Have you ever saved something on your computer and then when you needed it you couldn’t find it anywhere? Because same. I have struggled with the organization my whole life (and still struggle with organizing my physical space 😅), but I have figured out a system for decluttering my digital workspace that is life-changing and you’ll never struggle with looking for a document again. There is an easy-to-follow digital declutter checklist waiting for you at the end of this post!
Step 1: Generalize
The first thing for doing a digital declutter is to think about the general areas of teaching that you know are going to repeat themselves. There are six major categories here: School Year, Seasonal Activities, Class Decor, Assessments, Professional Development and Parent Engagement.
I am going to help you break down each general category below.
Step 2: Break it Down
Think about the subcategories for each major category. Here is where you’ll fill in the folders with more folders. Be careful though – you don’t want to fall in the folder rabbit hole!
In the School Year folder, you’ll want a folder for each school year. This will house the curriculum for that school year in it along with specific student documents and data.
In the Seasonal Activities folder will be a folder for each holiday, beginning of the year and end of the year activities as well as a test prep folder.
Speaking of seasonal activities, have you seen my seasonal digital pixel art with Google Sheets? Kids love answering math problems to reveal the picture! Check it out here.
Class Decor will host a folder for your bulletin board, word wall, concept board, anchor charts, and student desk anchor charts. You will be able to access any classroom decorations for holidays here also.
Assessments are where you will put previous state exams, baseline assessments from previous years, and any assessment questions banks you need to grab from when planning lessons.
Professional Development will have a folder for each workshop you attend. Bonus points if you get physical papers and take a photo of them and throw them into that folder – adios, bulky professional development binder!
Parent Engagement is where you’ll have a folder for each parent engagement workshop you host as well as parent contact, parent-teacher conference documents, etc.
I hope this process helps you to keep your digital workspace organized. As promised, here is that free checklist you’ve been waiting for:
alexandra
