Online Planning

It's the start of term 2 and I'm flat out planning. Every teacher knows this joy... sometimes. Planning, I've found, is the key to having a successful day in the classroom.

When you're at teacher's college it's something that you come to resent because of the marking / assessment purpose - especially when you know that the chances of actually teaching what you plan is small. Now that I've got some time under my belt I've become a planning fan. There's nothing better than stumbling on a resource or an idea that you are excited to use.

Here are two ways I'm using some online planning resources for this term. The first resource, mindmeister, is something I saw Nick Rate use and really liked. This mind mapping application lets you create an overview of the term. Each curriculum area has the activity or focus described and then, what I really like, you can create the links between them. You can see the links I've made with the inquiry topic of cultural diversity.

You can also add online links, download it as a pdf / jpg etc and also share the map with others online and have them add or edit the map. Brilliant. Here's an embeded version you can interact with - students love making these and putting them into their efolios, too.



I'm also using this online planning resource found on the Ministry of Education website, TKI. It's a social studies inquiry planner that walks you through the steps. I really liked the colour coding of conceptual understandings, thinking and reflective steps. It's very visual (important to me), interactive, downloable and easily edited throughout the term.

I'm still a fan of pen and paper. I've become a hybrid planner you could say but these two sites show how we can use a digital format to create, edit, share and plan for the benefit of our students.

Image used under creative commons from MarkKelley, via flickr.com