Being organized is something that has always come pretty naturally to me. I like to be able to put my hands on things when I need them and actually feel peaceful when items are in their place and look neat. My classroom is a reflection of how I feel about being organized...I have my tubs and drawers labeled, crates with extra materials, a color coordinated theme and a tidy desk. My students are well aware of how important organization is to me and make sure their desks and AVID binders are tidy. I don't think organization is something everyone thinks about teaching to their students, but it has almost as much to do with their success as anything we teach them!
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| I think we can all agree that Benjamin Franklin knew what he was talking about! |
An awesome technology tool I learned about this week is Diigo. It is a social bookmarking website that allows users to save, tag and share websites. One of the coolest features is that you can create or join groups to share websites with others. It was fun to play with some of the features like highlighting and using sticky notes to annotate right on the text! You can also set up student groups, which allows them to be able to use all of these cool tools. I can see my students using the highlighting and sticky notes for close reading annotations and then commenting on their classmates posts. Aside from all of that, Diigo keeps all your webpages organized by tags. It makes searching your favorite websites quick and easy! Plus... because it is a web-based site, you can access your bookmarks from any computer. How great is that? Check out this video for more information on how to use Diigo.
My learning of new digital organizational tools did not end there folks! I was introduced to a classroom behavior management tracking system called Class Dojo. Tracking behavior and keeping up with different systems is an area where organization is a bit of a challenge for me. This cool tool offers a simple way to track student behaviors all in one place! Parents can view progress and students are awarded points for their choices. I plan on using Class Dojo as soon as I get my class set up. This tool is a winner for me, plus it's FREE! View this short video, then sign up and get organized with classroom management!
Being organized as well as teaching students to be organized cannot be underestimated! Students will use these skills when studying, turning in work, monitoring behavior and managing time. I hope you check out and sign up for one of these free online resources that will make your life and your students' lives more manageable!
Happy Organizing-
Sarah
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