Planner Quality Changes
A new planner design has been proposed in contrast to the mass produced ones from previous years
The University Prep planners became a topic of debate around middle school with the change in their design this year. With this in mind, Janet Perles aspires to create a new design that appeals to the students.
Perles, the new testing and learning specialist, took on the job of creating the planners for next year and many changes are underway.
“I’m new. So, this year I’m looking into some alternative options to what we have,” Perles said.
This year’s planners actually are mass produced.
“Our current planners are pre-populated so they’re designed and they’re not custom,” Perles said.“They just have a custom cover, but they’re just the standard design that we pick from the company and then we put our name on the front.”
The new planners are going to be made to suit the custom needs of the average UPrep middle schooler’s productivity.
“The overall goal is to build habits,” said Perles.
Marina Hao, an eighth-grader, uses a paper planner, but not the one that UPrep provides.
“In sixth grade, my [UPrep] planner fell out. And, there’s passwords and other things, and homework in there…I got a new planner. But this year, I think [the UPrep planner] it’s lightweight and then it has enough room to write down everyday assignments,” Hao said.
She likes the range of designs and options that you get with a paper planner. Hao’s is a weekly planner that has plenty of room each day and a shiny, decorative cover.
She believes that the old UPrep planners were too small and there wasn’t enough room but there are plans to make that better in the future.
Meanwhile, Cate Fitzgerald, a seventh-grader, uses an iPad planner.
“I think iPad planners are nice because… you don’t have an extra thing in your bag,” Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald thinks that if they made the UPrep planners smaller and lighter, she would switch.
However, there are no current plans to make them smaller.
As a matter of fact, the new planners will be bigger so there is more space to write down assignments and due dates. In some ways an iPad planner would be preferable to 30% of middle school, as seen in a survey taken by the Puma Prints, as you never run out of room.
The previous planners have fallen apart, had not enough space, and been heavy. Next year’s planners are likely going to be bigger for more information and have a designated spot for due dates and tests, so you never run out of room to write every assignment in your planner.