Classmaker doesn't use rotating schedules. Instead it uses Long Term plans. However you can replicate rotating schedules in Classmaker using Shove and by displaying two lesson plans side by side in the same time slot, each lesson coming from a different Unit of Work.
So how do you replicate a rotating schedule using Long Term plans?
Create a SINGLE Long Term plan that covers the entire year with a SINGLE Unit of Work inside it called Rotating Schedule or something similar. Inside this Unit of Work create all the periods you desire for a single schedule instance calling them whatever Subjects you might be going to teach. Export the Rotating Schedule to disk, and immediately reimport it into the same Long Term plan. The calendar will now display both periods side by side in the same cells from TWO different Units of Work. The reimported records will be distinguishable from the original in the Unit Plan pick list by being prepended with a flower.
From the first flower record Shove all the reimported records forwards the number of days required to begin the next rotation e.g. a four day rotation would require 4 shoves, an eight day rotation would require 8 shoves. After the shoves have been completed change the beginning date of the first shoved record to it's end date. You now have two rotations displayed, one after the other.
Create new Long Term plans and Unit Plans for the Subjects you have to teach. Now click on the current rotating schedule records and change them to suit, saving them back into their respective Units of Work. As each period is completed you can delete the original rotating schedule record, so that you are left with the material you are going to teach and not the rotating record. Once the Rotating Schedule Unit of Work is empty delete it.
To begin the process again Export the flower prepended Rotating Schedule to disk, and immediately reimport it.
Because Shove pushes forward all records subsequent to the one you are shoving in the current Unit of Work, if Special Days need to be inserted into the rotating schedule, you can create the gap for the Special Day by splitting the current schedule with Shove and then Shoving the next schedule (which is in a different Unit of Work) on another day.
While you can replicate a rotating schedule using Classmaker, the bump functionality of a true rotating schedule application won't be present. On the other hand in Classmaker it's no problem to have periods of different durations, so a double period in other packages can be a single period in Classmaker. Also in Classmaker you can have as many records as you like covering a period, so your planning can be by activity duration rather than having one very large record for all your planning.
Classmaker - Lesson planning software
Sunday 23 December 2012
Tuesday 18 December 2012
Using a Rotating schedule vs Long Term plans
With lesson planning software there are generally two approaches taken to calendars:
1. Set up a rotating schedule where each day is divided into a number of periods, each period associated with a subject. The schedule could cover from two days (A/B) to eight days. Lessons are attached to a particular period.
2. Create a Long Term plan that belongs to a subject. The Long Term plan spans a number of days. Attach lessons to the Long Term plan using Units of Work to maintain lesson collections.
Both approaches have benefits and drawbacks.
Rotating schedule benefits:
1. The same lesson can be assigned to multiple periods.
2. If a lesson doesn't get taught for some reason it can be bumped forward and all lessons subsequent to it will also be bumped forward into the next available subject period. Lessons can also be yanked back.
3. Lessons don't need to contain subjects, dates or times, just key words and durations.
4. Lessons can reside in a single archive which can be searched using key words or full text search.
Drawbacks:
1. As lessons are edited, previous versions that were appropriate to their specific delivery situation are lost. On the other hand making duplicate lessons will quickly degrade the usefulness of the lesson archive.
2. To prevent duplicates, users are incentivised to enter all activities into a single large record, which becomes more difficult to search for activity duration and for printing.
3. As key words are the only way of associating a lesson with a subject, when many lessons belong to a subject, it can become difficult to work out how individual lessons relate to each other due to tagging mismatches.
Long Term plan benefits:
1. A high level view of the material being taught can be shown, which ensures the curriculum is being adequately covered.
2. Lessons can cover any length of time, even spanning days if necessary.
3. The weekly calendar display allows you to visually see the duration of a lesson. Rather than creating a large single document, lessons get broken down into discrete activities contained within the Units of Work under a Long Term plan, each of which is a separate record. This simplifies report printing.
4. Units of Work containing multiple lessons can be easily copied about.
Drawbacks:
1. Bumping a lesson can only shift it to the next lesson. All subsequent lessons cannot be bumped forward, because the last lesson has nowhere to go.
2. Because an individual lesson cannot belong to multiple Units of Work, individual lessons must be copied forward and amended rather than the same record being used over and over again.
Which calendar style is best? It depends on your school. High schools generally use a rigid period structure. Elementary schools don't.
1. Set up a rotating schedule where each day is divided into a number of periods, each period associated with a subject. The schedule could cover from two days (A/B) to eight days. Lessons are attached to a particular period.
2. Create a Long Term plan that belongs to a subject. The Long Term plan spans a number of days. Attach lessons to the Long Term plan using Units of Work to maintain lesson collections.
Both approaches have benefits and drawbacks.
Rotating schedule benefits:
1. The same lesson can be assigned to multiple periods.
2. If a lesson doesn't get taught for some reason it can be bumped forward and all lessons subsequent to it will also be bumped forward into the next available subject period. Lessons can also be yanked back.
3. Lessons don't need to contain subjects, dates or times, just key words and durations.
4. Lessons can reside in a single archive which can be searched using key words or full text search.
Drawbacks:
1. As lessons are edited, previous versions that were appropriate to their specific delivery situation are lost. On the other hand making duplicate lessons will quickly degrade the usefulness of the lesson archive.
2. To prevent duplicates, users are incentivised to enter all activities into a single large record, which becomes more difficult to search for activity duration and for printing.
3. As key words are the only way of associating a lesson with a subject, when many lessons belong to a subject, it can become difficult to work out how individual lessons relate to each other due to tagging mismatches.
Long Term plan benefits:
1. A high level view of the material being taught can be shown, which ensures the curriculum is being adequately covered.
2. Lessons can cover any length of time, even spanning days if necessary.
3. The weekly calendar display allows you to visually see the duration of a lesson. Rather than creating a large single document, lessons get broken down into discrete activities contained within the Units of Work under a Long Term plan, each of which is a separate record. This simplifies report printing.
4. Units of Work containing multiple lessons can be easily copied about.
Drawbacks:
1. Bumping a lesson can only shift it to the next lesson. All subsequent lessons cannot be bumped forward, because the last lesson has nowhere to go.
2. Because an individual lesson cannot belong to multiple Units of Work, individual lessons must be copied forward and amended rather than the same record being used over and over again.
Which calendar style is best? It depends on your school. High schools generally use a rigid period structure. Elementary schools don't.
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