I created accounts on several organizational websites, and I decided that my favorite was Wunderlist! It is an awesome website/app that can help anyone keep their lives in order...especially students! Check it out...www.wunderlist.com. On this site, you are able to create as many lists as you need, such as grocery lists, to-do lists, planning lists, etc. This is list makers dream! You can add and take away lists as needed, and under each list you can add items as needed. As you complete (or purchase) items, you can check them off your list. Talk about a feeling of accomplishment! :) My husband and I already had a similar app called "Our Groceries" that we used for grocery and to-do lists, but Wunderlist goes above and beyond. You can share your lists with others and invite them to have ownership in your list. Teachers could use this for lesson planning and students could use this for group projects! Students could also use this app to list assignments due, homework, etc. You are also able print any list or email it to yourself or someone else. You can sort your lists alphabetically if needed. When you add an item to a list, you can make it a favorite, or you can set due dates on items and reminders for them. All and all, this tool is AMAZING and could really help students and teachers stay organized, connect in groups as needed, and make sure they meet deadlines like never before! Love this app!
Another tool that I explored was Evernote. Evernote is similar to Wunderlist, but on steroids! It is not only a list making site, but it is excellent for project management. Students could use this tool for group projects or research projects. I will definitely encourage the use of Evernote with my students. Students can store single items on Evernote, called notes. These can be documents (scanned into the system), pictures, notes, audio recordings, to-do lists, etc. Students can also have "notebooks", which is a collection of notes. I can see this tool being extremely useful for managing projects. As students research, explore, experiment, and create, they can store all of their findings and creations on Evernote in order to keep them all in one portable place. Evernote can be accessed from anywhere, so the information will always be accessible. Students can sync their notes and they will be stored on their computer, phone, iPad, anything! This is an excellent tool to keep students and their documents organized.
Pinterest is another tool that could be very helpful to students. I was already familiar with Pinterest, and have recently become even more familiar with it as I have dived into lesson planning during my student teaching. Pinterest is a place where you can "pin" great ideas that you find on the Internet or search through things that others have pinned. Students could use Pinterest to assist with their assignments and projects in a couple of ways. First of all, students could sign in to Pinterest, do a search for their project idea and have tons of ideas right at their fingertips. For instance, if a student searched "Holocaust Project," they would find websites, pictures, interviews, and more dealing with the Holocaust. Another way students could use Pinterest is as an organizer and a place to hold all of their ideas as they find them. So, if a student is cruising the Internet looking for information and ideas for their project, and they see something that they want to use or look at in more depth, then they can pin it to a board on Pinterest and go back to it later. You can make as many boards as you want and add as many things as you want to them. A students could make a board labeled "Holocaust Project" and pin things to it, such as pictures, great websites, audio/video materials, project ideas from other students, museum information, etc. Here is an example of a board that I made, just to show you how they look and how they are organized...(I wanted to embed the board, but I couldn't get it to work for the life of me, so here is a link.)
http://www.pinterest.com/ashleysneds/how-can-students-use-pinterest/
Fun and easy right?! I love Pinterest, and I will definitely encourage my students to use it to stay organized, get ideas, and share ideas!
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