeous. There are 12 notes pages. Some are cacti, some are holidays, and some are school-related.
The whole set will work great in a binder. This year I purchased a system called Arc from Staples. The plastic cover, binder rings, and hole punch were about $20. I printed my own pages (thank you HP Insta-ink!) and I have a beautiful planner that suits my needs as a specialist!
There are so many choices to make with all the covers and inserts in this resource. The cacti pages will work perfectly intermingled with the teal and turquoise. I recently added a set with floral covers, tropical covers, and a set with serene colors and lighthouse decor.
You make all the decisions and design your own unique planner to suit your needs. No wasted pages, no unnecessary sections. You engineer your own! Which is actually quite fun!
