More Structure: Creating a Plan A Minus*

Plan A-Minus*

*Not quite Plan B, not quite low-fun input plan, but something else: when it's becoming clear that having conversations with students about something is something they are not yet ready for. Adding more structure. 

The Background

Two of my classes in my recent role as a long term sub needed something...a lot more of something. Or less of something.  Or just...SOMETHING.  

They were CHATTY. Like I couldn't say a sentence without being interrupted by something totally unrelated or by students having side conversations about whatever they felt like.  It was not fun.  There were some other behaviors as well, but it was the CHATTY that was making me insane. 

They also were very used to an output-heavy class and were very reluctant to engage with input.  

My Thinking

I had to make 2 interventions/shifts in my teaching in order to meet the kids where they were.  

Mindset Shift 1: Teach the kids you have, not the kids you want

I was a little caught up in my pre-pandemic teaching brain- pretty much constantly wondering why they weren't like the other classes, or why were they so completely unlike the class that I last had...the middle school kids that I adored and had so much fun with! It is so easy to dwell on wanting to teach the kids I wanted...not the kids that were actually in front of me.   

But I had to teach the kids in front of me, not some idealized version of the kids I wanted. Which meant I had to make some changes to the class structure because what I was doing was not effective. And that, my friends, was on me. 

This was a mindset shift that I had to work through- teaching the kids that were there.  (Thanks to Laurie Clarcq for naming this shift.) Once I made that shift though- it became a lot easier to manage.

Mindset Shift 2: MORE STRUCTURE

I realized within the first week that I needed to give them a LOT more structure. Some of this was the group of kids, some of it was because as a long term sub they were not interested in investing in me or my class, and some was just...well, I guess because. 

The (Original) Plan

My lesson plans were to teach the song La Gozadera, using plans from The Comprehensible Classroom (please read the disclosure about my relationship with The Comprehensible Classroom here.) I thought a song unit with lots of reading and culture would be just the right amount of content to finish during my time as a sub.  Plus,  I've never taught the song before and wanted to try it. 

The lesson plan (simplified) looks something like this:

• Card talk
• Clip Chat (movietalk) for beginning of music video
• Watch video
• Discuss video
• Read about meaning of the title
• Students do some reading activities related to the reading
• Read more about video and song 
• More reading activities

The Reality

When I looked at the plan, I saw a big looming disaster.

Nope. That was NOT going to work!

These students did not seem to be able to handle any kind of class discussion, and the free-form nature of Card Talk or Clip Chat seemed like a recipe for frustration and disaster. I believe that there would be very little input happening and a lot of frustration. 

I did some reflecting about what the challenges were in class, and what actually was going well (when it was!), and I decided that I needed to give students more structure. I also decided that it would be a good thing to trick them into thinking that they were creating with language (output) while getting them to attend to the input. I framed this in my own head as "the illusion of output". 

Credit

All of these ideas came from a mix mash of Jon Cowart's Weekly Packet, the Plan B plan from Martina Bex, Implementing Plan B (from me!) and Low Fun Input Plans from AnneMarie Chase, and my own experience as a teacher. 

Modification For Card Talk

I created a little response sheet- it was 6 or 8 open ended sentences: En la opinión de ____, _____ es/no es divertido/a. (In ___'s opinion, ____ is/is not fun.) 

When I say little response sheet, that is exactly what I mean. Since I print everything "2-up" (or 50% sized) and then copy it on recycled paper from the copy room- copy paper that has already been copied on one side- it was quite small!

Telling them that we would discuss each picture then fill out the form was like magic. Suddenly they were listening, and mostly responding to my questions! Engagement! 
After discussing someone's card, I filled in the blanks on the board and they copied them. (illusion of output, actually input!)

The Response Sheet for Card Talk 

At the end of the form, I had two open ended sentences for them to finish themselves, and then we discussed how they finished the sentences (also more illusion of output, but with the focus on me leading the discussion- that is, input). 

The bottom of the response sheet for Card Talk

Modification for Clip Chat (MovieTalk)

For the movietalk portion of the lesson plan, I created a slideshow with screenshots. Since the lesson plans ask the teacher to just use the intro to the video, I only used 3 stills for this part. 

A screengrab from the La Gozadera video plus vocab to use instead of a video 

I also created a little response sheet.  

Question 1 was ¿Qué ves? (What do you see?) 
I gave them some input first, then let them tell a partner what they saw, then I talked about their responses, and THEN I let them write. See how the input came first? 

Question 2 was ¿Dónde están las personas? (Where are the people?). Again, I showed the slide, talked about it, let them make predictions, talked about their predictions and why they thought that, and then let them write. Since I noticed that they weren't very good explaining how they reached their conclusions (which is an important skill in any language!) I lead the discussion down that road: What's your evidence? Why do you say that? Why do you think that? 

The third question was something like ¿Cómo están las personas" (How are the people feeling?) and again I got their ideas, led a conversation, asked them for some evidence for their thinking, then let them write. 

I also added a space for them to copy the Write and Discuss, just in case I decided that they needed that. (They did not, and I am not a fan of having students copy them in general, but I thought I might need that space!) 

Part of the ClipChat response sheet 

Watching the Video

For the actual watching of the video, I gave them a 5 Senses Video Viewing Form from Martina Bex and they had to fill it out while they were watching. After, I led a discussion. I really like this particular sheet because it allows them to write at the level that they wish- single words, phrases, and sentences. 

Prep Time

Now, it took me less than 10 minutes to make those response sheets- which may sound fast (and it was! Remember- I'm pretty experienced!). I hoped they would work - I thought they might be exactly the ticket- but I didn't want to spend a ton of time on creating. I was using the MVP principle in creating these: the Minimum Viable Product.  Basically, the idea is to create the thing that you think will work, and after you use it, then reflect, touch it up, change it, make it pretty if that's your thing. (I learned this from Angela Watson and it has been a HUGE timesaver mindset for me!)

What Happened in Class

To my everlasting joy, it went pretty well. I was able to give them the input because they felt like they were getting output. (Illusion of output, very structured output, lots of input!)

Once they bought in to the illusion of output, I was able to do the more free-form activities (Card Talk, Clip Chat) with much less difficulty. The response sheets gave exactly the right amount of structure to let the input still be about the students (their cards, their interests, their ideas).  

The reading activities were pretty straightforward and although I was surprised that they had never done activities like the ones I was asking them to do, once they figured out what I was asking for (reading, re-reading, reading closely, interacting with the text in a way (that forced them to make meaning), they were pretty cooperative.  

Note: I did a major behavior intervention as well- which I will post about at a later date, but I think the structure is what allowed them to settle in and let input happen. 

Simplify: A blast from the past

Image:Light pink background with a cassette tape.
Text reads:Blast from the past: An unpublished post from 2019

BLAST FROM THE PAST

I was digging around in my blog recently and found this post. Whoa! It is from late October, 2019. Pre-Covid. Yeah, remember that? 

I was teaching 5th, 7th, and 8th grade- exploratory Spanish, Spanish 1 Honors, Spanish 2 Honors, and Spanish 1B. I was also mentoring a new teacher and teaching a graduate methods class as an adjunct. I think I was too busy to actually publish this! So I am publishing it now, almost 2 years later. 

Interesting fact: I didn't change anything in the post, other than to do a bit of light editing and add some images and links. This is one way in which I don't think my thinking has changed.  Except to add this:

If you love any of the things that I recommend against, it's ok! You are the expert in your life, in your community, in your classroom. My suggestions are based on my years of mentoring teachers who are trying to implement comprehension based teaching in their classroom, observing trends and common concerns from teachers. #NoJudgement. 

Now, in 2022, as I have transitioned to a formal training role, I am trying to create resources and trainings to support teachers. Thinking about these things continues to be a good use of my energy.  As we move into the 2021-22 school year and yet another year of unknowns, I hope that the idea of simplifying might help someone out in making their teaching and lives more joyful. 

October, 2019

I have a lot of half finished posts, and a lot of chores on my to-do list.  In fact, I am leaving to go camping for 5 days with the whole 7th grade...tomorrow morning! And I haven't started packing.

But today, instead of focusing on that, I want to offer a #mindset shift for those of my colleagues who are feeling overwhelmed.

Because, frankly, starting anything new is overwhelming.  And hard.  And rarely 100% successful.

I recently responded to a post on the SOMOS Collab facebook page from someone who's admin wants data to back up their new approach.  I wonder..would the principal ask the math department for data immediately after adopting a new text?  Would the principal expect significant gains in writing directly after adopting a new program, or would they invest in training, time, and let the teachers do their best?  Why is language any different?

Anyway, here is my advice: Simplify. Simplify your planning.  

Image:Light pink background with 80's geometric shapes. 
Text reads: Simplify.

Stop creating more work for yourself- we have so much to do already!  Here are some things that I see teachers doing that seem to make things harder:  

1) Powerpoints (or Presentations)

Feel like you have to have a powerpoint for every minute? Reconsider. Making powerpoints is a huge time suck. What would it be like instead to step away from the projector and sit down with your students? What would it feel like to give them a text and read it with them, without projecting? What would it be like to orient your room away from a screen? Can you just project the page that you want to share instead of putting it into a slideshow? What would the time savings be?

Image:Light pink background with 80's geometric shapes.
Text reads: Do you really need that presentation?

Note: I did make a master powerpoint for one class, for a book study. I did it to see if I liked it since it seems to be the main format for so many teachers, especially language teachers. While it is nice to have that resource now, the time investment overall seemed to be not really worth it, for me.  Others are different, so take this with a grain of salt.  

2) The search for more resources

First, I suggest that you find a curriculum. Or if you are teaching a novel, get the teacher's guide.

Then teach the curriculum.  Unless you absolutely MUST add content because of things you can't control, just teach it.  Live with it for a year or two.  See how that goes. Do some reflection.  Then...start adding.

Don't like the song that was suggested in the curriculum? Consider skipping it or, try teaching it.  I mean, it was put in the curriculum for a reason.  Decide if your gut was wrong- later.   Rather than spending time looking for or creating new materials, maybe just don't.  It won't kill the students to not listen to a new song every week. (We do one song about every 3-4 weeks. My kids are ok!)  Of course, use your professional judgement and don't use materials that will get you in trouble.

Image:Light pink background with 80's geometric shapes. 
Text reads: Pick a resource. Stick with it.

Feeling overwhelmed by resources? Take a look at this blog post that I wrote with some helpful links (I think!): CI Overwhelm: Practical Tools for Coping

3) Theme days

Joke Thursday, Cat Wednesday...they are great ideas!  But wow, the amount of work to collect those resources, and then make them comprehensible to different levels...that sounds absolutely overwhelming.  And if you use them in every class, then you have to keep doing it- day after day, year after year.   

While I love the idea of using the same resource for each class (and I have done this), what that means is that each year, you have to find new resources. That is  lot of work! 

Image:Light pink background with VHS tape.
Text reads: Are theme days worth it? What could you do instead?

4)Assessment Data Tracking for Planning

I am not saying that we should eliminate assessment. (But imagine! What would that look like???) I am saying that some of the things we do, e.g. some kinds of data tracking, and using that information to plan, may not be a good use of teacher time.

I have written a lot about assessment.  I really like talking and thinking about assessment.  
(Most of my assessment writings are linked here, and here.) But really, I feel like we spend WAY too much time talking about assessment when we know it doesn't really help with language acquisition. In fact, it doesn't even help for us to see what the students don't know- not really!  

Since language acquisition is stage-like and ordered, there is pretty much nothing to do but...give more input, and make sure it is comprehended.   That's it.  So, again, try to simplify.  This is a video I made with Martina Bex about how I simplify assessment- and more. Take a look! Assessment Hacks and Hope in SOMOS.  

In all seriousness, I used to use a data tracking form where I listed an objective at the top (e.g. uses time indicators correctly- son las 3:00, es la una, a las 2:00) and then listed the kids who could do it and the kids who couldn't. It looked great in terms of admin data requirements. And took a TON of time. Like SO MUCH TIME.  And that time- well, I can say with all seriousness that it was wasted time. Wasted for me, wasted for student learning. 

And this is why:  The present-practice-produce-assess-reteach cycle that is drilled into teachers doesn't fit so well in a comprehension based framework.  We know that explicit instruction does not lead to implicit language. And those features will develop in stages, in a particular order, and those features will be developed independent of instruction! So, tracking that information *only* shows me what students can not yet do.  

Re-teaching how to use time indicators is not going to help students use it in the long-term. It will certainly be boring and not really affect their language system at all, except maybe to impede acquisition of that form.  There might be some short term effects for some students. If I re-teach it, then re-test it, how much time am I spending? How much time am I giving up that could be spent doing something that does help them acquire? And what about the kids who have brains that are not yet ready to get it (which is NORMAL)?  What will it feel like for them to fail an assessment-again? Ug. I feel kind of gross just thinking about that.  

If you are in a district that requires you to read every word that students write, assign fewer words!  Instead of a 10 minute freewrite, do a 5 minute freewrite. Don't assign them to every class at the same time! Interested in reading more about freewrites? Take a look- Timed Freewrites: One Practice that Serves Many Purposes

If your district requires you to track data, here is an article that might help: Teacher Goals and SLOs.

Image:Light pink background with a cassette tape labeled Tea with BVP: Ordered Development and a walkman. 
Text reads: Keep SLA principles in mind when using assessment data. 

People are often surprised that I don't bring work home with me.  I don't, even with having fewer planning hours and more preps, because I am trying to keep things as simple as possible.  I found a curriculum.  I like it, I teach it, and I rarely supplement it because it's pretty robust. If I do supplement it, it is because I have something I really want to try out, or I am really passionate about something, and it only takes a little bit of time and effort to prep. 

How can you simplify? What are the time sucks in your planning process?

Image:Dark pink and black background with 80's sunset, cityscape, and palm trees.
Text reads: How can you simplify your teaching?

This post was inspired by the book Fewer Things, Better, by Angela Watson.  I *HIGHLY* recommend her work, and this book in particular, for focusing on what matters.  I am not an employee or in any way recompensed for recommending this book.  

Getting ready for the day: organizing and tools

This is a quick look at what getting ready for a day of teaching looks like. 

But there is a HUGE disclaimer:

There are SO many things that are *not* visible that I have already done to get ready for the day.  These are things that are part of getting a unit ready.  

These include:

• Planning the units 
• Prepping (copying and chopping) the materials for students (see the above link for how this is different than planning)
• The Great Organizational Project- Which includes:
• Youtube playlists of videos and songs by unit, 
• Itunes or spotify playlists of songs
• Electronic file of related resources 
• Hard drive files organized
• Paper file of lesson plans and materials

• Setting up my internet environment with an extension such as Toby or Onetab.  (I actually do this at the beginning of the year.) 

REMEMBER:  This is gradual work.  When I teach unit 18 for the first time, I am going to build a youtube playlist with songs and videos, purchase the recommended song and put it in my iTunes playlist, create an electronic folder on my hard drive, create a notebook in Evernote, and print up all the materials to put in a binder.  This is *all* part of planning for a unit.  I don't do this all at once. It is bit by bit.  

WAIT!  Don't be overwhelmed!  

I have taught most of these lessons before - several times.  I *still* look at the activity and if I need to, grab the printed out lesson plan and carry it around with me as I teach.  Sara Chronister, one of my fellow admins of our SOMOS collab group, created this AMAZING list of links for activities in SOMOS.  This is awesome- but is one more thing on the computer.  For me, I prefer to read it on paper and file it with the unit.  

The other thing that I urge you to consider as you use any curriculum- (aside from our #mindset shift, Connections not curriculum!) is to consider activities as opportunities for input and as such, as bullet points in a list, not I must do these five things today because that is what the lesson plan says and I don't want to be a bad teacher.  

For me, shifting to a bullet point mindset ("this is the order that we are going to do things in, more or less, and they take up as much time as they will take up") makes prepping and planning much easier.  As soon as we finish one thing, we do the next.  Planning becomes about looking at the bullet pointed list (which honestly is in my head at this point, but here is an example I made for a Stepping Into SOMOS training).  

When I step into class: (This is what you will see in the video)

• Check for handouts that I prepped for each unit, organized by unit.
• Lesson plans printed (this isn't in the video, but the printed plans are with the handouts)
• Open computer
• Open Chrome (which opens TOBY) (tab organizer)
• Open Teaching Tabs (using TOBY) 
• Open attendance tabs using TOBY.  
• Open iTunes Música de la clase playlist 
• Open unit folder PLANS on hard drive
• Open any film clips or something that will be projected(because the internet rarely actually works in my room so I download most clips).
• Open campanadas. (This isn't in the video. I forgot to do this that day. It was fine, because it took me less than 5 seconds.)

Here is the video  
(Click if it does not play- for some reason the auto-play function is not working.)


Referenced in the video:
SOMOS 1, Unit 02 
SOMOS 1, Unit 21 (free)
Modified Comida unit 
Toby Chrome extension
Brain Break slides 
Classroom screen

Lesson Planning: how I power-plan to make day-by-day planning easier

First and foremost, when lesson planning, I need time.  

I need time that is productive for me.  I know that I am a morning thinker.  I can just about manage copies, if they are not complicated, in the afternoons or after school.  Maybe some emails.  (Maybe not, says the teacher that emailed the wrong parents about a kid on Monday afternoon.  #teacherfail.)  For me, this means  I utilize my morning preps and before school time very intensively.  If you haven't thought about your own most productive times, I highly encourage you to do so.  

Something else to consider when thinking about when to lesson plan (which I consider to be a very important step in the process) is to set aside time every week to do so.  Once I started blocking off my morning prep period and before school time on a certain day for lesson planning,  I stopped feeling so overwhelmed.  Mind you, this works for me because I power-plan.  (That is what I will describe below.) Basically, I do all the thinking, resource gathering, etc. in one go (if possible) but none of the prepping (copying, making manipulatives, etc.).  Then, once a week, I power-prep.

Angela Watson over at TruthForTeachers.com (and leader of the 40 Hour workweek) is my inspiration and guide for helping me manage lesson planning much more effectively.  Her advice is why I really only work 40 hours.  

Also, it's worth noting that as a TPRS/CI teacher, I still follow a purchased curriculum.  (SOMOS, by Martina Bex, if you were wondering.)   Now that I have taught most units a few times, I don't necessarily follow it exactly as written, (as in,  I add, drop, create, and personalize more for my context) but it helps me a great deal to have a general idea of what is going to happen.  That being said, if I am starting something new that I have never taught before, it looks very similar, but with fewer resources I've saved to dig through.  And it does take more time. 

Something else that is important to know: I plan ahead.  For example, at the moment, I have one group working on SOMOS 1, Unit 2, and they are about halfway through it.  Another two classes are doing a long-term Food and Flavor unit, adapted from this post.  My Spanish 2s are finishing up Somos 1, Unit 21, Aventura de Camping, before their actual camping trip, but they are nearly done with it (it's short but sweet) so I am going to focus on them first, since they will be first to start a new unit.  

Big picture planning:  

Last year's year at a glance page

I have a scope and sequence for all my classes that I have created through trial and error, and I *roughly* follow it, depending on if I think it was a good idea or not.  I also keep a document like this from Calendarpedia.com every year for each class.  A few times of year, I sit down and write in what units we did, and roughly when I started them and when they ended.  I save these year to year to see what happened previously.

  Based on these two sources, I know that I want to teach SOMOS 1, Unit 14 next.  

If you are feeling overwhelmed by resources, check out this post by Angela Watson.  She has a lot of great material and I credit her for helping me be more efficient.  

Here is what I do  

Step 1: Gather resources
For me, this means: collab files from the Collab drive, paper notes from my paper lesson plan, re-reading what I put in my evernote file, pulling any activities from my paper files, and if I am really on top of things, looking at saved posts from Facebook. 

Paper Files

*For how I organize my electronic and paper materials, take a look at this post.  This helps in the efficiency department as well.* 

What it looked like this week:  First, I pulled out the paper lesson plan from my binder and all the various things I have for unit 14.  I checked out my evernote file, and I skimmed through the Collab drive and found a cool activity that I downloaded.  I saw that I had noted that a lot of my kids were using subjunctive clauses (es importante que, quiero que) in their final writing assessment for this unit, but most were not using it correctly.  Then I remembered that I went to a fantastic session at IFLT18 on using advanced structures with Donna Tatum-Jones, so I pulled up my notes from that session and read those through as well.  Finally, my paper lesson plan had a big sticky that said "escucha activity in file", to remind me to grab the class set of an input-based reading game that I had made previously that is in the manipulatives file.  This whole step took maybe 15 minutes.  


Step 2: Ask Questions

• Do I need an assessment for this?  Hint: the answer is not always yes. 
• Do I have assessments already? Did I like them?  

Note:  I have made it part of my practice to note when assessments aren't great, or need tweaking.  That gets noted in the paper lesson plan, usually on a sticky.  It'd be better if I just fixed it (for next time) when grading them, but sometimes I just don't have the mental capacity to figure out what went wrong.  A note like "no advanced option" or "needs scaffolding" usually suffices, and then I have time to fix those when I actually sit down and plan the next time that I teach.  Click here for more about how I deal with assessments in reading and here for writing. 

• What are the reading resources that are going to get glued in the interactive-ish notebooks?  What else do I want them to glue in? 
• What are the actual things (activities, tasks, readings, story-askings, ClipChats, songs, etc.) that we are going to spend our time doing? 
• Are any of those resources from Step 1 too good to leave out?  
• CRITICAL QUESTION:  How much time will it take to make those something that is truly input-based and is that a good use of the time I have available?  Is it a 5 minute thing where I gloss some words, or is it recreating the whole thing so it works in my context?  Is it worth it?  

What it looked like this week:  For unit 14, I saw that there was a reading and writing assessment included in the unit, and aside from the note about the subjunctive stuff, nothing I really need to do for those.  For reading resources, I will be asking a story then typing it up, and the song (No Debes Jugar, by Selena) has an amazing critical thinking activity so that will get glued in.  There is a video viewing guide/graphic organizer included in the plans, so we will use that too.  This took about 5-10 minutes to go through the included resources.  

But I really want to try to use more subjunctive clauses with the kids, so I spent some time thinking about possibilities with that.  Donna had some good ideas, but what I eventually decided to do was to create a challenge activity for the manipulative-input game.  The game is basically a matching activity with a bunch of cards, kids read scenarios and match them together.  In the scenarios, someone says something like "Lo que debes hacer es comer menos azúcar."  (What you should do is eat less sugar.)  I decided it would be really fast to create cards that said the same thing but with a subjunctive clause, so this one would say "Quiero que tú comas menos azúcar."  

I have a program that  allows me to edit pdfs, so I opened that, made a copy of the original game, and quickly rewrote the phrases.  My idea is that I will make separate games of these cards and fast finishers can grab them and read/match as well.  Creating the activity took about 15 minutes.  Deciding what I was actually going to do and going back to my notes from Donna's presentation took about 10 minutes.   Copying, cutting, and sorting the activity will take a long time, but it is mindless and I can do it when I have a chance.

 If you are thinking that I have used up an hour already, well, know that on Monday mornings, I have a block of 2 hours and 15 minutes to plan, even after AM duty at 7:45, so I am still doing ok on time.

In fact, I really liked that activity I downloaded from the Collab Drive, so I opened that document and noticed that all I had to do is make a very few changes to it to personalize it for my students, so I did.  I did not do it in the most efficient way possible; it took about 10 minutes. It should have taken 5 or less.  Oh well.  

Step 3: Plan it out on paper
I use a single sheet that I call my Unit Planner for this step.  I use it to organize what goes in the notebooks and to keep a list of things to Find/Create.  You can download it here.  

What it looked like this week:  Really, step 2 and 3 happen at the same time. I have the unit planner out, and I start writing down what gets glued in and things that I need to create or improve.  As I complete them, I check it off.  

  

If I am doing something radically different than the purchased day-by-day plan suggests, I start writing the sequence of events on a sticky note that will live on the printed lesson plan.  


Step 4: Making the Masters and Prepping to Copy

• Make master copies for students.
• Put things in a protective sleeve to keep them together.
• Make / Modify day-by-day lesson plan packet.
• Put it all in a big folder to save for Copy Day.

Sleeve with master copies for students

What it looked like this week:  As I created the challenge manipulatives activity, I sent one copy to the printer to be the master.  I did the same for the thing from the collab drive.  Then, I grabbed my paper file of student master copies, and made sure that I had a master of everything that I was going to give to the students (with the exception of the story- I will type and copy that once we are done with it).  I found that I was missing a copy of the song activity, so I sent that to the printer too, then walked over to grab my copies.  I made sure I had one master copy and one copy to add to my day-by-day packet, stapled my day by day packet together, and put all the new masters in a sleeve to be copied.

Big folder to save for Copy Day 

The day-by-day plan, the manipulatives, and the sleeve all got put in my Big Folder (which is just a large plastic folder I saved from the trash bin- one of four) to save for Copy Day.  I know I will need a little extra time to make the game, and I will need to get envelopes and colored paper from my secret stash of supplies for it, but I will do that when I make the copies.  No rush.  The planning is done. The copying will happen on Copy Day, when I have something else ready and planned, later this week.  Probably Thursday afternoon, when I have no energy but no one is at the copier.  

Notice that I have not put anything into a day-by-day format at all.  And honestly, I won't do that until the day or so before I actually start this unit, as the previous one winds down.  Then I will probably note a couple of day's worth of activities- bullet points in my lesson plan notebook, because...I already have the lesson plan materials printed out.  All I need in my planner is something that says "start unit 14".  If I need more specific information (like, a breakdown of what activities I am going to do each day) I will do them for 2-3 days at a time, because inevitably something takes a different amount of time than I think it will, and re-writing everything (even in my favorite erasable pens) is not a great use of my time.  

To be clear: when I first started this curriculum, I did write out bullet points for every day, activity by activity.  I needed that structure, so if that helps you, do it.  If it doesn't, I am sure there is something else you'd rather be doing!  

This is a format that I really like, by the way, posted by a user (Janice V) in the SOMOS Collab files.