CREATING A STUDENT PLANNER FOR DISTANCE LEARNING

For many students, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has meant school closures and the cancellation of after-school activities, heralding the end of any sense of normalcy in students’ routines and necessitating the creation of new schedules that center around home learning; which for some was easier than for others. Given the unpredictable circumstances, no one can say for sure what school will look like next year, and it’s quite possible that remote learning will continue in some capacity and for unknown length of time.  As such, you as a teacher may once again be faced with the task of helping students organize themselves at home which – good news for you – can easily be done by providing them with a weekly cut-out planning template that would allow learners to feel empowered and in control of their schedules. And how would one create such a template? By following the steps below!

Step 1: Gather Your Team

First things first, before beginning the design of your template, you will need to gather your team, including mainstream, specialist and support staff for a particular class to discuss the information you would like to include on your cut-out template. For the purposes of this article, imagine that the teaching team for a grade 5 class has deemed the following information essential:

• Zoom call schedule
• Approximate time frame for each assignment
• Objectives for each lesson/assignment
• Tips for completing assignments
• Links to online resources
• Where to find other materials
  

Step 2: Create Your Cut-Outs

After your initial meeting, the next step will involve designing a set of cut-outs for team members to fill in on a weekly basis. To give you an idea of what these could look like we have put together a set of cut outs that could be used by the grade 5 team and that would address their above-listed needs.

1. Cut-Outs for Zoom Calls: These cut-outs could be used to note Zoom call times and materials needed for each call.

2. Cut-Outs for Lessons: Cut-outs could be designed to indicate online lessons students should follow throughout the week and include space to note the duration of the lesson, its objectives, where to find it, and to list any required materials needed to complete the lesson.

3. Cut-Outs for Assignments: If assigning worksheets or pages from a textbook, cut-outs can be made that include the expected amount of time the assignment should take, its objectives, tips for completing it as well as where the materials can be found.

4. Cut-Outs for Projects: To assist students in budgeting their time when completing a long term project, cut-outs can be created that outline how much time should be spent working on the project on a daily basis and which parts of the project should be done each day.

The above examples serve to illustrate a few basic designs; it will be up to you and your team to create a set of cut-outs that best suit your needs and those of your learners.

Step 3: Create Your Template

With your cut-outs ready to go, the next step entails designing the template for students to glue them onto. This template does not have to be anything too fancy and need only include the days of the weeks and empty boxes as shown below.

Step 4: Set Guidelines

Once your template and cut-outs are complete, it’s a good idea for all to meet to discuss expectations for filling them in, and because your team will most likely involve Language and/or Learning Support staff, it’s also a good idea to establish guidelines for when mainstream and specialist teachers should have their cut-outs for the upcoming week filled in. For example, perhaps the expectation will be that mainstream and specialists should have their planning completed by Wednesday, giving support staff Thursday and Friday to create cut-outs with differentiated/scaffolded activities for their students.

Step 5: Communicate with Parents

Before implementing your new student planners, it would be helpful to communicate their purpose with parents and suggest tips for guiding their child in using them. You can provide them with a sample template so they can see what the end-product should look like.

Step 6: Trial the Template

As a team, consider running through a trial template via a Zoom call in which students practice cutting out set tasks for the week and arranging them as they see fit over the course of five days. At the end of the lesson, students could even share the schedule they created for themselves and explain their reasons for organizing things the way they did! Not only is it a fantastic sharing opportunity, but students can also provide their feedback and modifications to the template, which can be implemented by your team accordingly.

Step 7: Implementation

Once students and parents are clear on the purpose of the templates and how they are to be used, it’s full steam ahead! And as the templates are being implemented, it’s good idea to follow up with students to see how they are coming along with them and to meet as a team to discuss any further modifications that may need to be made to the cut-outs – perhaps you feel the need to add more elements to them or create new ones for additional teaching/learning scenarios that may arise, etc.

And with these simple steps you will have provided a means for your students to take control of their schedules, which in these uncertain times can make a huge difference as learners will have some semblance of structure during their days of learning from home! Has your team created a cut-out student template? If so, what did you come up with? We’d love to see your ideas!

Further Reading

Ensuring Relevance and Purpose in Learning
How to Use Planners as a Learning Tool for Students
Creating a Collaborative Planning Template
Helping Parents Become Co-Teachers
8 Steps to Setting Up a Classroom