A few reasons I moved to using Google Calendar:
This post is not mean to provide a "How To" for using Google Calendar or promote any one type of planner, rather give you some ideas on how I stay organized with options for you to explore! You can check out G Suite here to learn about Google Calendar. (No affiliation.)
- My school is a Google for Education school and therefore everyone has Gmail and Google Calendar. I have access to my administrators' schedules which makes planning team meetings efficient. I can invite staff to a meeting and usually am notified instantly whether I have everyone available for the chosen meeting. The amount of time it saves me is priceless. No more running down the halls trying to check calendars.
- My calendar alerts me when I need to be at meetings! Yes, I do still check and keep a list on my weekly checklist; however, a little pop-up never hurts...and often helps!
- I can share events with family and friends just by inviting them to share my calendar. This is ever so helpful with my family life. It's divide and conquer time in my household and having grandparents ready to pick up or drop off a child when I'm overbooked is priceless.
- It's available on my phone, tablet, computer and watch so there is no need to dig for the paper calendar or run to get it!
I no longer use a paper calendar; however, it you still find this helpful, I have included a write-in any year calendar with large date boxes for writing in my SLP Planner product.
Paper Resources in my Binder/Planner:
- Caseload List: I've always created my caseload list in Excel (or now Google Sheets) with boxes for documenting dates each quarter. I type in the annual review and triennial evaluation dates per quarter and also use this for marking when interims and progress reports are complete for each student.
- Workload Documents: I like to keep some workload documents in my binder for reference and record keeping. I've definitely streamlined the quantity over the years. Some of my must haves include:
- Testing Logs-Initial and Reevaluation Logs
- Screening/Response to Intervention Logs
- CEU Log
- Year at a Glance Calendar
- Themes/Ideas Lesson Planner Page
Since streamlining, I keep my billing documentation on my weekly schedule (which is kept on my clipboard).
Digital & Paper Combined:
I found that I needed a few forms that were digitally FILLABLE for quick creation on a more weekly basis. I used Adobe Acrobat to make my PDF forms fillable so I can bring them up on my computer for weekly adjusting and printing.
- Weekly Planning Checklist
- Weekly Lesson Planning
These forms are also included in my SLP Planner and can be viewed in the preview if you wish to create your own!
What items are necessary in your SLP planner/binder? Have you moved to a digital calendar yet?
