It took me a while but after nearly a semester and a half, I think I have a good notebook setup for teaching, planning lessons and staying organized. I can honestly tell you that it was a slow development to create and even now, I’m planning on tweaking my next notebook for the upcoming new school year.

My teaching notebook is pretty much a bullet journal for school things only. Maybe the occasional note will be written in there, but it’s usually connected to either, school or teaching. I’m going to just show pictures of my current system but when I get the new journal done and ready, I think that it will make more sense in a video!

So for a little background about me, I teach Listening & Speaking English at a middle school in Central Korea. I may have between three to six classes at day and I teach about 600 students a week. That means I have to really stay organized about what lessons I’m teaching for each grade and what supplies I need to bring with me to my
classroom. My detailed lesson plans are on my Google Docs, but things like keeping a schedule, notes for future lesson plans or ideas for summer camp, I write down in the notebook.

I’m using this (and will be using a similar one) 5 tab Notebook I order months ago off of Coupang (Link Here). I made a couple of mistakes at the beginning, but it’s working out well so far. Inside the front cover I have my current semester class schedule. As you can see, Tuesdays are my longest days with 6 different classes to teach. I can only say, at least my last two are 1st years and they are very lively.

The next two pages have notes like important dates, important worksheets I need to make and how many students I have for each class. It also contain my Key, however in my next notebook I’m planning on adding A-Year-At-A-Glance Log to keep track of future events and dates. I might add in a Index Page, but I’m not sure how often I’ll
use that.

The next pages starts a very important section for me: My Weekly Lesson Schedule. This will be again going into my notebook since I find it works great. I have each page blocked off with each day of the day, each period and class. As you can see lessons are written in pencil due to the fact that sometimes I unexpectedly have a class cancelled or changed. Writing it in pencil make it easier to change if need be. Just for reference, NC means No Class and I have Saturday and Sunday on each page just in case of a teacher’s retreat or event.

The opposite page I currently keep as a weekly notes, Lesson ideas, or special events going on that week. Next year I’m adding a new section that’s I will need to keep track of next school year.

The next tab is where I keep track of each Textbook lesson chapters for all 3 years. This way I am able to just quickly glance at what each lesson is going to be about. I write down all the key expressions the students will be using and what I think the lesson focus is. After that, are my notes, activities and game ideas that might work with that particular lesson and grade. This really was helpful when I had days where I don’t teach and need to work on future lessons. If I come across an idea, I could quickly find the lesson and attached or write it near the lesson. This is also where I wrote down ideas for my speaking exams.

The next two tabs are pages that have lists, cultural lessons or game activities to consider. The green tab is for regular classes while the teal tab is for Summer or Winter Camp ideas. I keep them separate so that I know where different games or lesson plans can be worked in. These two tabs are really just my Brain Dump pages and I occasionally flip through them when I’m looking for an activity idea or game.

The last tab was going to be a calendar or monthly spread page, but it never got to that point. I just started filling in the pages with more ideas that are not really connected to my lesson plans or school activities. As you can see, it’s mostly used to jot down notes on things I would need for a Bullet Journal. I’ve already started working on my Teacher’s Notebook for next year. I’ve only done the front couple of pages, but once I have finished I’ll put a new post or video about it. Hope this helps anyone looking for a simple way to keep organized with their lesson plans and classes. Until next time…

안녕히 가세요, jane*