Get & Stay Organized

Any other year, I would mandate that you have a physical binder to organize your CPAs, class notes, and various other assignments.

I don't have to tell you this year is unlike any other year. As such, you are free to develop and organize a digital binder.

Here are some tips and considerations on how to keep yourself together:

Physical or Digital?

You have the choice to keep a physical or digital binder. The materials for each are different, but overlap, as you will need some physical materials for in-person classes, even if you decide to keep a digital binder.

Please note: everyone will automatically have a Microsoft OneNote class notebook, as that is how assignments will be distributed and collected on Microsoft Teams. You can choose to utilize this notebook more fully as your digital binder for class.

If you opt for physical, you will need:

  • At least a 1.5 inch binder

  • 10 dividers (they only come in packs of 8 or 5)

  • lined paper

  • black pens

  • yellow, orange, green, blue, and pink highlighters

  • stylus (does NOT have to be expensive, just something that will allow you to comfortably annotate)

  • headphones

  • A printer (not 100% necessary, but we will be working with a lot of documents)

If you opt for digital, you will need:

  • a note-taking app -- OneNote (we'll be using this in class anyway) Good Notes, Notability, Google Docs

  • stylus (does NOT have to be expensive, just something that will allow you to comfortably annotate)

  • a couple tech skills (see the class website for more information)

  • headphones

  • lined paper

  • black pens

  • yellow, orange, green, blue, and pink highlighters

You may be wondering if you can do a little bit of both -- keep some things digital and some things in a physical binder. I highly discourage this, as this will work against our goal of keeping everything in one place and accessible.

binder organization

Whether your binder is physical or digital, you should organize it in the same way -- in line with the content and skills of the course. As such, I suggest you organize your binder with the following tabs:

  • Units 1-9 (one tab per unit)

    • Your CPAs should be the first thing under each tab, with class notes and assignments following

  • Skills & Writing Instruction

Tech Tips

Here are some tech tips and shortcuts you may not be aware of that will help you quickly and effectively work:

Print, Save, or Scan to PDF

This is not only a tech tip, it is a must know, as it is how you will be uploading your assignments, if you choose not to upload images. Here are a couple of videos that could help:

How to Convert Google Docs to PDF

How to Convert Pages File to PDF on Mac

How to Print To PDF in Windows

How to Scan Documents with the iPhone built-in Scanner

How to Scan Documents on an Android Phone with the Google Drive app

Take Screenshots and Snips

We all know how to take screenshots on our phones, but it's not always as clear on a PC or Mac. I use this feature many times a day, and can help you keep a thorough and organized digital binder.

PC: In Cortana or Settings, search for "snipping tool". Right click on it and add it to your taskbar. Whenever you want to take a screenshot or snip of something on your screen --during a unit video, on a powerpoint, or maybe something you worked on as a group in class that you want to add to your notes, just click on the snipping tool and snip away! You can copy (CTRL+C) and paste (CTRL+V) the snip or save it on your desktop.

Mac: Command+Shift+4 will allow you to snip any part of your screen with your cursor, and you can then drag and drop it to whatever you're working on. Command+Shift+3 will allow you to take a full screenshot.

Annotating Text

We will be doing this A LOT this year, so you need to figure out a consistent and quick way for you to be able to do this on your tech. If you are using a digital note-taking app for your digital binder, then this is already built in -- just import whatever we're annotating to your app. If not, here are some other options:

Printing: If you have a physical binder and a printer, you can print to annotate with your pens and highlighters. This is ideal, as you will be able to keep all of your practice work and notes together in one physical place.

Phone/Tablet: Almost every smart phone and tablet has a built-in photo markup or editing feature. Whatever text we're looking at in class -- whether it's an essay response or a primary or secondary source -- you can take a screenshot of the text and mark it up using this feature. You can also use the above-referenced apps -- Good Notes, OneNote, Notability, etc.

PC/Mac: There are a number of PDF annotating apps, but I recommend Kami for its ease of use and free-ness. If you use Google Chrome as your web browser, you can add a Google Extension.

Find Key Words in a PDF, Document, or Website

We've all been frustrated scrolling through pages upon pages of content to find something very specific. The following function will tell you how many times that term can be found in the document or site, and you can scroll through each of those instances.

PC: CTRL+F in any document, website, or PDF will bring up a search bar where you can type in any search term.

Mac: Command+F will do the same.

Use Google Drive

Regardless of whether you have a physical or a digital binder, you will inevitably have to turn in assignments digitally, and if you want to keep track of those assignments -- I suggest you use Google Drive. Why?

Many of the documents I provide to you for resources and assignments will be in Google format. You will need to use a Gmail account for some of the activities we will be doing this year. You may sometimes decide you want to access a document from a different device.

So do your self a favor and make yourself an APUSH Google Drive folder. From Gmail, click the waffle in the top-righthand corner of your screen (yes, it's called a waffle -- those 9 little dots) and click on Google Drive.