How to Efficiently Digitize Your Classroom to Streamline Productivity with Google Drive
TIRED OF HAVING YOUR GO-TO ITEMS IN RANDOM PLACES?
Are you guilty, like me, of saving your files in a LOT of different places and devices? Do you arrive earlier just to find and open all of your slides, templates, and materials you will need for the day?
I used to spend a lot of frantic mornings trying to get prepared for the day. I’d spend even more time after school. . . just trying to get ahead! I finally made the switch to mostly digital about 2 years ago. Now I’m constantly tweaking my forms and slides to be even more productive. Now I’m able to spend more time at home.
Yes, we all had to make the transition to some form of online/hybrid learning. Call it what you will, it forced us to go digital and figure out a way to utilize technology to reach our students.
Learning technology has also benefited me as a teacher by allowing me to instantly access and edit my materials.
The days of searching through random USB drives, PowerPoint, and outdated Word documents are over! Now I can focus on creating a streamlined classroom in which students are engaged and independent.
MY TOP 3 TECHNOLOGY HACKS FOR A FOCUSED CLASSROOM
My 3 educational technology tips are a great way to help you organize your classroom management system. I use these three technology tricks to be prepared quickly once I arrive at school. They are daily features that I use. Try them out and let me know how they work for you. Also enjoy a FREE download of the morning meeting slides!
- Morning Meeting Slides (FREE download)
- Teaching Slides (Subject Matter & Flow of the Day – with timers)
- Starred Section
What do you talk about in the morning meeting? Use slide templates to take the guesswork out of setting up your meetings each day. You can easily edit, add, and/or delete slides to fit your classroom needs and teaching style. Some morning meeting activities are:
- Greeting
- Daily or Weekly Schedule
- Teacher’s Message
- Sharing a Good Thing
- Sharing an Emoji (how they are feeling)
- Game and/or Community Building Activity
- Number of the Day
- Word of the Day
You can customize your morning flow by using slides to keep you on track. Even better. . . add timers to your slides! You can easily add links to YouTube timer videos. Yes, there’s a YouTube video for how to do that, too.
Wondering how to effectively use teaching slides in the classroom? Google Slides is an amazing educational technology resource because it automatically saves and you can track your revision history easily. This allows you to save time and the frustration of losing information or forgetting to save!
When you use Google Slides templates for teaching your subjects, you can focus on instruction and providing your students with a familiar routine of discovering information.
You may be wondering what teaching slides are. I learned of this idea from Michelle Emerson of Pocketful of Primary. Check out her video to learn more about how she streamlines her teaching. I used her video to create my own slides that match my curriculum. I had fun with Bitmoji’s and add those into the design of the slides.
Currently, I don’t have a template available, but I might be willing to create one if you give me some feedback. Would you want pre-made templates for teaching? Email me here or leave a comment below.
Here is a peek at what I created for an ELA lesson on making predictions.
It’s a bookmark for your favorites! I learned this simple trick a few years ago, but can’t remember where. It has saved me time and frustration with trying to find what I need.
This simple idea can help you stay on top of your workload. To star an item means it will show up in your “Starred” section in your Google Drive home area.
To star a document/slide/form, etc. that you are working on, click the star until it becomes highlighted in yellow. This means it has been starred or saved and can be found in the “Starred” section.
HOW CAN THIS HELP YOU?
- Stay on top of your workload and increase productivity
- Streamline your teaching and focus on instruction
- Save time to spend more time with your family
I hope these ideas give you a bit of inspiration as you begin this new school year. Over the years, I have learned mostly what not to do! After trying out different teachers versions of organizing and managing. . . I finally sorted out the MANY options into the few that make the most impact on my teaching.
If you would like more ideas on how to incorporate different aspects of technology into your teaching, check out my ebook on creating a calm and focused classroom.
I hope you have a great beginning to this upcoming school year!
All my best,
