It’s Back to School time and we’re thinking about how to set up our physical classrooms and our digital spaces. Maybe you did a little work at the end of last school year to get ready for this year; or, if you’re like me, you said you would do it during the summer. Alas, it’s August and all I’ve accomplished is enjoying my summer! YIKES!  

One of the things that comes to mind is that I need to give some much-needed TLC to my Google Drive. After the last 18 months, it is a mess! If you’ve been following KInL and some of our Digital Learning Coaches, you may have watched some sessions by my fellow coach, Amy Stevens called Operation Clean-Up Drive. These are full of some great tips and tricks to simplify your life and make it easier to find what you’re looking for.  

Another feature of Google Drive I love to use is Priority Workspaces. As a tech coach, it is perfect for me to organize all the files I need for a big project, for a specific building or grade level I am working with, or even just the daily files I’m always in and out of. As a teacher, I think it could be very useful for those back-to-school files administrators share, big units or lessons, or even for those extra-curricular activities that you sponsor or coach. Even students can get in on the fun—though this probably applies more to our secondary folks. But students can organize their research files, scholarship information, and even club activities where they have leadership roles.  

I encourage you to check out the Keep Indiana Learning’s YouTube playlist for Google Drive for lots of great tips and tricks to get your Google Drive organized and back to school ready!