As a teacher, regardless of whether you use a paper or an electronic planner, there are several aspects that you need to attend to if you want to be productive (in a peaceful manner, that is). This article has some specific ways to use your planner to help this happen.

1. Block time for re-entry.

   If you have been out of the classroom (and/or home), you need time to "re-enter" or "re-cover." Whenever you are planning a professional trip, a vacation, or surgery, block out time on your planner for "re-entry." This allows you to process the email, voice mail, and paperwork that have accumulated during your absence.

2. Use a month-at-a-glance calendar or view

   Any good planner is going to give you a way of seeing your month at a glance. This feature gives you a "storyboard" of your month. You can keep chaos at bay by making sure that the month itself is reasonably balanced, even if particular days or weeks are not. As an educator, you could (potentially) avail yourself of a game, meeting, or other event every evening of the week. Take a look at your month-at-a-glance calendar to see whether you have already committed to enough (or too many) evening/weekend events before adding another one.

3. Use a week-at-a-glance calendar or view.

   Depending on your position, you may need to also have a week-at-a-glance page view so you know what is in the offing for the week. Most planners offer this feature as one of the options and some of them design their whole system around the weekly calendar, (e.g., Planner Pad).

4. Schedule time to answer emails and voice mails/phone messages.

   If you try to do a "catch as catch can" approach to handling emails and voice mails, you're always feeling out of control and "behind.". So schedule 30 minutes, 60 minutes, or whatever number of minutes you need to once or twice a day and handle the electronic messages that you need to. The key here is "schedule" that time. If you are a classroom teacher, avoid using your planning period to respond to email or voice mail. Generally, you are rushed and you would be better off to use that time on higher priority projects.

5. Schedule project time.

   Essentially all professionals have projects to work on as part of their responsibilities. We imagine that we will work on that project 'as we have a chance.' Good grief. Doesn't work too well, does it? Trying to do unit planning in little snitches and snatches is counterproductive. Schedule time to work on that project just like you'd schedule a meeting or some other type of appointment. And then keep that scheduled time sacrosanct.

6. Keep a running list of tasks in your planner.

   David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, recommends that these tasks be divided up by what type of tasks (e.g., phone, at computer, errands, etc.) Regardless of whether you follow that advice, do keep a list of things that you need to do in your planner. It's a great place to capture the idea and then you can always refer to your planner to see what else you need to/could be working on.

7. Make notes during meetings or other appointments.

   There's no sense in trying to "remember" what was said. Write it down. If you never need it, then no problem, but if you do, it's captured and you have a written record of what was said, decided, etc. There are times when the notes you made during a parent meeting will come in handy later. This is an understatement.

8. Keep your planner with you at all times. It's difficult to follow any of these suggestions if your planner is nowhere to be found (or if it's at work when you're at home, or vice versa).

I've been a planner hound for over half my life. I've tried most every kind and am always looking for new and better ways of using a planner (whether it's paper or electronic). Try at least one of the ideas from the list above that you've never tried before. See how it works, and then try another one when you're ready.

Educators have the most influential positions in our society--and need every bit of support that can be mustered.  Two resources that will help increase educators' sense of peaceful, predictable productivity are Meggin's weekly emails:

**Top Ten Productivity Tips

**Keys to Keeping Chaos at Bay

(c) 2007 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., "The Ph. D. of Productivity"(tm)

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do via seminars, workshops, writing, coaching, and consulting.  For additional information on Meggin's seminars, workshops, consulting, and coaching, visit Emphasis on Excellence.