Teacher calendar: what to look for when choosing one
A teacher calendar is more than a planner with a school year printed on it. It has to reflect your timetable, know your municipality's holidays and have room for everything that comes up in everyday school life: class lists, meetings, assessments. Here's what matters – and what off-the-shelf calendars usually can't do.
What belongs in a teacher calendar?
At its heart is the weekly overview: every lesson from your timetable has its fixed place, with room alongside for preparation, homework and notes. Then there's a year planner with calendar weeks, because many schools plan in calendar weeks, from term planning to parents' evenings. The holidays and days off school should be filled in from the start, so you don't have to work out every week whether there's school. Finally, you need additional pages for everything that comes up in everyday school life: class lists, meeting minutes, assessments and notes, so the calendar also works as a lesson planner. A good year planner thus covers your entire school year, from the first day of school to the summer holidays, without pages you'll never use.
Typically Swiss: holidays by municipality
Switzerland has no nationwide uniform holiday schedule – dates differ from canton to canton and often even from municipality to municipality. A good calendar for teachers has to reflect this. That's why you enter your school's holidays and days off yourself in the configurator, instead of relying on a fixed German holiday calendar. Your planner is printed and bound Swiss Made, with prices in Swiss francs and free delivery within Switzerland. So the calendar fits everyday Swiss school life not just linguistically, but organisationally too.
Ring-bound or as a PDF
Paper or PDF is mainly a question of your planning style. A ring-bound planner in A4 format lies flat on the desk when opened, needs no battery and is always close at hand in the classroom. A digital planner as a PDF is suited to the iPad and apps such as GoodNotes, Notability or Drawboard: linked pages take you to the right week with a single tap, and entries can be moved without an eraser. If you write a lot by hand and like leafing through pages, you'll often be happier with paper. If you teach with a tablet anyway, the PDF saves you carrying an extra notebook. Either way, what counts is what's inside: timetable, calendar weeks, holidays and the additional pages you actually need.
Checklist: how to recognise a good calendar
- The weekly overview reflects your timetable, with your subjects and lessons.
- The year planner shows calendar weeks so you can plan terms, events and tests.
- Your municipality's holidays and days off school are filled in, not those of another canton or country.
- The calendar starts with the school year in August, not in January.
- You choose additional pages such as class lists, grade overviews or meeting notes as you need them.
- The format suits your daily routine: bound on paper or as a PDF for your tablet.
Frequently asked questions
At dream. plan. teach. you can put together exactly this kind of calendar yourself: to the teacher planner.