In last week’s #ntchat, David Wees shared a tip for lesson planning: store them on Google Calendar. That leaves them available for future reference and cuts down on papers (which, for me, increases organization).
So, since today is a day with two assessments and students independently catching up on work, I decided I should give it a shot.
I loved the idea from the start. However, my main concern is that, as far as I can tell, the only place to type the plan is in the edit box of the event. On the laptop this isn’t as much of an issue because the box is big. However, on the iPad, it’s a bit of a concern – the box is small and formatting isn’t ideal. David suggested typing the lessons in the Notes app. I can do that, but it’s much more comfortable typing on the laptop and knowing they go from my laptop to my iPad without any extra steps. Anyone have any ideas?
From the Desk of Mr. Foteah 
Pingback: Storing Lesson Plans on Google Calendar | 21st Century Education for 21st Century Educators | Scoop.it
Pingback: Storing Lesson Plans on Google Calendar | Utbildning på nätet | Scoop.it
Pingback: Storing Lesson Plans on Google Calendar | Wow... how cool is that technology. | Scoop.it
Aside from the fact that our school browser doesn’t support Google calendar (old version of IE – arrrgh!), I’m trying to figure out to get the page view that you show in your photo. I can switch to the day view, but I don’t know how to get the agenda pane on the left. My left pane shows which calendars I am looking at. Is this an Apple vs PC issue or can you offer any help? I really like this idea and even found an option to add documents to events, which would be amazingly organized.
Hi Andrea, that’s the Calendars app on the ipad. How did you attach documents? I tried without success…
I’m really jealous of the look of the Calendar app on the iPad – much nicer than Google Calendar on the PC or Android. Does yours actually sync with Google Calendar? You’ll only be able to attach docs if it is Google Calendar – since it is an add-on that you can enable in Google Labs (called “Event Attachments” – it also only works with docs uploaded to Google Docs, but as I recall you are a user). If it is Google Calendar, there will be a “Labs” option in the Gear (tools) drop down menu. Let me know how that works. Still playing with my calendar, but I’d love to be able to display more info on the actual calendar, rather than having to click on the event description for each.
For some reason I can’t respond to your most recent comment so this will have to do…
Yes iPad does sync. I am really going to have to look into attaching the documents. It is a bit confusing and new to me. I click the gear in calendar and all I get is display density options.
So what I’m doing is using the calendar as my plan book thus far and typing all lesson plans into google docs. That way they are synced on the iPad, as well (with GoDocs).
Try accessing the labs from your laptop instead of the iPad and you may be able to enable it that way. Using the calendar as a plan book works, but I was hoping to get more info into it. I’m poking around to see what else there is – just came across Planbook.com and am trying their free trial.
Hi Matt
Interesting idea, I’m going to explore that some more to see if I can use it – thanks!
I found that you have to enable Event Attachments in Google Labs – there was a link at the bottom of the page where you edit an event – or this might work: https://www.google.com/calendar/b/0/render?settings=4&pli=1
I’ve been experimenting with Evernote – http://www.evernote.com/ – for my lesson planning. I can write up my plans and add checkboxes to tick things off later as part of my lesson record. I also add attachments of anything I’ve used in the lesson and take photos of the board or any other resources I’ve used with my iPhone and email them straight to the correct Evernote Notebook (with tages) using the subject field of the email message. I don’t think you can get the same neat calendar display as you have using GoogleCalendar, but there are lots of features Evernote I’ve haven’t yet explored, and lots of add-on apps, it wouldn’t surprise me if you can. I can access it from my home and work PCs, my iPhone and my iPad and the editing is fine for me on all devices – and they all sync automatically!
Cheers, Lesley
It’s a great idea, but how in the world does a teacher with four or more preps keep things organized on Google Calendar? It’s a lot easier to use a spreadsheet of some sort with days across the top, and classes along the left, and then put your lessons in the boxes. Embed into a Google Site, or simply “link” to downloads and lessons within the box.
Your Google Spreadsheet can even be saved as a PDF, viewable as a website itself, shared and viewed with others, and more. I think it’s a lot more flexible than a calendar system, especially for a teacher with many, many preps.
I use google calendars with 5 preps. Each has a different calendar. These are all public so students and parents can see current homework and upcoming assessments. See my blog mrsutechtsblog.blogspot.com
Pingback: Storing Lesson Plans on Google Calendar | 2.0 Tools | Scoop.it
Pingback: Storing Lesson Plans on Google Calendar | design thinking 4 education | Scoop.it
Pingback: Storing Lesson Plans on Google Calendar | Tommy found a real book.
I use Google Calendar for everything BUT lesson plans. I have used a macro-driven spreadsheet, but haven’t shared this with students, but rather merged it to a syllabus doc. Our district is now using Google Apps and Sites, and so it would be very convenient to share a calendar with all my students. The one big drawback I see to this is if there is an assembly or snow day or something that pushes your plans forward a day. It is too time-consuming to go back in and edit each day’s title, whereas in a spreadsheet, you just insert a cell. Any ideas?
Use google drive to link to calendar. You can then link the google doc (or any uploaded file to google drive) in the Comments section off the calendar. No need for labs–just a URL!
I’ve experimented with a way to link a Google Spreadsheet to Google Calendar following information from here http://blog.ouseful.info/2010/03/04/maintaining-google-calendars-from-a-google-spreadsheet/ I got it to work but I started using Planbook.com and overall it was easier for me to maintain for my personal use. What I liked about the spreadsheet was that I could add to the calendar as I needed to (one week at a time). So in the event of a snow day, I just drag the weeks worth of events forward a day and then import from the calendar the next time. Again, my script is really at the “proof of concept” stage since I am using Planbook now.