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Planbook - Lesson Planning Tool Review

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If I am a new teacher, I am strapped for money and want to use it responsibly. The first thing I need to do is figure out what tools or items I need to be successful in the classroom. One of the first things that come to mind is lesson planning. Lesson planning is an essential part of a teacher’s preparation in the summer. How do we know the best tool to create outstanding lesson plans? What necessities are needed to develop great lesson plans? Is this a valuable tool for teachers I know? Is it affordable or free? And the list of questions could go on for a long time.  If we choose an excellent lesson planning tool, we need to set up the criteria we seek. My criteria may differ from what you may choose, but I will go with the criteria that work best for me and that my colleagues and friends have found necessary.  The first couple of criteria at the top of my list is the customization and capabilities of the lesson plans. I want to set things up so that I can understand and change when
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Reminders and To-Do List Apps

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Before I fell asleep last night, my mind started going through the tasks I wanted to finish today. I tried to remember what to do tomorrow. If I had slept in a room with my phone, I could have “written” it down on my phone, so I would remember what to do. In this blog post, I will discuss reminder and to-do list apps that help you integrate these apps into your system to help you become more productive.  To find the best apps for reminders and to-do lists, I had to research what apps more intelligent people than I liked. I like to narrow the google searches by vetting the sites for recent reliable sources. The  first site  that I used was PC Magazine. This site did a great job of comparing different to-do list apps and showing the cost of these apps. Tech PP was the  following site  that delved deeper into the apps. This website explained the apps better but left out the price. The  last website  that helped was a website of free reminder apps. This site had a good list of free reminde
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The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture Book Review

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“In the same way, let your light shine in people’s presence, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16, EHV). God asks us to let others see our faith through our works, even in this post-modern world. One way to witness doing this is by posting a blog like this one for the whole internet to see.  Synopsis & Application : The book, The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture, by Shane Hipps talks about the different sides of technology as it applies to the Christian church. Hipps’ defines technology and media  as new media and technology that change or replace something from the past. Hipps talks about first establishing the laws of media. Hipps phrases each of these laws as questions we should ask ourselves about media and technology: What does the medium extend, enhance, or amplify? An example of an extension would be a speaker that amplifies the human voice.  What does the medium make obsolete? An example of something obsolete is a ho
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Mailchimp Newsletter

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Communication is crucial in almost all aspects of life. As a teacher, communication with my students and parents is critical to a successful year. The information shared in a newsletter needs to be decided to create good communication. After talking with parents about the information they wanted in a newsletter seven years ago, I added notable news (reminders or basic information) and coming events.  Another critical factor in a newsletter is the format of the newsletter. I have found that paper copies I sent home of my newsletter have yet to make it home to the parents. I have decided to go the route of an online newsletter. I have sent emails that were my newsletter to parents by making a parent group and sending emails to the parents weekly. I did this shortly before we had a website where we post our newsletters, and the website emails the parents so they can go to the website and read the weekly news that the teachers post. I edit the subscribers to the newsletter yearly to add th
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Personal Knowledge Managment System

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Disorganization. All my ideas were in many places without focus. I have a to-do list that I keep in one place (to the left of my computer), I write a list to add to it during the day. I keep post-it notes on the right of my laptop if I have a list of items I need to remember. I limit myself to three post-it notes, or I will lose the information. If I am making lists for myself that I use everywhere, I use Google Keep. I have them color coded for similar items: To-Do List divided by time frames are red, activities that need to be written asap are green, etc. I specific images and links in Google Keep if I will use them as a reference. I keep links to websites that help in particular areas on Pinterest and Google Drive sorted by subject areas. I wish to organize my professional items better. Goal: Organipurposeon. The goal of every organization method is to c apture, consolidate, create, consider, and share knowledge with a tool or tools. First Step: The first step to organizing is under
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How To Take Smart Notes Book Review

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Have you ever felt like you could be more a gifted writer? Have you ever wanted to improve your writing while improving the whole process? The book How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning, and Thinking by Sönke Ahrens is here to help you. Synopsis : The first step is taking notes while you are reading. One should write these notes in complete sentences so others can understand your meaning. After you have taken the notes, organizing how you look at the notes is essential. Ahrens’ idea about a slip box system helps you organize your ideas and allows you to move more sections around. Organizing your notes in a slip-box system will help you write your paper effortlessly since you already have full ideas written in meaningful sentences. His organizational system has you never quoting but putting other people’s ideas and thoughts in your own words while citing them. Ahrens gives a lot of research, connection, and examples to explain how and why to take smart
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