A little Housekeeping with Google Reader

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. --Hans Hoffman

As the fall semester draws to a close, I decided to review my use of Google Reader and do a long overdue clean-up.

I went through all my subscriptions in my Teacher-Librarian folder and deleted a few feeds that are either inactive or that, when I reviewed the blog and checked my "trends", I found I wasn't ever reading. Next, I renamed the remaining blogs according to author. I have always found it disorienting to read a blog only knowing it's title rather than the author. Here is my newly renovated folder:

Going through and visiting these blogs one by one was a good way to catch up on a few things I've missed and it reminded me of why I'm reading these blogs to begin with! Here, I found a great check list helping kids to conduct research (Diigo bookmark!) and here I found some useful information on a plug-in called Google Cloud Connect which may finally help me overcome the home vs work document disconnect!

Which blogs do you regularly follow for education/library? I'd like to know what I'm missing out on!

References

Jones, L. (2011, November 6). Deconstructing research [web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.shelfconsumed.com/2011/11/deconstructing-research.html

Whisen, G. (2011, July 9). Google cloud connect [web log post]. Retrieved from http://ideaconnect.edublogs.org/2011/07/09/google-cloud-connect/

Evernote for Everything Education!

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. --Aristotle

The internet is overflowing with enthusiastic posts from teachers about how they use Evernote in the classroom. This post from Michael Cruz (2011) provides a thorough look at using Evernote from a teacher's perspective. I particularly like his idea of using Evernote to compile Pro-D material and teaching resources. He also suggests using it as a place to keep/share handouts; however, many teachers use wikis or moodle to provide handouts to kids which also works well.

Buffy Hamilton's (2011) post at Evernote is perhaps the most useful in terms of discussing how students can use Evernote. She writes that "Evernote [is a] perfect solution for the students’ need to archive and organize traditional and non-traditional sources of information". Her write-up got me thinking about how I would encourage secondary students to use Evernote. Certainly, setting up a notebook for each course makes sense. What could go in each notebook?

• Assignments: no more lost work and available from all computers
  
• Notes: scan them in and tag them!
• Relevant websites, emails and tweets

Imagine... misplaced binders would become a problem of the past and notebooks could be shared between classmates AND teachers. Really, it's a revolutionary way to go paperless... it sure makes me wish my district had more access to technology such as laptops, iPads, etc.

My use of Evernote at the online school is a work-in-progress, I currently use it to keep track of notes regarding individual students, as well as course and project sign-up lists, etc. I have attached useful websites to notes for certain students with unique needs. I also use it to keep track of administrative trivia that is easily forgotten or misplaced.

Because of Evernote's infinitely flexible approach to organization, research and file-keeping, when and if I finally land a library position, I would put Evernote at the top of my list as a Web 2.0 tool to highlight with students and other teachers. I would also find it extremely useful in terms of collaborating with departments and individual teachers on their teaching material, as well as keeping track of all the data and ideas that constantly flow through a librarian's head! Evernote has, so far, been a highlight of my web tools adventure.

References

Hamilton, B. (2011, January 5). How my students started using Evernote - education series. Retrieved from http://blog.evernote.com/2011/01/05/how-my-students-started-using-evernote-education-series/

Cruz, M. (2011, January 13). 10 tips for teachers using Evernote - education series. Retrieved from http://blog.evernote.com/2011/01/13/10-tips-for-teachers-using-evernote-education-series/

Evernote for Artwork!

An original idea. That can't be too hard. The library must be full of them. ~Stephen Fry

For the past couple of days, I've been busy experimenting with Evernote's capabilities. With the kids out for a walk with their Dad on this cold but sunny morning, I have a little time to share my discoveries!

I started out by experimenting with my "travel" notebook to test out the Evernote extension in Firefox. I tried clipping portions of travel websites as well as copying whole pages over to Evernote. I like the ease of the extension for adding tags and filing web pages to the correct notebook. I do not like the fact that there is a significant pause as the clip processes and one more than one occasion the entire format of the website--text and images--have been messed up in the transfer. This confirms my original suspicion that Diigo is the superior tool for internet research while Evernote is the superior tool for personal notes and organization.

After playing around with the Evernote Extension, I started to wonder how else I could use Evernote for documentation. Suddenly, an epiphany! I searched around my house, collected some of my son's artwork, scanned it, created a new notebook in Evernote under my Family stack, and then added the scanned files. Voila!

To further test it out, I tried syncing my desktop Evernote with the web version and my iPad App. Here, I had a little trouble. Syncing had some technical glitches and I had to reboot and try syncing about ten times. However, I prevailed and now I can see Ethan's turkey on several devices. Crazy!

I now have a system for creating and viewing digital files of my children's work that will show progression over time. Of course, I'm still going to keep a box of their best work in their closet, but I think this is pretty nifty! I'm playing around with ideas for how to make the file work best. Perhaps I could have a file for each year and in that file I could add photos of milestones (e.g. riding a bike), artwork, etc., so I end up with a little digital scrapbook.

What do you think? How do you or would you use Evernote?

Tidy Up Time! Using Evernote to Manage Your Life

Out of clutter, find simplicity. --Albert Einstein



After starting out on a strong note this morning by stumbling upon the above video, I spent the next two hours fruitlessly searching the internet searching for tips about how to organize my Evernote account to help me run my life. I found posts from GTD (Get Things Done) wizards such as this one and this one, but neither one provided me with the magic key to organization that would fit my life.

I gave up on finding the answer "out there" and fiddled around with Evernote's stack and notebook feature until I started to carve out some areas of my life that could use some housekeeping. Then, feeling inspired, I added some other areas of my life that don't necessarily need cleaning up, but would benefit from some attention and creativity. This is what I ended up with:
I purposely did NOT include school in this set up because I've set up a separate account at work, and I'm going to investigate educational uses later in the week.

As I was setting up the folders, I could envision all the useful things that could go into them: milestones and notes for each child, parenting tips, lists for those ideas I come up with and then forget, journal entries to keep track of important events, a custom made recipe book for all those great ideas I find in food blogs, etc.

I plan to spend the rest of the week populating my new system. I'm going to focus on the travel folder so I can start researching those trips my husband and I daydream about. I love the thought of filling those folders up with pictures and descriptions of where we want to go with the kids someday.

I'm thrilled by the flexibility of Evernote to add almost anything I can think of: you can upload files, scanned documents, photos, web clips, emails, notes you type in, voice notes, etc. Even though I have the Evernote App on my iPad, what I really wished for today was an iPhone so I could add ideas and photos on the go.

Between Evernote and Google Calendar, I just might be turning into a VFP (Very Functional Person).

References

AndrewEvernote. (2009, August 18). Evernote to the Rescue [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNE0R3rEe5Q

Hyatt, M. (2011, May 2). How to organize Evernote for maximum efficiency [web log post]. Retrieved from http://michaelhyatt.com/how-to-organize-evernote-for-maximum-efficiency.html

Naslund, A. (n.d.). Getting organized with evernote [web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.brasstackthinking.com/2010/06/getting-organized-with-evernote/