Six Steps to Follow for Digital Cleanup

Spooky season is upon us, and to teachers and admin everywhere, there’s nothing scarier than clutter. As far as stressful messes go, classroom clutter takes the cake: disheveled books, piles of unsorted papers, and stale dry erase markers littered all over the place. 

However, there’s another type of clutter that is arguably more important (and therefore, more disruptive to teachers), and that is digital debris. Although less noticeable to others, digital messes take up space, both electronic and mental.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your electronic messes, don’t be afraid! Just follow these six, must-do steps for digital cleaning.

1. Get your email in good shape. Unless you’re someone who automatically sorts email as soon as it arrives (a tough, but good habit), you’re probably due for an email inbox overhaul. This is a good time to trash useless mail, and while you’re at it, unsubscribe from some pesky auto-mailings. Create specified folders (ex. parent communication, observations, extra-curricular activities) to stay organized.
   

2. Be smart about storage. For smart phones specifically, loading your device with unused apps, dormant text messages, and too many pictures slows the efficiency of the machine (and uses precious battery power). This is especially important if you’re using teacher apps like Plickers or Class Dojo on your personal device. Rid your phone of excess “weight” by deleting apps you no longer use, comb through your photo albums, and delete old text messages.
   

3. Cleanup your Google Classroom. Keep your GC nice and tidy by archiving old classes and deleting old class calendars. Consider creating a folder specifically to store exemplary work for students’ future reference. Remember to not delete the Classroom folder; it’s necessary and difficult to recover.
   

4. Make your desktop presentable. If you’re too embarrassed to screen share your desktop with the class, then it’s time for some organizational overhaul. Sort documents, pictures, and other files into existing folders, or create new ones. While you’re at it, sift through old folders, trashing documents that are no longer relevant.
   

5. Give your devices a dusting. Literally. Dust and particles can damage the efficiency of your machine over time. To clean it, wipe the exterior and screen with a dry, microfiber cloth. Gently turn over the keyboard to allow the debris to fall. If you’re feeling extra ambitious, use compressed air to ensure that it’s as clean as new and running smoothly.
   

6. Backup the important stuff. It’s an easy task to forget, but one that will serve you well in the future: offload pictures, videos, and important files to a safer location. Dropbox and Google Drive provide perfect locations to safely store files, but you can also opt to use an external hard drive.

Implementing these steps will give you (and your devices) renewed energy and a fresh outlook.

Teaching Tips: How to Stay Organized All Year

All teachers can relate. School has only recently resumed, and yet, your desk is buried under stacks of papers and miscellaneous school supplies. Post-it notes containing countless clerical to-dos are everywhere. Between the desk mess, a teeming inbox, and planning for upcoming lessons, it’s difficult to know what to tackle first.  

There’s a reason why disorganization is an issue for most teachers; the profession is incredibly demanding. It requires one to make hundreds of decisions per day, all pertaining to the monumental task of educating children. Because of the urgency of students’ needs and lesson preparation, it’s easy for organizational maintenance to fall to the wayside. 

Instead of adding more hours to your already-busy workweek, incorporate these simple tips to stay organized all year. 

Make the most of every minute. 

It’s certainly tempting to use your breaks linger in the teacher’s lounge, comparing the day’s tales with colleagues. But think of it this way: every unused moment is work time added to your evening. Time is valuable, and many daily tasks only require a few minutes each. So the next time you have a short break (or when your students are working independently), use the opportunity to enter grade book data, arrange instructional materials for the next class, or answer a quick email from a parent.  

Get your students involved.  

Smoothly run classrooms call for everyone to do their part. Kids love to help with daily duties, so use that enthusiasm to your advantage. Ask a student to pass out lesson materials while you get your Power Point into slideshow mode. Assign a few kids each week to take care of a designated area of the classroom; one can tidy bookshelves, the other can organize art supplies or keep staplers and tape stocked. If left only to the teacher, these tiny tasks can accrue. Delegate small jobs to students when applicable, and consider it a learning opportunity. 

Utilize digital tools. 

The technological world is brimming with resources designed for classroom use. In addition to enhancing student engagement, many of these tech tools can also aid in administrative duties. Google Drive allows teachers remote access to files, so they can keep documents in one place, but work on them anywhere. With the ability to submit assignments electronically, mysterious paper disappearances will be thing of the past. Google calendar is another beneficial tool. With it, important due dates and school events become always accessible to students and their families. 

Maintain a clear workspace.  

Because of the busy nature of a teacher’s day, it’s easy for your personal desk to become a “catch-all” location. Sifting through the day’s debris then becomes a daunting afternoon chore. To avoid wasting time merely muddling through the piles, create file shelves so that every unfinished project (such as incomplete grading) has its own place. Having designated locations, and taking the extra few seconds to maintain them, will result in a neat, clean area for when it’s time to get to work. 

Teachers are professional jugglers with a wide range of daily responsibilities. With so much on the to-do list, organization is imperative. This year, implement these routines so that you can spend less time managing mess and more time inspiring intellect. 

Professional Development 101

Professional Development is hardly one-size-fits-all because every one of your teachers has different needs that must be met. Tackle professional development in a new way by thinking outside of the box. Try these ideas, based on what districts across the United States are doing: 

• Unconferences
  An unconference is a grassroots conference where the content is provided by the attendees, not outside experts. Don’t think of them as unofficial events, rather bring unconferences in-house as the official professional development.

TIP: Have the MIEE and GoogleEIs at your institution do the talking, not the administrators. Have breakouts using Google Sheets and Google Hangouts.

• Personal Learning Community

Personal Learning Communities, or PLCs, are a group of teachers with a shared interest or mutual commitment. Administrators can choose the focus, like hybrid teaching models, and allow teachers to sign up for the PLCs they align with most.

TIP: Use Google Team Drive, to keep everyone in the loop. You can drop information in about each PLC and share with your team.

• Choice Boards

Choice Boards offer a menu of professional development options for teachers to pick and choose from; the amount would depend on your district. This method allows you to meet your teachers’ individual needs, instead of addressing them in a group setting.

TIP: Create a DIY bingo board with Google Sheets or Docs. Or, go old school and draw it up on a white board then use Microsoft Office Lens to digitize it. This app trims and enhances to make notes on whiteboards and blackboard readable on your mobile device.

• Personal Action Plans

Personal Action Plans allow individual teachers to set their own learning goals, including an action plan to achieve them.

TIP: Try Microsoft Sway. This digital storytelling app helps create professional, interactive designs with images, text, videos that can be easily shared with just a link.

• Peer Observation

With peer observation, your teachers take advantage of the best source of professional development available to them, each other. Teachers shadow then follow up with colleagues about applying what they’ve learned in their own classrooms. The best part is if they have questions, the answer is down the hall. 

TIP: Suggest Microsoft OneNote to take notes or draw up quick ideas. This tool has a variety of ingenious uses and each note is stored on a phone, pad or laptop and accessed from anywhere

Got some great professional development ideas? Share them with us and include which tech tools you used to knock it out of the park.