daybooks

[Brit]

what kind of accountability do you have for your plans/daybooks? I've never had anyone look at mine before (besides subs), but I'm nervous that someone in admin may start asking this year -- daybooks have to be turned in second week of school this year.

Do you have to hand in daybook plans BEFORE you teach the lessons or after? If BEFORE, how do you work in flexibility? Last year, my plans were usually "well, IF that gets done on Tuesday, then we'll do this on Wednesday, but we'll see how things go on Tuesday..." or "well, if they GET this right away, we're good, but if not, we'll do these three activities for the rest of the week to solidify understanding". It's like I have about 4 parallel sets of plans on the go, for different situations. So what would I hand in, exactly?

Also, what format do you use? I'd like to have a format that gives enough info for a sub, but doesn't take forever for me to fill in. I like writing things out longhand because then I feel like I've thought everything through really well, but who has the time for that?

My daybook last year was just point form (like, WWW-"mystery wd: cucumber", writing: letters cont., prep: do MSVs!!!, NBduty pizza) which to anyone else, probably isn't useful at all, but for me, I knew exactly what I was going to do for the day. Then of course, there would be arrows all over the place because I'd switch the writing to two days later because we got sidetracked during WWW and needed more time, or cross out WWW because there was a fire drill, or whatever. you get the point. So what do you do to make all that make sense, especially if you have to turn it in to admin?!

[hweber]

It is in our contract that our plans have to be readily available to the administrators. My first year, I had beautiful plans, almost verbatim, last year it was read, discuss, salt/sand experiment, homework. Again, nothing anyone else could follow. I think, however, that this will be a sticking point in our new contract, admin wants lesson plans i guess.

[coco2]

We have to hand in our plans by 8:00 a.m. every Monday. She checks them and then has someone deliver it to our rooms. I write the plans, but rarely do I get to them all. I always have arrows pointing down to the next day etc.

As a former sub, I just want to tell you that trying to figure out what to teach from the teacher's lesson plan book is a nightmare. Abbreviated plans are difficult to decipher, no matter how common sense they seem to the teacher. SO... Write out those lesson plans for the subs!!

[teacher5]

After you keep the kids happy, the parents happy, and I will be happy if you have detailed up to date plans; my principal will be happy. You must keep a detailed plan book. It has to be written with behavioral objectives, activities, follow-up activities, and reinforcement HW, and evaluation (tests & quizzes). I write it weekly, on Sat. morning for 1-2 hrs., and never refer to it again. It's solidified and in my head ready to go for the coming week. it's way to detailed for a sub to follow. This book is for administration. It is collected at the end of the school year and kept in the basement for 5 or more years. We were warned it can be used to justify whether or not you followed district mandated curriculum, but I have never seen this done. We have been told the plan book and grade book a quasi-legal documents and could be used at a hearing or even for legal mattes. If I am going to be absent, or out at a workshop or scoring session, I rewrite my plans in great detail for the sub. It is a pain and takes a long time, but I never heard from a sub I didn't know what to do or what to use or how to do it. If you are probationary, your plan book is collected weekly, looked at by the principal, initialed, and returned, sometimes with a polite post-it note suggestion. If you are tenured, they are collected once a month and initialed by the principal. Check to see that you are within the guidelines of district policy and/or state educational law. It's OK to write that you are going to do something, and don't do it on that day or time, but you must show when you got to it, or be ready to justify why not!

[neale68]

After getting burned my first year of teaching, I keep lesson plans on my desk. I also turn in a copy of my plans when they are requested. I do keep a folder of the plans just in case the principal wants to see them.

I teach at a Catholic school (now) and my principal is pretty easy going about plan books. However, when I taught in public school, they were very particular about how you kept your plans and where. AND when they were turned in...I think it was Monday morning. It's been so long, I can't even remember!

My principal also doesn't collect them at the end of the year. She might take a gander at the books, but we can keep our plans. I keep mine on the computer now. It was nice this year, because I could go back and kind of repeat what I did last year.

As for sub plans, if I know I'm going to be absent, I write the plans out in detail. Some subs have said they don't have any difficulty reading my short version with the exception of some of my abbreviations. I write the objective, purpose, and assessment. That's about it. I've been teaching the same grade for awhile, so I think I've got the hang of it.:cool2: