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I have previously written about various learning delivery systems (LMSs, portfolios, blogs, WebQuests, etc.). Today, as I wrap my brain around how we will eventually weave our wellness program into the curriculum and fabric of my school, another delivery system comes to mind- the student planner.

As I have not been a classroom teacher for quite some time, I am unfamiliar with what present-day student planners look like and how schools use them beyond the conventional use of writing down assignments.

I searched for digital examples of planners but did not find much more than calendars with to-do lists and some goal-setting sections. When I searched for images, I came up with more. For example, the following image captures my ideas of embedding study skills into the planner.

 

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The photo below gives another idea of helping students with their self-understanding. The inclusion of learning instruments infers the idea of students having a learning toolkit that connects to my Personal Learning System(PLS) blog posts and the PLS section of Web Resources for Learning.

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I don’t want to embarrass myself too much with my lack of knowledge around planners with you, the reader, saying, “David, your ideas have been in use for 20 years!”. Thus, I will offer a few broad ideas, followed by further research on how schools support learning with student planners. I would love to have readers use the comment tool to post how their schools use planners beyond calendars, to-do lists, and homework recordings. 🙂

So my big, and I am sure the old idea, is to put on a designer cap to use the planner to support learning school-wide or divisional initiatives and programs. Examples are the school mission and values, life skills (i.e., wellness, SEL, Habits of Mind, etc.), study skills, Information and Communication Literacies (ICL), field trip support, etc. With many schools providing student portfolios, one may leave the traditional curriculum scaffolding to the portfolios and the LMS. This could provide the usual structure of question prompts for learning reflection, learning goals, resource links, whole units as learning modules, WebQuests, etc.

A second big and probably not doable idea would be to make the planners personal- to give students some choice in the design and content. Form a design team to outline the sections of the planner with clear connections to the initiatives, programs, themes, skills, etc., that the staff wants to promote. The next step would be to differentiate by giving students a choice over design features such as color, theme, layout, and other format aspects. The customization continues around the themes, skills, etc., where students can have their interests (talk about personalized learning!) and guide them through adding more content pages on topics that interest them in their learning. 

An example could be the Character Lab strengths and overall wellness, with students having a basic FYI for each strength with a choice to add more in-depth content with more pages. Health outside of school, regarding diet, sleep, getting outdoors, physical activities, etc., would be high on my list to help students build routines and healthy habits. There also could be a planner section dedicated to learning outside of school with listings on how to volunteer, apply for a job, design family outings, etc.

I have been working with a high school student to design a wellness app with modules for PERMAH, Character Strengths, goal-setting, etc. You will need to differentiate between your wellness app and the wellness aspect of your planner if your school does both. 🙂

Yes, one reason for the improbability of this endeavor is the time, knowledge, and money it would take. This is where I wonder if any companies make student planners who are already or thinking about going into the growing personalization market. If you can go online to customize your sneakers, a company can work with a school to create a website with the desired format and content choices for students to log into and design their planners. This sort of gets at my idea of teachers hiring an “information broker” to gather content, lesson ideas, and resources to design their units of study.

The education market can be lucrative, with companies like SeeSaw for portfolios and SchoolBuddy for afterschool activity management finding their niches. So there may be companies out there moving into the personal planner market. Adding to the customization would be offering both a paper and app version of the planner for further individualization.