Mersadies Pringle used to spend four hours every weekend planning on paper. Common Planner gave her that time back with digital tools that move with her.
Lesson plans lived on paper—in binders, desk calendars, and handwritten notes—so any change meant starting over.
Mersadies moved planning into Common Planner, where lessons are easy to write, adjust, and reuse—without rewriting the whole week.
I used to plan on paper. A big binder. A giant desk calendar. Erasable pens everywhere.
And with a class that needed extra time on tough concepts — especially math — I found myself erasing, rewriting, crossing out, and shifting things constantly. If a lesson needed reteaching, everything after it had to be reworked. New arrows. New boxes. New abbreviations just so I didn't have to rewrite everything again.
It got messy fast.
I couldn't plan more than a week at a time, because I knew I'd just be erasing half of it anyway. And every weekend, without fail, I spent around four hours getting the next week ready.
If I was home and realized I forgot my Bible or science book — which aren't online — I couldn't do anything until I drove back to school. Everything took longer than it needed to.
It worked… but it definitely wasn't efficient.
"I used to spend about four hours every weekend planning. I don't do that anymore."
When I switched to Common Planner, everything changed.
Right away, typing instead of handwriting made planning faster. I could open my book, type what I needed, and move on. No more erasing or rewriting when plans shifted.
But the real game changer?
The bump feature.
When my class needs to redo a lesson, I just click the three dots, hit Bump Lesson, and everything automatically moves forward.
No rewriting. No arrows. No chaos.
"When I need to reteach a lesson, I just hit Bump — everything moves for me."
If I've planned a month ahead, everything stays intact. I can copy the bumped lesson so my admin can see we taught it twice. And I can finally look ahead and pace out my units based on where the year is heading.
My weekly view stays open as a bookmark. Every morning, I pull up my three tabs — email, Common Planner, Classroom Screen — and I'm ready to go.
And the best part?
Those four hours I used to lose every weekend…
I don't lose them anymore.
Common Planner gives me back time — real time.
I don't spend my weekends buried in planning. I don't rewrite the same lesson twice. I don't scramble because I forgot a curriculum book at school.
It's simple, organized, and easy to adjust. And for a teacher with ADHD, having everything in one clean, digital space makes a huge difference.
"Common Planner finally gives me back my time."
I finally have a planning system that works with me, not against me.
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