Champion Of The Old-Fashioned Planner

Thirteen years ago, when I came to Yavneh, Advisory class was born.  We immediately identified time management as a unit that the students needed to ensure their success in school and in life.   I met with a woman from a company called Golden Guide and we designed a planner for the Yavneh student. We were proud of the product.  It contained room for every subject our students have and facilitated short-term and long-term planning.  Our middle school students soon grew to expect each year in August that they would receive their Yavneh planner the first day of school.

As the years progressed, parent locker came into our lives.   All the homework was posted. Students said “Why do we need to write down our homework? I just need to look on parent locker.” And, so, we explained, that they need to write down their homework anyway so that when they pack up at the end of the day, they know what they need to bring home.  Second, our goal was to train them for life.  When they have a job one day, their boss is not going to e-mail them a list of projects they need to work on.  They need to learn how to write down what they have to do themselves.  We, therefore, kept the planner lessons in Advisory. We stressed that parent locker was just that- for parents.  

Then came the iPads. Each child was given an iPad.  The old-fashioned planner was obsolete. And, yet, the two arguments above still rang true. We then taught the students how to use an app called MyHomework, which was sort of an on-line planner.  But, before we knew it, MyHomework was obsolete as well. Google classroom became the rage, and our teachers soon were all using it in class. Last year we began training the students on how to effectively use their google calendar to plan, prioritize and keep track of their work and after-school activities. We are in the process of doing the same with our sixth graders this year in Advisory.

Even I, a creature of habit, (or a prehistoric being), gave up my paper and pencil planner and moved towards google calendar.  With all the invites, and repeating events, it had its draw.   But, this year, I went to the store, and once again bought my paper and pencil planner to supplement my on-line calendar.  Why? And, are there any benefits for our children to still have an old-fashioned planner?

Michael Grothhaus, in his article, “What Happens When I Ditched My Smartphone For A Paper Planner” shared that a planner forces a person to slow down and write more mindfully, and plan with more intent.  

One thing that people maintain as the benefit of using an app instead of a planner are the notifications.  Interestingly enough, people often say that after using a paper planner for some time, notifications may not be necessary.  It is as if your memory begins to improve. When getting notifications, your memory need not work that hard and “goes to sleep.” There are those who even say that they can visualize where they wrote certain items in their planner- as we know that the physical act of writing does imprint more deeply than the act of adding something to your google calendar. The actual act of writing stimulates areas of the brain which is involved in clarifying information more. We know that there is a plethora of research which indicates that note-taking with pen and paper commits what one writes more to memory and allows for more processing of the information. (Of course, there are pluses of note-taking on a device as well).  

Then there is the distractibility of the technology use. You’re just checking google classroom and before you know it, you are buying those new boots you were thinking about or watching that youtube video your friend shared with you.  The planner has no such distractions. In general, we have so much screen time nowadays that it is never a bad idea to cut down on screen time. 

Even if students do not buy the old-fashioned notion of a planner, a calendar in a child’s iPad cannot take the place of a hard copy calendar hanging on a child’s wall (or a to-do list), which is staring in his/her face as he/she does homework. We do teach our students in Advisory how to prioritize using google calendar, but there is nothing like physically making a list in order of importance,  and crossing off items as they are completed.

One more item for us Shomrei Shabbat.  I have started printing out evites for Shabbat affairs and hanging them on my bulletin board, as who can remember what is on that google calendar?  

One last shout out to our sixth-grade parents.  I really do believe that whether in a planner, or in their notebooks, it is a good idea for students to write down their homework as the teachers assign it in the moment.  Aside from the arguments above, it helps our students feel more in control and on top of their work, rather than waiting for the parent locker e-mail to arrive.  Especially our children who are organizationally challenged, I believe this is a good step towards learning how to organize themselves, and not simply waiting for their parents to organize them.  Every year there are a few students, (who must have “old souls”), who ask me “Are we getting planners this year?” Rather than view them as “old souls” I view them as kindred spirits who are on the path to taking charge of their time management. 

Advisory Update:

Sixth Grade:  Tuesday’s groups discussed a plan for success in middle school. Thursday’s groups completed their Time Management Unit.

Seventh Grade:  Students finished a unit on communication skills, focusing on I statements and how to avoid behaviors that impede good communication.

Eighth Grade:  Students focused on the application to high school and what to look for, and how to act on a Student Visit Day to a high school.