“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”
– Henry B. Adams

Teachers are the individuals moulding our future scientists, artists, writers, musicians, presidents, professors, even maybe the people who will one day save the world from global warming or the ones that will find a way to take us to the stars. So, if you are a teacher, congratulations, you have chosen a very important job. And because teachers’ jobs are so important and they have this huge responsibility on their shoulders, it’s vital that they plan ahead. Because, it goes without saying, planning is a big part of this whole teaching and shaping young minds process.

The Role of a Teacher Planner

Of course, planning is important in all jobs, no matter how experienced and self-confident you are. It can help you get new ideas; it can help you find some better solutions for certain tasks; it can help you against brain-freezes, etc. But most importantly for teachers in a primary school, lesson planning can help you teach the lesson in a way that will be designed specifically for the kids in the class right now, according to their specific needs, their level, their personalities, likes and dislikes, etc. 

That’s one of the reasons why you should buy a well-designed primary school teacher diary planner to guide you through your lesson planning, as well as assist you in learning and remembering as much as you can about your students, follow their engagement, attendance, grade levels, etc. So as a result, a well-organised planner can be crucial in improving your own teaching skills.

What Should be Included in Your Teacher Planner

Furthermore, even though there are different teaching styles for different students, and even though almost all teachers follow established curriculums, every teacher has their own personal approach. As individuals, they bring their own unique experiences into their teaching, they have different talents, different challenges etc. All of this means that no two teacher planners will contain the same things. When you are preparing your planner, you have to consider your personal needs. 

A well-organised teacher planner can be a great tool for teachers in other ways as well, and it can be a source of magic when it comes to both the kids and your job. Besides allowing you to have the most important data on each of your students always at hand, this notebook of sorts can hold a lot of other useful pieces of information. For instance, a good teacher planner should include a calendar where you’ll be able to mark important events. It should contain info that will not only help you stay organised and well prepared but also help you during meetings. 

Important Students’ Information

For a primary school teacher diary planner, there is some common information that should be included when it comes to the students. This way you’ll ensure that you have the crucial information to ensure your students’ safety. The most common and important details in the students’ info portion in your planner are:

• List with all students first and last names;
• Each of their birthday;
• Who picks them up after school;
• Parents’ contacts;
• Student’s medical needs.

Furthermore, when it comes to each of the students’ personal progress, your planner should include their grades, as well as important notes about specific students’ challenges or talents, so that you can guide them easier. 

Important Events

A good teacher planner can have a monthly calendar to help the teacher know their and their students’ schedule at one glance. This calendar may include students’ data that is connected to specific dates, such as birthdays, important things in a student’s schedule, class events, school events, holidays etc. A planner could furthermore protect you from misplacing and forgetting important notes you take from meetings with teaching staff, school personnel, parents etc., as well as your classes, or random ideas you get for your next lessons.

Lesson Plans

Like all other professionals doing their jobs, teachers already know what they are supposed to teach. Nevertheless, like everyone else, teachers are only humans. The truth is that teaching is a very fluid and often quite an unpredictable task. The reasons for this are that every lesson is a new one and it will only happen that one time and that it depends on so many different little things that may occur during the class. 

This is one of the reasons why it’s important to plan every class, even if it’s not the first time you are teaching this lesson, and you feel like you know what you are going to do. But using a teacher daily planner can do much more than that. Planners are a great time management device. In terms of teaching, using a planner will allow you to create your own guide for an efficient and productive class. 

In Short

“To teach is to learn twice over.”
– Joseph Joubert

As teachers, we need to stay organised and we always need to learn more and improve ourselves. Like all planners, their purpose is to keep you organised and prepared, but teacher planners are a great tool for becoming better and better at your job. For instance, by reading our old teacher diaries and planners we can remember something that worked well or learn about something that didn’t, detect our past mistakes, organise better, create better plans etc. Or in short, improve our overall skills as teachers.