My copy of Jim Burke’s handy teacher’s planner, The Teacher’s Daybook, arrived this week.  I mentioned previously that the planner had been published before July in the past, but this year was released on July 10, and I wondered why.  It turns out the planner runs from August to July for this year, and my guess would be that the change is permanent.  I would imagine the change was made because most schools start in August and it makes more sense for that to be the beginning of the year, but it leaves previous Daybook users with a month-long gap for this year.  It’s not a terribly big deal, except that I have a meeting on Tuesday, and I like to have things like that written down in my planner in the proper place.  And yes, I am a little OCD.

The weekly calendars have been revamped, and time will have to tell about whether I like it or not.  The old calenders had more space, which was good for me because I usually have four or five preps, and the large space made dividing my preps easier.  The smaller spaces will possibly still work for me.  If you are a teacher with one prep (and if you are, I hate you — not really — I’ve had one prep before and still hated my job), you should love the change.

Anyway, Jim Burke is ten kinds of awesome, and if you are an English teacher (or really, just a teacher), do yourself a favor and check out his Web site.  He is the graphic organizer king.