Author: Alina B.
Anyone who teaches probably knows how chaotic and time-consuming lesson preparation can be: Students all have different needs that the lesson needs to be adapted to, individual tasks must be differentiated based on different performance levels, and you often get lost in a mess of materials, notes, and worksheets .
Additionally, between classes, parent-teacher meetings, and conferences, I often simply lacked the necessary time for preparation and organization. To get the chaos on my desk, and also in my head, under control, I urgently needed a new solution! 😌
🚀 Structure booster for your lessons
📅 Clear structure for your planning
While searching for a solution to my problem, I discovered the digital lesson planner . Since I started using it to plan my lessons, it's been much easier for me to keep track of things and be more organized !
The planner's structure is extremely well thought out: You can choose between planners with 1, 6, or 10 topics, so you can get the right planner for your specific subjects, depending on your needs. Furthermore, the digital lesson planner has 24 lesson topics per topic . This allows you to plan long lesson series clearly and further divide overarching topics into subcategories. This was particularly important to me when looking for a suitable solution so that I would have enough space for all my teaching materials and be able to store everything centrally in one place ! It doesn't matter which school you teach at: The digital U-Planner is suitable for use in both primary and secondary schools.
✍🏼️ Create worksheets directly in the planner
I find the feature that lets you easily create teaching materials in the planner using stickers from the "Worksheet Factory" particularly useful. Each lesson has a link where you can upload whiteboard images and worksheets —so it only takes one click to access all the materials! 🤩
💻⚡️Link presentations and work materials directly in the planner
If you use Goodnotes, you can add links to a previously created presentation, YouTube video, or film to your lesson plan. This allows you to start the lesson right away without having to spend time searching for the right page or file. This not only saves time in your daily teaching routine but also helps me work more efficiently .
Problems the lesson planner solves:
👋🏼📄 Adios note chaos
With the help of the digital lesson planner, I was finally able to better organize not only the clutter in my head, but also the chaos on my desk: Every lesson planning page contains practical links that allow you to jump directly to your worksheets, whiteboard images, and materials with just one click. Whereas before, I often had to search through countless folders to find the right worksheet, the digital lesson planner now saves everything in a single file , ready to hand.
🗓️⚡️Create your lesson plan once and access it anytime
Since I use lesson plans and teaching materials long-term, I find the undated annual overview on the homepage, which you can easily date yourself using the stickers, particularly helpful. This helps me keep track of the entire school year! The digital lesson planner is totally flexible, and you can start preparing lessons at any time. Furthermore, the planner doesn't expire like a dated calendar, which is usually only usable for a year. This means you only have to create the lesson plan once, and can then use it repeatedly as a basis for new learning groups, allowing you to truly use the time during the holidays to unwind instead of planning! 😌🏖️
And if you're wondering how you'll receive the new annual stickers: You'll receive them via email in subsequent years and can then easily insert them into your lesson planner.
🕖 Save time with the digital lesson planner
The digital lesson planner not only saves me time in preparation, but also makes the lessons themselves much more structured . I often found that lesson starts were chaotic because I had to search for the right materials first and didn't have enough time to prepare during breaks. A highlight for me is that I can easily link the materials I've stored in the lesson planner to my digital teacher calendar using Goodnotes – this gives me an even better overview! 💁🏼♀️
🎉✨ Lesson planning that's fun
While I used to often feel unmotivated to sit down at my desk and prepare lessons, I now really enjoy the process again ! Not only do I have a better overview, but I can also design worksheets, teaching materials, and overviews with practical templates and stickers—there are truly no limits to my creativity! 😍
🤔 Portrait or landscape format?
I spent a long time considering which format would work best for me, as I mostly create worksheets in portrait format . However, my recommendation for digital lesson planning with Goodnotes is still to plan in landscape format! This doesn't mean you can't save materials in portrait format – you just have to rotate them 90 degrees in Goodnotes, and they'll be displayed normally. It's also helpful to know that you can change the layout even after purchase if you're not satisfied with it. All you have to do is contact customer service, and your file can be replaced in the download.
🌈 Conclusion: Lesson planning made easy
I ca n't imagine my daily teaching life without the digital lesson planner ! Not only am I much more structured and organized , but I've also managed to work more efficiently. While the chaos on my desk often took the joy out of lesson preparation, I'm now really enjoying planning again. 🤩 So if you also feel that your lesson preparation is chaotic and no fun, and you're looking for a simple and clear solution, then try the digital lesson planner ! It really is perfect for all teachers who already have a tablet and want to do their planning digitally and in a structured way.
