I meet A LOT of teachers and leaders who are in VERY committed relationships with their Moleskine Notebooks. I can see why. Moleskines are sleek, professional-looking and often super-portable, depending on which size you purchase.
Rather than take it away, I simply want to ENHANCE your Moleskine around its gaps. I recently met two teachers, Mike from NYC and John in Boston, who pumped up their Moleskines in some very cool ways.
Warning: this involves scissors and glue. But hey, who said getting organized wasn’t a creative process!
Gap #1: The Annual / Monthly View is Lacking. While the Moleskine has a decent weekly view (more on that later), the annual/monthly view is in a list form. This makes it hard to plan for weekends, school vacations and the like.
The Fix: Mike pasted the Together Teacher monthly calendar templates right into his Moleskine. Check it out!
Gap #2: Need for Structure in the Weekly View. This one depends on which version of the Moleskine you pick (there are hundreds. . .there’s even a new Lego version!). But let’s look at a typical weekly view (or in Together Group parlance, a Weekly Worksheet):
John uses the weekly view well. On the left-hand side, he has jury duty, a weekend in the Hamptons, a birthday and field days all listed! But what on earth to do with that second page on the right? It could very easily just become a mess of scribbles and scratches.
The Fix: John made a few awesome moves to turn this section of his Moleskine into a great teacher Weekly Worksheet.
- Added Priorities: Any planner is only as good as what you enter into it. John added a section on top to list his priorities for the week.
- Separated his Appointments from his To-Do’s. We all face a constant negotiation between time and to-do’s; therefore we need to see them side-by-side! John drew a simple line down the weekly view to divide the two.
- Categorized his To-Do’s. This is super nifty. John left SOME space on the right for capturing notes, but at the bottom of the page he’s added a “Quick Hits” section for 5-minute work, 15-minute work, tasks for his Teaching Assistant, and space for parent phone calls (which he wants to prioritize). THIS IS AWESOME, PEOPLE.
The Moleskine, like the Uncalendar, is relatively unstructured. But it also has a lot of plusses and can easily be pumped up to be a near-perfect Together Teacher system!
