User Manual: Teachers Planner and Markbook
Welcome to Teachers Planner and Markbook for Android. This
file gives information on how to setup and use the app.
1. Setup
A. Set-up
the working week for your school. You go through a set of screens when the
app first starts to set up the basic working week at your school. This needs
doing only once.
This includes the first day of the week, the number of school days, the number of lessons per day, and break times etc. You can also specify if there is a two-week timetable.
You are asked to input the lesson start- and end-times. If you do this, then the app can highlight the current lesson in the timetable for you, and show a countdown to the end of the lesson. Useful for lesson timing!
You are given the option
to add lesson start- and end- times. You can skip this, but if you enter the
times, then The app can highlight the current lesson
on the timetable automatically for you to make it quicker to find your way
around the timetable.
If you need to change the working
week later, choose the Settings menu, and choose Setup school week.
B. Set up your timetable. You will next see a blank timetable. Tap on a lesson (eg. Monday, Period 1) to specify what is happening during that time. You only need to set up each lesson once (assuming your timetable does not change!)
You can set a period to be
a taught lesson, a regular meeting or free/unassigned time.
When entering rooms,
subjects or classes, the buttons on the right popup previously used values to
make it quicker and avoid re-typing. IMPORTANT: take care to ensure that the
spellings of classes and subjects are the same for the same class, so the app
knows that they are the same class. If you have a double- or triple- period,
then simply add the same lesson details for each period. The app will work out
it is a double period and show it as appropriate (you can switch this feature
off in settings if you would prefer a separate lesson slot for each lesson).
The full version of the
app allows you to flag a lesson as Set homework this lesson. Then the
app will remind you to set homework whenever you teach that particular lesson.
You can change the
timetable at any time. Long-press the lesson in the timetable screen, and choose Edit timetable from the menu.
C. Set
up holidays. The app allows you to set whole weeks as holiday (vacation).
You can set this up initially, or set it from the menu Edit holidays.
Why bother? Specifying holidays allows the app to jump over weeks for setting
homework. For example, if you set homework on the last day before a two week
holiday, then the app will show the homework as due on the first lesson with
that class, on return from holiday. Holiday weeks are shown greyed-out in the
timetable display.
2. Entering
lesson plans and homework
Once the timetable is set
up and saved, you will see your weekly timetable as a grid.
You can move to the
next/previous week via the buttons at the top, and always can return to the
current week via the This week button
(home icon). You can swipe left or right to move forward/backward quickly too. Long-press the left/right arrows at the top to choose a specific
week to jump to.
The current day will be
highlighted in the timetable, and if you have set lesson start- and end-times,
then the current lesson (or closest) will be highlighted, too.
You can tap on any lesson
to view that lesson, and enter a lesson plan and/or set some homework for it:
In the lesson page, you
will see the following information:
1. This lesson date, day, location, class, subject. It will also indicate if this is a double or triple lesson
2. A countdown of the time left until the end of the next period (not necessarily the end of your lesson - it also works during free time, meetings etc.)
3. Information about the previous and next lessons with this class. The popup menu button at the bottom of the screen has a previous and next lesson button to quickly navigate there (for example, to check the lesson plan from last time to see where you got to). You can also simply tap on the previous/next lesson info to immediately jump there
4. A list of any previously-set homework that is due for this lesson
5. An edit-box for the lesson plan - note the free version of the app has a limited edit size, the full version has a much larger edit size (9999 characters). The edit-box will resize larger as you type. In the full app, a popup undo button appears so you can undo any typing. You can change the status of your lesson plan (Work in Progress, or Planned). This will show in the timetable screen (a small icon showing planned status), so you can quickly see which lessons need planning at-a-glance
6. A photo is shown if one has been taken (full app only), and allows you to take a photo associated with this lesson. For example, take a photo of the whiteboard to remind you where you got to, or a photo of an equipment list for a practical lesson
7. An edit-box for the homework for this current lesson - note the free version of the app has a limited edit size, the full version has a much larger edit size (999ncharacters). Again, it will resize larger as necessary, and an undo btton is available for the full version. The full version allows you to go into Google Classroom, and set the homework in Classroom from this homework (click on the small Google Classroom icon)
8. There is a button to set when the homework is due. You can choose any lesson with this class in the next week. If you do not choose a lesson, the app assumes that the homework will be due on the next lesson, whenever that is. Note that if a holiday is between now and the due lesson, the homework jumps to the next available lesson
9. To-do items. Any to-do items are listed. Tap on the them to open/edit the to-do items for this class. If the list is empty, tap to add a new item.
10. A Markbook icon. This will open the Markbook spreadsheet for this class (see below)
11. An attachment icon (new). You can attach links to online documents (eg. Google docs, sheets or slides, or website pages). Tap the paperclip icon. Type or paste in a URL and add a title (it will automatically add the title of the web page for you). The free version of the app is restricted to one attached link per lesson.
Any changes are automatically
saved when you go back to the timetable screen.
3. Markbooks. Markbooks are now supported. These are spreadsheets (Microsoft XLSX format) which exist for each class you teach, and can hold various information, such as marks for tests or homework, registration marks, student comments, grades etc. Because every teacher has different styles of usage for markbooks, the Markbook is opened in an external spreadsheet (Google Sheets), where you can enter whatever information you require. It is up to you to format the Markbook how you want. I have left the feature very flexible - you can record data/comments/registers however you like, and use all of the features of Google Sheets, such as formatting, sharing, printing etc.
You can also add a URL to an
online (shared) google sheets spreadsheet. Tap the
link icon and paste the google sheets web URL to open
that.
4. Extra
features
You can backup or restore all of
your work (including settings, any markbooks or photos taken). You can save
multiple backups (they are stored as ZIPped archive
files, in the app backup folder). NEW: You can backup/restore to/from the cloud
(you may need to log into your google account
initially). This allows syncing between two or more devices if you wish.
Registration, before
school, after school and break/lunch periods can be shown/edited in the
timetable. Select from the settings screen. When selected, you can add comments
for each registration period.
ICONS: The icons in the timetable screen indicate if the lesson has been planned fully or not. Red = no lesson plan exists. Orange = work in progress. Green = the lesson is planned. A camera icon indicates that a photo exists for this lesson. A Blue to-do icon indicates that there is a to-do item outstanding for this class. A pale-blue icon indicates that there is one or more attachments with this lesson plan.
Long-press on a lesson in the weekly timetable view to preview the details of that lesson, edit the lesson or edit the timetable for that lesson. The full version has an enhanced preview display of the lesson with lesson countdown, plan, homework etc.
Search. Tap the magnifying
glass icon at the top of the page to search on lesson plans, homework set and lesson
plan attachments. For example: to see all Geography lessons, type Geo. To see
all P4 lessons, type P4.
5. Settings
screen
Choose the Change
timetable font size button to adjust the size of the font in the timetable,
to better make use of larger screened devices.
(FULL VERSION) Choose the Move a lesson button in the timetable.
Choose the lesson to move, and which period in the timetable to move it to.
This must be a FREE lesson. Note that as well as the timetable information,
also all lesson plans and homework notes will be moved to the new position as
well. This includes any photos taken lesson plans and markbooks.
(FULL VERSION) Save lesson plans and homework data as a CSV file (you can open this in Excel or Google Sheets). Select Export as CSV from the settings menu, then choose the start- and end- dates. The file is saved to your sd-card in the teachersPlanner folder.
(FULL VERSION) You can customize the display of the timetable. Options include: colour-code the lessons (two different styles of colouring); full-shading or a shaded-border; show/hide break times etc; show/hide subject in timetable; preview/hide lesson plan in timetable; dark/light theme; change first lesson of the day from 1 to zero; show Day 1, Day 2 etc instead of Monday, Tuesday etc.
(NEW) You can customize the colour of any lesson however you like. Long-press on a lesson in the timetable and select Change Colour. You can reset the colours to default from the settings screen if they get too funky.
6. Two-week timetables
When setting-up the school
week, tick the two-week box. You can
flip which week you are in the timetable via a small button in the bottom-right
corner of the timetable screen (marked Flip). The two week timetable
is wider than can fit on the screen, so drag the timetable to the right to view
the second week. Note that some features are not available with a two-week
timetable (for example to-do items for specific classes).
7.
Upgrade to the Full version!
You can upgrade to the full
version of the app from within the app (with an In-App Purchase). Tap the
button in the about or settings screen.
Why upgrade? The full
version has the following benefits:
* Increased size of lesson plans and homeworks. Lesson plans
go from 120 to 9999 characters. Homeworks go from 80 to 9999 characters. To-do
items per lesson go from 1 to 10!
* No
adverts - more screen space for the app
* Save
a picture with a lesson plan - record lesson info quickly without as much
typing
* Can move a
lesson (and plans/homeworks set) in the timetable to another period/day
* Improved
quick preview of lesson details on Long-press of a lesson in the timetable
(useful during a lesson)
* Add an
optional flag to each lesson to remind you to set homework in that lesson, if
you wish
* Top
priority support / bugfixes
* Tap the Google
Classroom icon next to your homework to open Classroom and set the homework for
your class!
8.
Get help/support
Follow @teachersplanner on Twitter for updates and support, or email me here.
9.
Privacy
The app does not collect any personally identifiable data. The apps collect anonymous usage data via Google Analytics which is used to make the app better. The free version of the app also uses Google AdSense to provide clickable adverts and generate some revenue. Users in EU countries must consent to the storing and accessing of cookies and other information, and to the data collection, sharing, and usage that takes place when they use Google products. If you do not consent to this, please uninstall the app.