So, on to the next one! :) I decided to try Common Curriculum. The "basic" level is free and very professionally created. There is a "pro" version for either $6.99/mo. or $4.89 if you pay for the year (roughly $59 total). It is also available for schools to purchase for many teachers. The site provides a nice breakdown of what each subscription level has to offer.
What I've found is that it takes a little bit to learn the whole thing BUT it is fairly extensive and easy once you get the hang of it. There are many different lesson plan templates to choose from which is nice! Once you select one, entering information is simply a matter of editing. Also, teachers don't have to stick to the same template! One can switch to a different template for each day or for each class or anything. Common Curriculum is quite flexible.
To get set up, the first thing to do is to enter days off for the year, which I find to be a nice feature. Once the schedule is set up, there is an option for "turning off" any day that one is not actually teaching (during exam week, or perhaps, there is an assembly during a certain class period). In addition, teachers have the option to download, copy, paste, or print any day's lessons. The lessons can also be made into full screen mode. I especially value the "Shift Lesson" option! At my school, attendance can be very unpredictable. We often have to compile alternate lesson plans in the event that more than half of the students in one class are absent. If only six out of 23 students show up on a day where the lesson requires group work and/or new material, the alternate lesson can be shifted into place and the original lesson can be shifted forward for the next day (or even later).
One of the most user friendly aspects to Common Curriculum is the feature that allows teachers to search for standards and directly insert them into the lesson plan. Standards are banked and searchable by state (including Common Core State Standards), grade level, and key terms. This is truly convenient and saves a lot of time for those of us who have yet to memorize them for four different preps.
Overall, I highly recommend using Common Curriculum as an online teacher planner. It is an extensive user friendly tool with many choice options for teachers who like (or must have) formal, organized/structured, and complete lesson plans.
OLD FYI below:
MyStudyLife ... NOT for teachers... yet anyway. (Not sure if this will count toward a task number but wanted to share nonetheless.)
Last week I went on a search for an online teacher planner and after reading all about it, I decided to try out MyStudyLife. Again, I ended up disappointed after a few hours of trying my best to get it to work.
After downloading the app (available from iTunes) onto my Mac, I went through the process to register and eventually had to email for help Below, is my email and the developer's response.
Hi,
I am a teacher in Rochester NY. I have downloaded the application and I’m trying to sign up. I can sign in using Google. I select Teacher and then it asks for a code emailed to me when my school registered.
I don’t know how to register my school. The app says it is free.
When I sign in via Google I am using my school district (RCSD121) purchased Google account. The app says it doesn’t recognize it. Then, I tried signing in with my school district Office 365 email account. That is not recognized by the app either.
Please send me an activation code. I would like to start using the planner and don’t have a lot of time to spend trying to sign up.
Thank you,
Kara Muddle
1478950@rcsd121.org (Google mailbox)
Kara.muddle@rcsdk12.org (Office 365 mailbox)
I'm afraid we're not currently accepting any new applications for our schools beta (teacher account) as it is being phased out in favour of our new offering for schools (including MIS integration, allowing students timetables to be automatically populated). We don't offer a teacher specific account for this at the moment (the beta account was very similar to our student account), however, this is something we're working to add. If you're interested in MIS integration for your students, please let me know.
Many thanks,
Josh
Oh that's a shame. Did you find something else that would work for you?
ReplyDeleteTerrific! Glad you found something that sounds like it will work so well for you. I'm going to look into and maybe play with the free version. Thanks for sharing!
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