What can Evernote do?

Evernote offers three versions with different functions.  I am on the free basic version and believe that 90% of teachers would need no additional features.  The basic version allows you to sync all of your devices and clip different pieces from the web. I currently sync Evernote on my desktop, laptop, and phone.  This is perfect for an idea that comes to you first thing in the morning or when you are at dinner.  My favorite part is that all of the information can be sorted into different notebooks with multiple notes.

5 Evernote Tips for Teachers

There are quite a few ideas for personal use with Evernote or using Evernote with your students.  Today, I would like to focus on ways for teachers to use Evernote to stay organized.

1.  To-Do Notebook

My Daily To-Do Notebook is by far, my most utilized notebook.  Within the notebook, I create a note for each day of the week and jot down what I need to accomplish.  When I was in the classroom, my list consisted of Before School, Conference, and After School headers and you could set it up the same.  If you don’t get to something you can easily copy and paste it to the next day.  This is great for when you are sitting in a meeting and they mention that grade sheets are due back by Friday.  You can think about you week and determine what day to add them to your to-do list.  I also love that it has checkboxes!  I still get the sense of accomplishment without having a paper list.

If you like to think of your life in weeks, you could create a note for each week instead and then have headers for each day of the week.

2. Snapshots for Specific Lessons

I hate taking things off my wall when testing comes around because I have to decide what to do with it.  Save it or toss it.  With Evernote you can snap a picture and assign it to a lesson or notebook.  It is so nice because it doesn’t take up space in your phone and you don’t have to go searching for it in your hundreds of photos. This is perfect for saving anchor charts, bulletin boards, or student work!  Unfortunately, you can’t save all of those student work examples but you can take a picture!

3. Student Documentation

You know those students who need a little extra attention and maybe even a little extra documentation?  Create a notebook with their initials and then keep a note with anything relevant.  This would be handy in a parent conference or for RTI purposes.   You could even use tip #2 and snap a picture of student work for documentation purposes.

3. Notebook for Meetings, Committees, and PD

Create a notebook for faculty meetings, team meetings, committees, and various professional development.  Within each notebook, just title a note with the date and any pertinent information.  If you get a handout, take a snapshot.  This will keep everything together, cut down on the clutter on your desk, and will be easy to reference at a later date.  At the end of the year, you can delete what doesn’t apply anymore.

4. Saving Lesson Ideas and Websites