Get organized pt. 4: Google Calendars

I am all about getting organized, both in my school life and my home life and I must say, using Google Calendars has done a lot to save me.

I have an Android phone, so I was fortunate enough to sync my phone calendar right to my google calendar. But, I use both platforms together, and I have found some free apps and extensions that can be added to your chrome toolbar that make it even easier to get reminders and updates from your calendar. I love that when I add something to my phone, it instantly adds to the cloud and shows up on every device I own. I can schedule appointments, schedule my blog, do trainings and PD, whatever I need to do.

I often carry my phone around school with me when I go to a classroom. Sometimes, my aid needs me or sometimes, I have things on my phone to share. But, having it with me has been a lifesaver more times than not.  I am able to pull up my schedule on the spot and plan for classroom visits, one on one staff training, and meetings with the principal or the superintendent.  I can also see if I have something scheduled for my French class, as I do my lesson plans on Google Calendar as well.  I can share my calendar with my library aid and together we can add class visits and trainings from wherever we are so we know immediately who is going to be coming and for what reason.  (Sometimes, we have several classes show up and it is hard to juggle all of it- but if we know ahead, we can plan ahead.)

One school library I visited had a Google Calendar set up publicly and the teachers could input their personal library schedule directly into the calendar so the media specialist knew who was coming and when to get books, check out media, etc.  The staff still contacted the teacher for lessons and direct instruction, but, it did help her organize her day.

I am sure a lot of people are familiar with Google Calendar, but I think if you dabble a little, you will find some fantastic ways to make it work for you.