Okay, electronic notebook lovers, listen up! We are back with another amazing resource to share: Microsoft OneNote!
Mac users: We apologize in advance. OneNote is currently not available for you guys. If you want something similar, try Evernote.
April M., a fifth grade math teacher in Philadelphia, shared some of her OneNote uses with us below. Using OneNote throughout the teaching day requires working in a school that is very screen-friendly. Luckily, April does! Thanks, April!
First of all, here is OneNote’s explanation of its Notebook, Section, and Pages organization method.
April keeps a separate electronic notebook within OneNote for any big topics for the year.
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1. Here is a section from her Planning Notebook.
April has tabs set up to mark each month (these work like dividers in paper notebooks) and pages for each week. On these pages, April notes her class’s learning objectives, agendas, and more. In her Planning Notebook, she keeps:
- Weekly pages with her calendar of objectives
- Yearlong rubrics and grading systems (for easy cut and paste)
- Attachments of lesson plans, materials, and other week-by-week materials that she might need to search for again next year
2. April’s Sunshine Committee Notes. As the head of the Sunshine Committee, she stores:
- Tables to track birthdays and other celebrations for teachers
- Ideas for Happy Hours and staff bonding activities
- Attachments of messages that she’s sent out to the whole staff
3. April’s Coaching Notes
April also keeps a Coaching Notebook, which she shares with her coach. It is synchronized so she can add items to meeting agendas and refer back to feedback she has received on lessons and observations.
April has smartly used OneNote to consolidate two key Together Teacher Tools, Thought Catchers and Meeting Notes. We encourage consolidation whenever possible…this way, you have less places to look!
Sometimes people ask if I prefer Evernote or OneNote. They really function in the same way. Personally, I find Evernote easier to synch to Smartphones and tablets, but OneNote is prettier. If you already have Microsoft Office, then OneNote should simply be available (for free) as part of their suite of products.
Warning: OneNote can get very addictive, very quickly. I have seen it sweep through entire schools in less than a week!
Together Teacher Sharing Question: How else have you used OneNote?
