How do you organize future resources?

[alicai]

I'm trying to figure out how to better organize and track resources we aren't using yet, and do general future planning. I have a tendency to find great books or threads or blog posts and know that I'll want to use that in the future, but even though I collect that information in my OneNote, it's not well organized and gets lost. I'm usually better off with a digital organizer and I'm vaguely visualizing a graphic organizer where I can drag-and-drop resources within a tree-like structure. So like I could have 7th grade, with subjects below that, and topics within that, and resources pinned to topics. I'd also like to tack on notes because I often find myself doing micro-unit planning in the moment, etc. Something sort of like Trello, but not optimized for team work. Wow, I just described something way more specific than I thought. Anybody have something like this?

 

If not, how do you keep track of all the great things you find that you want to use at some point and ideas you have about how you want to use them? TIA!

[Starrinytes]

It sounds like I do similar to what you do now. I'd love to be more organized about this as well- I have so many random, unorganized notes on my computer. I'm interested to hear any suggestions!

[alicai]

Apparently posting clarifies my thinking because I went today and watched videos on how to use OneNote more efficiently and completely reorganized what I was doing. It's not perfect, but it's WAY closer to what I wanted. Yay!

[Heathermomster]

If you wanted to make a mindmap and attach notes/llnks, the Inspiration app for the iPad is awesome. There is a pc and Apple desktop version as well.

[mama25angels]

Apparently posting clarifies my thinking because I went today and watched videos on how to use OneNote more efficiently and completely reorganized what I was doing. It's not perfect, but it's WAY closer to what I wanted. Yay!

 

What videos did you watch?

[alicai]

It was this image that really got me thinking about how I could fundamentally use it differently (post here). I'll dig up video links later today.

[mama25angels]

It was this image that really got me thinking about how I could fundamentally use it differently (post here). I'll dig up video links later today.

Thank you.

[goldenecho]

I'm still working this out, but....

 

 

For digital resources, I have an online filing system by subject, with sub-files for the more specific topic.  I make a habit of searching my digital files before we tackle any new topic or skill.

 

For history books, I have some plastic bins, organized Chronologically.  That makes it easy to just search the next section.

 

Science "future books" is harder because I don't know what order I am going to go in.  I have a shelf and I just try to put things on similar topics together and search it.  It's hardest though when I have one book with multiple topics.

 

If I know I'm covering something in a year's curriculum though, I will put sticky notes in the book about resources to use with that chapter, and keep a notepad with links to online resources I plan to use (which I'll mention in the note to consult such and such notepad, kept in the file system I mentioned earlier).   I'll also sometimes make a pinterest board to consult when we get there, if it's a broader topic like "Space."  I'll also keep a library list for things I see at the library I want to use later, so I can just print it out and go.

 

I often want to line up other topics with history (for instance, I wanted to teach about stars and planets when we were studying Greece and Rome, because those topics complimented each other), I will make a notepad of the history chapters and make notes under each chapter of what other subjects I want to teach then.

 

Seasonal and holiday stuff goes in folders by month.   So, St. Patrick's day stuff goes in March, and general Spring Stuff goes there too since it's the first month of Spring (I'll just move it to April if I don't use it in March, etc.).

 

Stuff I'm using very soon (like within a month) goes in a folder by subject in order I plan to use it (not a file folder...but those folders with flaps (I also do have subject file folders where I put stuff to use much later that is printed out already, but honestly...this is the stuff I'm most likely to forget about).  

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2018 by goldenecho

[daijobu]

Do you use Google Drive?  I keep docs in each subject and i copy/paste info into each doc.  So I have my math doc with those resources, history, etc.  

[alicai]

Do you use Google Drive? I keep docs in each subject and i copy/paste info into each doc. So I have my math doc with those resources, history, etc.

 

I am a Google Drive lover, but I have so many things for so many grade levels and topics, I have to break it down more.

 

Now I’ve got OneNote set up like a binder, with a tab for each grade level, a section for each subject, and subpages for topics within subject. It’s much more tree-like in structure than what I used to do, which helps me find things [emoji106]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited March 16, 2018 by raisingainsley

[MerryAtHope]

I always kept a word document that I titled "looking ahead" and put everything on there for the next year. For resources that would be years in the future, I labeled by year.

 

When I was ready to start choosing resources for that year, I would review my document first to see what I was still interested in. (Also really helpful to take with me to used curriculum sales where I could see some things in person!)

 

Have fun!

[domesticidyll]

I use Pinterest for any kind of link. Poems, essays, craft projects, gorgeous photos, xkcd comics, books from Amazon, anything I will want to use in a letter class. Quite often, the pin image is just the words on the site, it's not visually stunning, but it keeps everything in a searchable home. For English, I have a board per era, plus a general English, plus a board on teaching writing.

[Sarah0000]

I buy and read it then lose it in my boxes upon boxes of books in the garage then randomly come across it and use it for a few months and repeat. That's called the natural spiral method.

[Carol in Cal.]

For things I buy, I keep them behind my couch in labelled piles.  The couch is about 5 feet from the wall, and there is a writing desk, largely decorative, and a piano, ditto, back there.  So it's a great place to hide piles of stuff.  Then annually I pull out the next pile.

[vxfy]

I don't know the proper terminology for onenote but assuming you can tag notes/pages: have a note for each resource where the note title is the resource title. Then tag the note with subject (however specific e.g. physics or solar_system or egypt or whatever), and also tag it with each of the years the resource is appropriate for (e.g. grade3 grade4 grade5). The body of the note would have anything specific to that resource such as lesson plans you've found for it, areas the resource is weak in that you might want to supplement, who recommended the resource, where it is (on your bookshelf, library, ebook on your computer, where to buy it etc) or why you saved it in the first place. 

 

When you go to plan, you can search by tags for the subject and grade that you want. 

 

One thing that might be tricky is managing the subject tags. I think you would probably want hierarchical tags, or tags to be tagged with other tags e.g. physics and chemistry be tagged with science so that when you search for science you can easily pull up all the subcategories as well.

 

I personally prefer subjects being the top level of organisation rather than grades as you mentioned in your original post since many resources work for multiple grades. But tagging with subject and grade independently means you don't need to decide. 

[alicai]

 

I don't know the proper terminology for onenote but assuming you can tag notes/pages: have a note for each resource where the note title is the resource title. Then tag the note with subject (however specific e.g. physics or solar_system or egypt or whatever), and also tag it with each of the years the resource is appropriate for (e.g. grade3 grade4 grade5). The body of the note would have anything specific to that resource such as lesson plans you've found for it, areas the resource is weak in that you might want to supplement, who recommended the resource, where it is (on your bookshelf, library, ebook on your computer, where to buy it etc) or why you saved it in the first place. 

 

When you go to plan, you can search by tags for the subject and grade that you want. 

 

One thing that might be tricky is managing the subject tags. I think you would probably want hierarchical tags, or tags to be tagged with other tags e.g. physics and chemistry be tagged with science so that when you search for science you can easily pull up all the subcategories as well.

 

I personally prefer subjects being the top level of organisation rather than grades as you mentioned in your original post since many resources work for multiple grades. But tagging with subject and grade independently means you don't need to decide. 

 

I've been thinking tagging would be REALLY useful. Here's a

to a video on tagging in OneNote, if anyone is interested.

[2_girls_mommy]

I don't plan super far in advance. I mean, I have tubs of materials labeled in my garage that say like "1st-2nd grade." And in that tub are my Rod and Staff 1st-2nd grade textbooks and answer keys so that I can reuse them when it is time for my younger (9.5 yr age gap between her and the next kid.) I threw other things into those tubs when I boxed them up, things like the science encyclopedias I like for elementary, that kind of thing. I am not sure entirely what I will find when I unbox, but the core of my WTM style curric should be there. 

 

In side the house I have lots of bookshelves and organize things roughly by subject. So there is an elementary reader shelf. A shelf for holiday books. A shelf of science books and a shelf of history/social studies books in the elementary shelves. In my middle to high school/school reference shelves I have things broken down in magazine holders and labled. So there is a magazine holder that says American History. In it are copies of my Jackdaws portfolio, copies of the constitution, lesson plans I printed and kept that I liked and want to reuse, Am. History coloring books, etc. I have those set up for state history and other topics. 

 

As for planning ahead for grades I haven't done yet, I do have just a plain old spiral notebook that I use for planning. I keep lists. So I have a list of subjects to cover and what to use for the next couple of years. That way as I pick up materials at used book sales and stash them away, I won't forget, or if I read about a good program I want to look into for a subject I jot it down. 

I also have lists in that notebook of art that my kids did throughout the year that we could enter in the state fair. I can't tell you how many times we entered 10 things in the fair, and then went and saw all kinds of categories we could have entered if I had remembered a project my kids had done over the course of the last year. So this year, I made a list. Whenever they made something cool, I made a note of it (sewn project- apron or pj pants, crayon art- sandpaper crayon drawing from camp, etc.) 

[ScoutTN]

I rarely buy ahead, but I have a shelf for books not currently in use.

 

I keep book lists on Amazon, labeled by school year dates.

 

I am old school. I use a notebook to write out thoughts and plans for future years, as well as reflections on current efforts, books I've read, podcasts I've listened to, threads I've followed here etc. The physical act of writing helps me to process and analyze.

[Gabrielsyme]

I use a bullet journal for my entire life plan. Index in the front and then just make sure I add to it as I add pages. It's perfect. My husband is a programmer and I asked him to write something that could do a sort of brain map for me because everything I'd seen left out some important component. He got frustrated somewhere around the time I said I needed it to automatically order groceries, keep track of the weather and graph the amount of sleep each of our children got each night compared with their mood throughout the day. Ha.The bullet journal doesn't leave anything out because the possibilities are limitless. It doesn't order my groceries though.

[alicai]

I use a bullet journal for my entire life plan. Index in the front and then just make sure I add to it as I add pages. It's perfect. My husband is a programmer and I asked him to write something that could do a sort of brain map for me because everything I'd seen left out some important component. He got frustrated somewhere around the time I said I needed it to automatically order groceries, keep track of the weather and graph the amount of sleep each of our children got each night compared with their mood throughout the day. Ha.The bullet journal doesn't leave anything out because the possibilities are limitless. It doesn't order my groceries though.

I'm totally intrigued by how you could capture all of this in a single journal without getting lost in it. Can you tell me more? Or pics? Pretty please :)