INDIVIDUALIZED TEACHER PLANNERS: DO THEY REALLY WORK?

Why are individualized planners the way to go in education? How do you know personalized planners can change mindset? Why would you mentor staff or teach students using planners?  Why can’t you just pull random planners off the Internet? Planners create more work for teachers, why do we need to use them? Questions that I have been asked before, and aside from the fact that I have seen the impact of properly designed planners firsthand at schools, individualized planners are used every day for purposes outside of education and in various contexts and no one blinks an eye because they work.

Imagine you and a group of your close friends are going on a diet – whether it’s the Keto Diet, Weight Watchers, Atkins, etc. is irrelevant. Each person in your circle of friends has a different weight-loss goal, ranging from 20 pounds to 60 pounds. Each person has a different body type and current diet. Some of you exercise, some of you don’t. Now imagine you’ve all signed up for a diet plan, and each one of you was given the same meal planner without considering your individual needs, without regard for your current weight loss goals, fitness regime, eating habits, etc. Does that seem right? Would you and your circle of friends accept this? No, of course not. And what if your meal plans were never adjusted throughout your diets, if week after week, your food and calorie intake never changed …. would the diet work? Perhaps, perhaps not, but what is certain is that you would never learn new recipes and never gain deeper nutritional understanding on how to manage your diet.

Meal plans are just one instance where individualized planners are used outside the context of education, they are also used by other professionals such as personal trainers, life coaches, business consultants, etc. If you were to hire any of these experts to help you reach your desired goals, they would provide you with a personalized planner. They would mentor you and guide you through modifications to your planner as needed to help you learn and grow. Providing clients with cookie-cutter or random planners would simply not do. Each one must be specifically designed.

To answer the question of planners changing mindset, over time and continued use, they will. No one changes their lifestyle in an instant; to improve your health you need to follow the meal plan, your fitness plan, etc. To instill change in your mindset takes work and commitment, but if you keep with it, eventually it will become second nature to buy healthy foods at the grocery store, to avoid fast food, to exercise on a regular basis, etc. You will lose the weight and it keep it off.

Now let’s move back to the context of education. Take a closer look at your school – some staff are mainstream teachers, some are specialists, some have split-classes, some are new to teaching, some are close to retirement, etc. Now look at the planners being used – is everyone using the same one? Are staff members randomly pulling planners off the Internet? Do the planners ever change to meet your school’s growing needs or an individual’s? Has anyone ever been mentored using the planners?

Personalized planners are one of the most powerful tools a school has at its disposal. Are they proven to work? Absolutely. When planners are designed within the context of an Educational Framework, they can shift mindset and assist in creating a cohesive teaching and learning culture. They can be used to push the growth of staff and students in their personal learning journeys. They are the key to elevating education to the next level.

Further Reading

The Power of Planners
Is YOUR School Suffering from Planner Malfunction?
How to Use Planners as a Tool for Mentoring Teachers
Using Planners to Change Mindset
The Role of Planners in Curriculum Mapping
Different Planning Solutions for Your School

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