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.

Get Organized pt. 3: Symbaloo

Last summer, I did a post about Symbaloo and how I use it in my classroom.  I think, since it has changed a little bit, it is time to redo a post about it and show it's new look as well as offer some organizing tips with it.

Let's face it, we teachers come across so many things we want to use in class.  We want our kids to access things and learn stuff, but, we also want to have a little control in what they are accessing. Symbaloo allows teachers to have more control over what kids access.   We assemble a webmix that has our necessary links for projects and require the students to refer to that webmix.

It's really a good way to organize your classes too.  I teach French but I am also the school library media specialist.  I have created several webmixes that cater to the teachers and students in our school. I established one for writing, polling, audiovisual, as well as general research and collaboration.  

Being organized via weblinks helps me share what I know with my staff and students.  Symbaloo is so easy to use and user friendly that anyone can figure it out. The outcome can organize a lot of great links for your students and for you.

Get Organized Pt. 2: Wunderlist (Collection Development)

I am not sure how many of you have seen Wunderlist (it's an app as well as online) but I wanted to take a few minutes to show the organizing tool to you.

I added the Wunderlist app to my iPad a few years ago and I decided to start using it for a method of organizing my collection development.  When I preorder a book, I add it to the list with the day it comes out and I add a note about where I ordered it from. I keep all of my records of orders on a spreadsheet, but, a spreadsheet isn't going to remind me of the day I should start seeing it arrive.

Wunderlist allows you to put notifications on your desktop, like a calendar and it will popup a reminder when you are close to the deadline.  It allows for a reminder and a due date.

It is also a great tool to show students so they can learn to task manage.  Task management on project based learning is very important and using a tool such as Wunderlist can really help them learn to organize and plan their tasks.  What is awesome about the tool is the capability of inviting friends to the tasks.  So, if you, as the teacher assign a project, you can invite all of your students to the different tasks and they will get the notifications and be able to refer to the assignment on their own.

If you are in the need of becoming more organized, take a look at this site.  It offers a lot of possibilities for your classes or you.

Get Organized Pt. 1: Workflowy

I believe that being organized is one of the most important things about being an educator.  Looking at my desk, you would never know I try to organize my life, but looking at my web 2.0 life, you would see I really am an organized person.  I make lists, I keep a calendar, and I use post-it notes.   I have managed to find several free tools that are really awesome to use for organization.

Workflowy is one I came across just recently and I am intrigued by how it works. It was recently named to the AASL top 25 web 2.0 tools of 2013.  I decided to try it to organize my grant writing schedule.  I love how it looks.

It has these little bullets that can be hovered upon to add notes, change concept, etc.  It's awesome!  It gives you the power to hide notes and information so you can refer to it later.

I created a board that was for my grants.  It's a little hard to see, but the site has the capabilities of expanding and decompressing the information you are adding. Signing up is free, and it's like dropbox.  If you invite others to join and they do, you get more space.  I have been using that aspect of dropbox for ages.

This site is very easy to organize and plan your day.  I suggest looking at it.  You might find it works for some of your needs.