32: Keeping Organized With Google Keep
This is exactly how I keep all the information I need as an itinerant organized in Google Keep!
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transcript episode 32: Keeping Organized With Google Keep
Hello and welcome to the TOD POD, a podcast to support Itinerant Teachers of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, SLPs, and other Deaf Education Professionals. I'm Deanna Barlow from Listening Fun and today we're starting off the new year strong by talking about keeping organized with Google Keep.
Google Keep is my preferred way of keeping all the little bits of info I need as an itinerant in one place. It's a Google app like Drive or Docs but it's like digital sticky notes. I use Google Drive for my student folders that hold like session notes, and IEPs, and audiograms, and all that stuff. But sometimes I just need a spot to write down random bits of info like the case manager's name, the classroom number, and like how to get there, picture of the bell schedule, something random the student is into right now... stuff I want to remember like that. And that's where Google Keep really comes in handy for me.
Here's a few of the reasons I like Google Keep over other systems, like a notebook or the notes app or Google Drive itself. I can access it on both my phone and my computer through my school Google account. So this is good for when I'm out and about but also helpful when I want to pull up something on my computer like it's just nice that it syncs between both places. Also my work account is automatically separate from my personal Google account. Since it's stored in Google it keeps my like personal to do list separate from my work list. I use Google Keep for personal things too and when I'm on my school account, it just keeps everything nice and separate and easy. I felt when I used to use the notes app for a lot of this stuff I had to like manually go back and forth and that was just like one more step that made it a little bit harder versus Google Keep is just automatically separate. And the last thing I really like about it is that it's very visual and I can see a lot of the info at a glance without having the click in two different folders. Since Google Keep is like a digital post-it note or digital sticky note, I open the app and I see all the sticky notes and I can see what's on the sticky notes. So I only have to click one time and I can see a lot of info.
Okay, so here's how I set mine up. This is what works for me, you can definitely adjust it based on the number of like districts and schools you're in. I personally do one sticky note for each district and I make each one a different color so that it's very like visually separated. On that district’s sticky note I write down my need to know information. So like names, maybe birthday, case manager info, the secretary's name. Maybe like I said pictures of bell schedule or class schedule. I like having one note per district because I usually don't have like that many students in the same district. So it works for me. For you it might make sense to do it by school or by like age bracket. It kind of like whatever what you can break up your caseload in a way that makes sense. I wouldn't do one note per student because I think that would get very visually cluttered and sometimes information overlaps for students in the same building or the same district. So I find like the less categories, the better personally.
I'm kind of one of those people where if I can't see something it like just doesn't exist to me anymore. So keeping all my info on one central location as opposed to in the different student folders is just more helpful. If I need more detailed info I can go into the folder like it's there. But if I just need something quick I can pull up my Google Keep and see what I need to see.
In addition to a note for each district I also have one note for my running to do list. They have like a task list option kind of like the notes app where you can check things off so I just keep a running to do list that I can check off. So like emails to send, things to bring next time. I also use the reminder app for things that are time sensitive but you can also set reminders in Google Keep. And I'm in the habit of looking at my Google Keep daily because it's where I keep a lot of information that I need regularly. So I'm kind of in the habit of looking at that list every day to make sure I don't overlook something that like I told someone I was going to do. I feel like that was the hardest part for me at the beginning was just like I would be like walking somewhere in the hallway or like talking to someone and they would be like, oh can you send me XYZ, or oh can you remind me to do this or whatever. So just like being able to click on one app on my phone and type it in and keep all that in one place is like what made it functional and simple for me to actually use constantly.
I also have one note just for fun ideas. So whenever I see a cool idea on like social media I jot it down in this like fun ideas note. That way when I'm lesson planning I scroll through all the ideas and they're all in one place. So if you listen to this podcast for example and I or a guest mentions an activity that you'd like to try you could just pull up your Google Keep and add it to the list. That way when you need inspiration, you could just scroll to and remember. And I find that very helpful because sometimes you just get into a rut and you want to try something different and you know you've heard cool ideas places but can't remember them now that you need them. So just keeping like a little centralized list is so helpful.
I feel like Google Keep works well for someone like me who still likes paper for certain things. Like I have a lot of different data forms that I use I have them all available at my caseload planner resource and I like to do that on real paper I think that's easier. But for things that I need quickly at a glance, having paper copies of that information is just not practical. Because I don't always have those papers on me, and even if I did I'd have to like go in my bag and find them if someone asked me a question. It's just faster to go on my phone. So for like the paper data collection, that works good because I can have that out during my sessions. Plus the Google drive folders to store all of their like long-term information that I need to access periodically, and then Google Keep for like quick info. That like is the 3 prong system that overall works best for me so that I have the comprehensive information the quick information and then I also have like paper available to me for like during sessions.
The nice thing about Google Keep is that it's pretty simple and intuitive to set up. If you're logged into Google you just click on the array those like 9 little boxes up in the top right, select Keep, just like you would select gmail or docs. I keep my keep bookmarked for easy access on my computer and I also have the Google Keep app downloaded on my phone. And then you just start making notes and stuff and at the bottom there's an option to change the color, add task boxes, all that good stuff. It's super easy and super simple.
So that's how I use Google Keep to stay organized. This has been the system that has worked the longest for me that I've been able to use consistently because it's so simple. I really hope this insight into my system may be helpful, maybe sparks some ideas for you, for something that might work for you. If you try it, let me know what you think. Links and transcript are in the show notes and at listentotodpod.com I hope we have a fantastic start to 2024 and I will see you next time. Bye!