My father was a deputy head and had a fairly messy desk, the genetic predisposition to which must have been passed on to me. However, he also had a little plaque, barely visible underneath the pile of papers, saying “A cluttered desk is a sign of genius”. Maybe so. But I’ve decided that now’s the time to fight back against the forest of paper I receive every day and that I use for my lesson planning. I’m going to use Google Calendar for my teaching admin. Read on… :-p

To cut to the chase, the advantages of using Google Calendar are:

• You don’t lose important pieces of paper
• You can set up reminders r.e. when to get things done by (even via SMS!)
• You can see at-a-glance what you need to do
• Lesson plans are tied to a specific time so you can go back and see what you’ve done
• You can access your planning from anywhere (well, anywhere with a network connection, that is…
• The ‘Comments’ section can be used for quick-and-easy lesson evaluation and notes.

There is, of course, one big disadvantage of doing this:

• If you lose your network connection, you’re screwed…

The most time-consuming part of setting up Google Calendar is entering when and where your lessons take place. This probably takes about half an hour. Make sure that you click on the option for your lesson to repeat weekly (if it does!). You should end up with something that looks like this:

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(note: I put in my free periods as well so that I can plan what to do in them!)

Once you’ve done this, simply click on the Click to add a description link. As you can see by looking at the image below, I make sure I put in what we covered in last lesson, along with my usual planning format.

Once the lesson has taken place, simply go back to Google Calendar and write any notes about the lesson you wish. For example, if a student should be moved somewhere else due to disturbing another student, if a student asked a question that you said you’d get back to them about, etc.

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As far as the admin that accompanies teaching goes, Google Calendar is a godsend. Simply add an All-day event if something needs to be completed by a certain day (for example reports) or as starting at a certain time if applicable. If you go into Calendar Settings and then Notifications you can add your mobile phone number. This means that (for free) Google will send you reminders by SMS, email, web pop-up – or any combination of these – about events you’ve entered into your calendar.

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What does this mean in practice? Any bits of paper I receive, other than those I have to actually write my response upon, I simply put in the recycling after entering the salient details to my calendar. Much more 21st-century… :) Please feel free to ask any questions, but bear in mind I’ve only just started doing this!

I’d also be very interested to hear from any folks who have set up calendars that are publically viewable and enable educators to collaborate. That’s where I’m heading next! :D