Reddit mentions: The best calendars & planners for teachers

The first couple months are going to be the most difficult with the whole medication balancing act. On the bright side, most people have to switch doctors a few times before they find one that isn't a complete idiot, so you already have a leg up!

One thing I wish I had started earlier was keeping a log of everything. This is the pad I am using: http://uedata.amazon.com/-GLANCE-Professional-Planner-Collection-YP110A-49/dp/B00UCC2FLI (I see it's not available anymore, damn.)

Anyway, I write objective observations about myself as well as keep a to-do list and track taking my meds. I write what time I went to bed and what time I woke up, any exercise I did, anything that happened out of the ordinary (and if you are a lady, I would track your lady time). On the year calendar view, I cross a red X on bad days, a green X on good days, yellow X on average days, and a black X on manic days. It helps to have a visual representation of how your moods rise and fall. (There are also apps that do this if you're not a pen and paper type. I find having something physical on my desk is harder to ignore.) And if you notice a pattern, you can look back to see if anything you did that day or the day before triggered a mood swing or contributed to a string of good days.
On Sunday night, I review the week. Any important notes that I took I retype so I can access them quickly if needed later on. Anything on the to-do list that did not get done gets carried over. And I make a general judgment as to how the week went, and try to come up with something constructive I can try to make the next week better. For example, if I see that a couple nights I went to bed really late or ate junk food and that turned into depression, when I write in my next week's dates I'll write a reminder note to try to get consistent sleep and resist sugar cravings. This is especially helpful if you are having side effects from medications, because when you go several weeks between appointments you may forget or misremember exactly how you were feeling the whole time. And on Sunday night, after I've done this analysis and prepared myself for the next week, I rip the previous week out and keep it in that month's file folder. I keep every single day's worth of notes just for reference. Keeping a paper trail of your life will set you up for success. You need to become an expert at yourself, and it's really empowering once you get the hang of it!

And trust me, I've been where you are. Nobody comes with the natural ability to cope with this condition, so don't feel bad that you haven't got it all under control. The fact that you are seeking help and giving the meds a try is a HUGE indicator that you are on the right path!

Other suggestions I have are to figure out your minimum calories and your optimal macro breakdown. Some days, I get it, I can't eat enough either. But make the effort whenever you can and you will see a huge benefit in how you think and feel. Same goes for exercise; when your body is all out of whack you gotta take baby steps. Honestly some days, the best effort I can give is a couple minutes of stretching - but it's better than nothing. I find yoga to be very beneficial, even if it's just super casual stretching with an emphasis on controlling your breathing. You might find yoga or meditation to be a good place to turn when you are having those angry/frustrating/harmful moods. And I think you will find once you start to get these other things in place, sleep will take care of itself.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the concept of mindfulness, but look into it if you're not. It's another one of those skills you have to hone that will make coping with the bad days much easier. Because no matter what you do, you will always have bad days. Honestly though, in a few months when you find your meds start to click, and you get your habits and routines a little more solid, you'll find that everything you have to do to take care of yourself is almost cathartic in a way.

I know that was A LOT of info, I apologize for the Great Wall of Text! If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask, I'd love to help in any way I can. :)

I've posted about this here before, but: I do this for myself already and couldn't recommend the method more. I have an extra large planner on my desk at work that I fill with things I accomplished during the day. I started it a few years ago when I started getting frustrated at how few items I was crossing off my daily to-do lists and feeling like I was not being very effective.

I find the list has increased morale, made me better at understanding my job, made me better at estimating task lengths and estimating how much slip I should be building into deadlines to accommodate unexpected emergencies. I've also gotten much better at recognizing what kinds of disruptive tasks are likely to sandbag me, and at curating my To Do list since I have a clearer understanding of how much I am realistically able to get done.

Bonus points: by meticulously documenting what I've accomplished, I can argue my value more capably.

I like this brand/size and have used it three years in a row: https://www.amazon.com/Orange-Circle-Studio-Spiral-Planner/dp/B0791TX259/

I would personally recommend keeping a done list (in a planner, a specific notebook, whatever -- but something personal and accessible to you) over posts in a subreddit or in a daily sticky thread.

Reasons:

• how much does being on reddit really aid your productivity, really?
  
• if you want to refer back to the data for any reason (arguing for a raise, tracking productivity over time, trying to reconcile to-do lists with done lists as I have) it will be easier to have the data immediately available from your records rather than distributed elsewhere, particularly if it's on something like a daily sticky thread that might be difficult to go back and find
  
• shorthand/ease of use/potential for sensitive information. I can jot down "call w Scott re: DA" and I'll know what I was talking about; if you're going to be posting your accomplishments publicly, you may find you need to explicate more than you're entirely comfortable with or not be able to take credit for accomplishments you wouldn't feel comfortable posting about.

I'm studying International Economics at North Carolina A&T State University! It wasn't my choice to go there at first, but I'm happy to go back for my sophomore year.

I'll be pretty busy going into the next semester, a new planner would help me tremendously!!!

You don't know how hard it was to not post the giant box of cookies that I also have on my WL! LOL :p

I do have way too much time on my hands since going part-time at my job and know that I still would never put that much effort into a bullet journal. I love looking at other people's though--so many creative and beautiful entries.


For me, planners like this and this or this serve the best purpose.

Might not tick all of your boxes, but I’ve used one of these in the past. A bit utilitarian and old school, but certainly better than flowers and WAY better than fucking apples and chalkboards.

For 4 or 5 years, I printed a roster from Excel to use for attendance and another for grades. I found that in a messy art room ,I was much more comfortable doing it all on paper, and then transferring it to the electronic gradebook on my school-issued laptop when I was clean. The Excel roster had drawbacks, and I eventually switched to this pre-made one that resolved most of the issues I was having.

Thank you! It’s actually a planner! I also have the journals. It would be this one

Planner

Journal

and there's a matching dayplanner and agenda *_*

bloom daily planners Undated Academic Year Teacher Planner - Lesson Plan Calendar Book - 9" x 11" - Watercolor Floral https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0747SXL1H/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_4a4gDbSKEZT9Z

I’ve used this one for the past three years.

Not sure how many preps you have, but this year I just drew lines down the weekly pages for the 3 that I had. $15 and it was big enough to hold random papers I needed.

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sky-2017-2018-Twin-Wire-Enterprise/dp/B06W9NSZ73/ref=sr_1_7?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1497038467&sr=1-7&keywords=academic+planner+2017-2018

It's a good idea to focus on yourself and make lists everyday of things that you want to accomplish to get yourself where you need to be. I'm 30 now, and this is my first year using a planner--I highly recommend it. I was terrible and planning anything ahead of time, and so I didn't get a whole lot done. Now, I'll add things that I want to do for the week on Sundays, and then also add extra things for the next day each evening. It has really helped me get my shit in order, and is just another way of imposing discipline and living a more deliberate life.

Do it for yourself, not to get her back--that ship has sailed. Don't be too hard on yourself for relapsing; break ups are extremely stressful.

I must have this planner. It would make returning to school in the fall so much easier.

I got my username from Neopets...I think I should probably check on my pets...Nah, they are probably dead.