A third bitly into bullet journaling for teaching: curriculum pacing logs
The journey through my most-used teaching bullet journal page layouts winds on. A journey many folks have requested.
I already shared how my meeting logs work as pages I can quickly scan, skim and reference.
I also walked through a thinking layout: my lesson plan outlines spread. These spreads think through a lesson as I make the spread. Connecting ideas instead of a skimmable reference.
This week: the inner workings of a curriculum log. Where project management, scheduling, and curricular standards hang out together.
Curriculum pacing logs. [You’re here. Huzzah.]
Task management: monthly brainstorms and weeklies.
Curriculum pacing logs. Asymmetrical classes get schedule logs. Especially classes comprising lots of guest speakers or orchestration with colleagues.
Orchestration demands flexibility. Dates change as availabilities change. And in schools, those changes happen constantly. So pencil is the most appropriate choice for recording and updating an analog pacing log.
Or going digital — which is an altogether different post. So let’s focus on analog pacing logs.
The organization of my pacing logs draws heavily on what bullet journalers call a future log. A vertical calendar of dates extend weeks or months into the future. All in a column down the left side of the page.
The dateline is the primary feature of my pacing log as well. I list all of the dates my class is scheduled to meet down the dateline. Separated into monthly groupings to encourage accurate skimming when I reference the list in the future.
Monthly numbers to the left-left. Daily dates to the less-left-left.
I leave the column to the right the separator line empty for aesthetics. Hey. We all deserve some pretty in our lives.
The next column is my status marker. It contains one of three symbols. A question mark signifies I have reached out to the needed person and am awaiting confirmation that the date I’ve written in works for everyone who needs to be present to teach a given lesson.
An X denotes that I’ve successfully delivered the lesson. Officially done-did.
Or the column is blank. Blank highlights for me that there is work yet to be done in designing the lesson.
My log contains short-form titles of the lessons I plan on that row’s assigned date. For example, I ran a lesson on proper paraphrasing techniques on October 13.
Plagiarism bad. Paraphrasing good.
I also thread lesson titles with search codes. Codes like “CC3” and “HL1” tell me the key phrases I can search on my computer to bring up the resources I’ll need for that day’s lesson.
All told, my analog pacing logs help me to arrange, rearrange, and sequence lessons across large units of time. Months and marking periods. Project management light — for an educator.
All through the tip of my current-favorite pencil: the Mitsubishi 9850. In race car red.
Or maybe they all come in red?
This week’s Inked Tines update includes last week’s currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. No individual pen and ink combination proved an out-and-out standout this last week. Honestly, I enjoyed them all differently. A successful currently inked.
Jinhao x159 (EF) — Empty. Reliable and consistent. The nib size may play a role in the burping I experienced once I was down to only ink in the feed. Daily driver. Task management, scratch notes, meeting notes, reading notes.
Able Snail Classic Large (B) — 1/4. I adore this pen. The pen-and-ink pairing proved slightly dry, which brought out Napa’s great shading. Excellent for longform and medium-forum writing. Journaling, poetry, and some scratch notes.
TWSBI Vac700R (F CSI) — 1/3. A dry pairing over time. As such, an excellent notetaker for precise, detailed writing. And a bright color that suited accent notes well. Reading notes, journaling, meeting notes, and some scribbling.
Mythic Aeschylus (M Long Knife) — 2/3. A wet ink and a sharp nib grind make for a mighty fun combo. Excellent shading that encouraged me to write longer than I otherwise would have. Journaling, reading notes, and some teaching notes.
Parker Vacumatic (F) — 2/3. An excellent small pocket carry — for a blazer pocket. I distrust the aged threads in a pant pocket. Consistent, reliable notes in a readable F line width. Pocket notes, meeting notes, reading notes, some scratch notes.
Carolina Charlotte (B) — 4/5. A wet and wild writer. Garland’s sheen dominates any page I write on. As such, this pair is wonderful for lecture notes, accenting meeting notes I’d like to migrate into my task list, and — simply — for fun writing tasks. The B lines also accommodate sloppy writing form over the course of long writing sessions. Journaling, lecture notes, meeting notes, some poetry, and teaching reflections.
Notebooks. Work bujo. Odyssey Neptune 400 TR (A5). A short two-day work week led to six more pages in my work bullet journal. An adapted weekly, two pages of scratch notes from designing lesson webpages, a page of reading notes, and meeting notes from the weekly meeting of my students’ genders-sexualities alliance — which I advise.
Notes in shiny, sheeny Garland
Next week week will begin on page 214. Over halfway complete within the Odyssey’s 400 total pages. Quick progress for three months of teaching.
I’m already considering my next teaching bujo purchase. The subject of a forthcoming reflection post.
Back to last week’s workflow.
I chose a one-page “weekly” task list. Two days of tasks and scheduled meetings should fit snugly on just one page given the best-fit of a two-page spread during my usual five-day work weeks. The single page worked well. A successful guess.
An identical weekly layout kept me focused on my teaching. I knew where all of the major parts of my layout were going to be on the page. Except I only sketched out the left-side page.
Left hand of darkness … in dark grey ink
Two days of tasks live above a third “later” section. The later section replaces my typical Wednesday tasklists. Flex-ibility.
And no lesson plan outlines.
Journal. Endless Recorder Regalia in Mountain Snow (A5). Ten new pages this past week. Six pages of reflections in paragraph form. Four pages of ink experiments: writing samples, ink swatches and nib-and-ink scribblings. The Odyssey ends the week on page 64.
Wednesday’s journal entry is two-pages long. I thought through my upcoming trip to the PoCC and SDLC conferences next week. The TWSBI’s F CSI nib processed every aspect of the trip: from session choices to dinner plans with colleagues to wardrobe.
Lots of planning, itty-bitty line width
Kaigelu’s Long Knife nib carried the burden of Thursday morning’s journaling. A crisp architect-ish grind that is akin to writing with an ice-skate blade. The thin vertical lines and M-width horizontal lines brought out Shirakashi’s excellent shading.
Deep-dark and grassy-green, together at last
Four additional pages are full of lists, scribblings and scratchings. Testing new inks and new nibs and new combinations thereof are fun for me. And recording my new experimentations leave a log that is fun to return to when I finish the notebook.
Written dry. Uno. One. The largest and narrowest nib in my currently inked ran dry while comparing planners with my partner on Sunday morning. One victory is still a victory worth celebrating.
The Jinhao succumbed after two weeks as my daily driver. No complaints.
Newly inked. The excitement of my Able Snail’s arrival last week bled into this week. Excitement bred contentment.
So I was content with my inked outfit. Dig it.
The collection
Incoming / new orders. No new purchases this week.
Outgoing / trades or sales. My collection is static following last week’s sale.
Currently reading and listening
Fiction. I read the final three chapters of Bill McCurry’s Death’s Collector on Sunday. Novels are a challenging medium for humor — especially sarcasm. McCurry’s humor just didn’t land for me. No judgment. To each their own.
I quickly pivoted back to Sanderson’s ending to the Wheel of Time series. Reading came easy. And I appreciated Robert Jordan’s penchant for abbreviated summary at the beginnings of his novels. It’s been over a decade since I read a Wheel of Time novel.
Six chapters flew by over the course of the week. 15% of the book, according to Apple’s Book app. 127 iPhone-sized pages. I’m enjoying my reintroductions to Jordan’s ensemble cast of characters. Fiction should flow freely.
Nonfiction. My nonfiction sat desk-side once again. Alas, aghast, and forgivable. I enjoyed my time spent reading fiction last week.
Music. Chillhop Music’s compilation of lo-fi winter mixes, First Snow, has played over and again all week. Songs that feel Iike winter to me.
The playlist also worked well as a soundtrack for my early-morning and after-work walks. And even as an exercise soundtrack. Three cheers for versatility.
