As a teacher, pens were one of the most important purchases I could make. As a librarian, I still find that pens are high on my priority list and have continued to use some of the same ones that I found when I was teaching. Finding the right pen for teaching that wrote neatly and met all of my needs was an ongoing process. In addition, with grad school and creating my own planner (see here for planner pages I’ve created and found), I discovered even more reasons to find the perfect utensils.
Pens
Sharpie Pens: hands down my favorite pens. They write amazingly with a dark color that doesn’t bleed through even on the thinnest paper. I love these for just jotting notes and for writing on students’ papers. In the library, I use pens for teaching for almost everything and they write on just about everything. (About the only thing I found that they didn’t work on were Extreme Post-it Notes.)
Papermate Gel Pens: I love grading papers with these pens. They’re bright and cheerful which stands out amongst the plainer writing of the students. I don’t really use these as a librarian, but I still love the way they glide across the page. I rarely graded in red so having all the choices of color was fantastic.
Tactical Pen: This pen doesn’t write nearly as smoothly or nicely as the others. The advantage to this one is it’s a heavier pen. It also has a point on the end that is pretty sharp (why I don’t recommend taking it to work with you or keeping it out of the hands of littles). That point (supposedly) can break a car window with enough force. I haven’t used it that way yet and hope I don’t have to. The heaviness means it takes a little getting used to, but it does have a decent glide. (I’m not a huge fan of ballpoint pens so that’s some of my hesitation with this recommendation.)
Highlighters
Bic Highlighters: I hate highlighters with a passion which means I’m guessing you’re wondering why I have highlighters on my list. It’s because these highlighters are not like your mother’s highlighters. These are pastel and you can actually STILL READ what you highlight! I lived with these in my hand while doing reading for grad school. They are fantastic. Smooth glide and easy to use, they also have the chiseled tip which makes it easier to highlight just one line.
Markers
Journal Planner Pens: These are my best suggestion for planner pens. They have super thin points that are perfect for writing in small spaces in planners. You also do not have to worry about smearing or blurring as you write above or below where you’ve already written. There are plenty of colors, although some of them are rather close to the others. I find them useful for color coding my journals so I can tell at a glance what event is coming up. This coming year, I’ll use them to color code my lesson plans for my different grade levels.
