As I headed down to the copy room to make copies of all of our students math tests so that my teacher could have a copy on file, I thought once again of how much paper we go through in our classrooms. I find it interesting that with all of the technology we now have at our fingertips, most teachers continue to make copy after copy of homework, tests, newsletters, and so on. Now, I know that we need paper for many things and I also know that not all schools have computers for their students to use very often. Even so, I think we could cut down on our paper waste. With this in mind, I started to "play around", as Jane says, with Evernote. I downloaded the app on my ipad and then made a notebook for each subject: math, reading, writing, word work, social studies, and science. Then I put each of my 5 focus students in the subjects. I chose one student for our project in Nancy's class and so, with my ipod touch, I took some pictures of his writing and filed it under his name. In this way I didn't have to make any copies of his work and I always have it right there on my itouch.
What really surprised me was how fast and easy it was to make these different notebooks. I think it took maybe ten minutes to create the different subjects and add each of my students in. Even with twenty more students in the class, it still wouldn't take much time to add them all in and snap pictures of their work. Definately a lot less time than making copies of every single page of their tests and filing it away. A lot less storage space as well. I am excited to see what else I can use my new Evernote app for!
Thanks for the great idea. I have been trying to figure out just how to get organized. I took a whole bunch of pictures of school work yesterday mostly because it was too late to copy the work (office closed) and some of what I wanted the students would need again next week. So I pulled out my phone and started snapping pictures but I hadn't figured out what to do with them. Guess it is my turn to play with Evernote!
ReplyDeleteYeah!! Very cool.
ReplyDeleteTagging by kids' initials could be another cool organization step.
Terrific idea! I was beginning to wonder just how much memory was on my little iPod touch. I have emailed a couple of pictures and sound clips to myself, but I was also beginning to have too many tags and folders to keep track of. And actual, physical pieces of paper, well let’s just say my room looks a little disorganized. I will have to try this idea! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAwesome Idea. makes me want an ipad! I too like evernote for the idea of organization, it is also a good way to keep track of group work for small groups in class. when it comes to our tech work, Evernote is something that I actually think I could use in my life.
ReplyDeleteWHOOHOOO I started playing around with Evernote today during the staff meeting when we were talking about keeping track of our conferring with students. I am going to try it tomorrow. Making a notebook for each student, voice record each time I confer with the student, take a picture of the work, and then tag for the standard we talked about. I was thinking that I would also make the notebook available to each student, so if they feel so inclined, they can go back and listen or read what we have talked about. As the teacher you will be able to keep track of what you've discussed with each student.
ReplyDeleteI think the next step in this is to be able to streamline the records to each grade level. That way every year you can see what the student has tried and taken on. No more starting from scratch. Think about what a notebook would look like by the end of 6th grade!
Thanks for the great organization idea! I find I'm always looking for better ways to organize the mass amounts of information we are dealing with!
ReplyDelete