Grading with Grace: EED 590 - Module 1 Assignment

Module 1 - Part 2 EVERNOTE Strategy

Using Evernote for this module definitely put me “out of my comfort zone”. This program is completely new to me. I have always been the student, or teacher for that matter, that enjoyed physically “taking notes.” I like writing my notes, checklists, and reminders in my journal. In an effort to be a better “21st century teacher” I dove into Evernote and really made an effort to explore and implement all the options.

One of the most important benefits of using Evernote is that all notes are synched to each of my devices. This makes it very convenient to work whenever I have time. As a busy mom and teacher, I like that I can switch between my laptop and my phone when I am on the go. Most importantly it impacted my learning by reinforcing a key concept of becoming a 21st century teacher - 21st Century teachers have to be adaptive. We have to be willing to try new methods and learn new tools in order to provide our students with the best chance for success. You can in fact teach an old dog new tricks.

One way I can envision using Evernote as a teacher is for documentation purposes. Often we have students that are on special behavior plans. These plans typically have some sort of checklist or chart that has to be filled out by each teacher daily. This data is then used to assess the student’s progress and reward the student when appropriate according to the plan. However, I team teach with two other teachers and my students not only visit their PE coaches daily, but also attend either art, music, counseling, or library. It becomes cumbersome and distracting when a paper version of the behavior plan has to be passed from teacher to teacher. It also runs the risk of violating that student’s privacy. I believe Evernote could be a great resource for this type of documentation. If could easily be shared among teachers and formatted to meet the needs of the particular plan.

For my students, I believe Evernote would be a helpful tool for our book clubs. We typically group 3 or 4 students together to read and discuss a chapter book. The group reads a little each day and takes notes on their reading. It never fails that one or more members of the group lose their notes or a student that is absent is completely lost when they return. Evernote would be a valuable tool for this type of activity. The members of a book club can “share” the notes and everyone can contribute. When the students are ready to complete a final assignment on the book, they can have easy access to their notes.