Why Circular Planning Works For Teachers and Administrators

Have you ever scheduled a field trip on the same day as the history teacher scheduled an exam? Has a student ever told you they didn’t have time to study because they had a big playoff game the night before? Have you planned an entire day’s lesson and then realized it was a teacher workshop day with no class? Have you ever noticed students had two major projects due in different classes on the same day?

I’m sure one or all of these things have happened to you during your teaching career because there was no easy way to plan for something like this. You don’t have access to other teacher’s or department’s schedules, and if you do, it is difficult to look over their entire year calendar to figure out what they are doing and when. And what happens when they make changes? Are they supposed to send out a notice to to every teacher letting them know?

Plandisc: The Danish Planning Tool

Plandisc, a Danish technology company, has solved this problem for teachers in the U.K., Sweden, and Norway, and is now expanding their offering to North America. Plandisc is a circular planning tool. It shows the activities, dates, events, and plans for one calendar year within a “ring” of a circle and updates in real-time when administrators make changes.

 

How Plandisc Helps Simplify Planning

  • The Principal’s assistant creates a ring with the school’s annual calendar. This ring includes vacations, holidays, teacher workshops, board meetings, etc.
  • Then, the head of the Athletic Department creates a ring with the athletic schedule. This ring includes tryouts, practices, and a schedule of games or matches.
  • Next, teachers can add their own rings with their lesson plans. This ring includes quizzes, tests, field trips, project due dates, etc.

Plandisc then allows everyone to see all the rings together in one large circle. Teachers can look for overlap in their schedules with the other rings and make sure the students have an equal and manageable work load at all times.

Need more reasons why Plandisc’s circular planning is needed in your school?

  • You can post a live version to your school’s website, an Intranet, etc. for everyone to have access to.
  • You can make any updates to your ring and it will update on everyone else’s as well.
  • You can be inspired and learn from the lesson plans of other teachers.

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