One Location

Ideally, you can post these items in your school's LMS (Schoology, Google Classroom, Canvas, Blackboard, etc.). If your district has not adopted an LMS, then consider working together by grade-level or building to select a free platform to centralize content (Google Classroom, Class Dojo, for example). The key is to organize the content in a logical and consistent manner.

If you work in a team (as is often done at the middle school level), be sure to work together and be consistent! Work with your team to come up with a system of organization that is similar from one content area to another: math to ELA, social studies to science.

Folders

Folders are a great way to organize files, both paper and digital. Think of digital organization like you would your filing cabinet.

  1. The Course/Class - this is your filing cabinet

  2. Week of April 27 - this is your hanging folder

  3. Your manilla folders can be:

    • A folder or page for each day OR

    • A folder or page for each content area - reading, writing, math, etc. - (younger grades) or topic of the week - (upper grades)

Pitfalls to Avoid

  • When you name items (groups, folders, etc.), think about the names from the point of view of your students and their parents. What makes sense to us as we create may not make sense to those accessing the content.

    • It makes sense to us to name our 5th bell music class "Mr. Smith's HR" because that is the groups of students we are working with. However, parents see that and are confused because "Mr. Smith" is not the music teacher.

  • Avoid creating too many folders within other folders. Usually, one main folder with one level of subfolders is plenty - add pages, files, and links inside each subfolder.

  • When sharing links to items such as Google or Office 365 files, you must set the viewing permissions based on your audience.

    • If your audience is your students, you may be able to set the permissions for "anyone in [your school district]" (if students have a school email address).

    • If your intended audience is the parents/family, you must set the permissions for "anyone with link" can view.

    • Open a new incognito window to verify that "anyone with link" can view.

Consolidate Your Content

In addition to organizing each week's content, take the time to consolidate efforts. That is to say, instead of posting several different same items, consider creating a single file that contains all of that content. This way, students only have one link or one document to access.

Copy of Mrs. Knueven's Bitmoji Library

Read-Aloud Collection

Create a collection of read-alouds instead of posting the link to each one individually. This way, students/parents have one location to navigate. Thanks to Mrs. Knueven of Madeira Elementary for this example!

Create a Media Album for Video or Audio Files

If you are using a central LMS, you may have the option of creating media files. Label each file explicitly so students know which file it is. For example, don't name it "May 15". Rather, name it "Civil War, part 1, May 15" or "French Pronunciation 'oi'". Of course, media albums can be used for other content, such as field trip photos, student project submissions or even student portfolios.

Add Hyperlinks to Your Daily or Weekly Agenda

By adding hyperlinks, you consolidate several resources into one. This example is given in Google Slides, but the process is very similar for most platforms.