I’m on a journey. A journey through the most-used page layouts in my teaching bullet journal. A journey most-nerdy.

This week involves a page layout designed for thinking through curriculum, and how best to help new minds connect with my curriculum. Process work where the page itself is rarely referenced afterwards. It’s the build that matters.

The anatomy of a lesson plan outline.

My partner and I received an order from Yoseka Stationery last weekend. An inky, penguin-infused order. And I’m too excited not to share. Even mid-bullet journal series. So, allow me to share what has me so excited of late.

I live in my teaching bullet journal during the school year. The notebook houses everything from curriculum revision to my day-to-day task lists to a host of meeting notes. Brainstorms on lesson sequencing, calendars pacing assignments to fit students’ needs, and periodic analytic reflections to assess whether what I intend to teach is what I’m actually communicating.

This week: the deceptively simple meeting log.

Reflecting on how to start this guest blog post, I kept coming back to this one song lyric: “It’s the little things we do together ...” from Stephen Sondheim’s musical, Company. Sondheim’s show is devoted to the inner workings of married couples, their relationships with one another, and what they share together. Pens, for JP and I, are one of the many things we share.

A few weeks ago, Endless Pens sent out a pre-order for a new Opus 88. They partnered with Twenty Sides, who illustrated the cutest dog on the pen’s cap, “Naptime.” Naptime resembles JP’s editor, our sweet dog, Rumi.

Of course I needed the Rumi pen.