Digital Organization for Teachers

Summer is a great time to prep your digital files for back to school. Time is too limited during the school year, so digital organization falls to the wayside. Teachers, tackle your digital organization over summer break to start the year off feeling put together! I’ve compiled a list of 3 digital things that you can organize now to make make things easier to find during the school year.

Digital Organization for School Email

If you are like me, emails tend to pile up in my inbox throughout the school year. Some messages I am not ready to delete just yet, while others are just forgotten in the shuffle. First, go through your email and delete messages that are no longer needed for the upcoming school year.

Next, it is time to organize. Folders are your friend when organizing email. (If you use Gmail, these are called labels.) Add custom folders/ labels for email categories that you will need for the school year. Some folders I like to use are Parent Communication, Important, Things to Keep, Things to Do, and How to’s. When you get an email, either delete right away or drop into one of your folders.

Digital Organization for your Google Drive

Your Google Drive is another digital spot that probably needs organizing. First thing you need to do is make a folder for the previous school year. If there are things you need to hold on to from last year, then put those files in that folder.

Next, scan through what you have saved on your Google Drive. Look for items that are similar that you can group together into folders.

Finally, click the “Name” button on your Google Drive to sort your folders by name or last opened.

Organize your Google Drive into folders of like material.

Digital Organization for your Lesson Plans

Lesson plans/ resources. Do you write and/ or submit lesson plans digitally? If you compile all of your lesson plans together, then make a folder for the previous school year’s lesson plans. That way they are easy to reference if needed.

I like to organize my lesson resources into folders by subject area then into units. A social studies folder organizes all of my social studies resources. Folders are then organized inside the social studies folder based on units. I find this method easiest for me to find exactly what I am looking for when needed.

I hope I have given you tips to get your digital files in order for the upcoming school year. Get some organization systems into place now and you will reap the benefits all school year long.