
What is the best way to organize student information,
teacher notes, lesson plans, and events into one easy to
access place?

Why is this significant?
› During my teaching experiences I
noticed I was always making quick notes
on paper regarding events that happened
in the class, observations about students,
to-do reminders, and lesson ideas. By the end
of the day I couldn’t keep track of what I had written
where, and by the end of the week I had stacks of
paper I couldn’t organize! I really needed a way to keep
everything in one place without wasting so much paper.
I can’t imagine what an entire year of this system would have
looked like! This problem significantly effected the amount of time
I spent simply trying to organize myself after the day.

To solve this problem I wanted to go beyond the
intuitive approach I had used in my teaching
experience. This involved using multiple 3-ring
binders, folders, post-it notes, and stacks of
paper to keep my class organized.

To take the heuristic approach to
solving this problem I used a number
of different strategies to focus on
what I felt to be the best solution.
 Each of these items will be a unique aspect to the problem:
• Student contact information
• Planning/worksheets
• Charts (attendance, seating plans)
• Emails/notes from parents
• Meetings/events/to-do items
• Formative/behaviour observations
• Student grades/missing assignments
 Create a list of every possible solution you can think of
 No idea should be left out
 I used tools such as Google to find possible solutions I didn’t
even know existed
• Binders
• Database
• Microsoft Word
• Folders
• Excel spreadsheet
• Electronic folders
• Google Notebook
• Boxes
• Cabinets/shelves
• Concept maps
• Plan-It Software
• Post it Notes
• Microsoft OneNote
• Microsoft Outlook
 I want the final solution to incorporate the following:
• One central location
• Easy to search
• Ability to highlight important items
• Ease of use
• Minimal time requirements
• Templates for commonly used items
• Easy to rearrange
• Minimal paper use
• Ability to bring home
• Expandability
• Multiple sections
• Privacy
 What steps do I need to take to get my solution to fit
these criteria?
Although the
concept map
may seem
complex, it
helps to focus
in on
Microsoft
OneNote as
the solution
which may
solve the
greatest
number of
subgoals.
• From our external portrayal we can see that Microsoft Office
OneNote links to the most subgoals. We will try this first.
• I began by taking a quick training session from Microsoft Office
Online (Microsoft, 2008) to ensure I knew about all the software had to
offer.
• I then took my list of subgoals and began to create notebooks,
sections, pages, and subpages that could potentially be used to
organize as goals as possible.
•After experimenting with this option for awhile I determined there was
no reason to move onto other options. This was working great!

After breaking my problem into manageable subgoals
and evaluating the possible solutions to each, I have
focused on OneNote as the most reasonable solution.

The following are specific attributes which link OneNote
to the subgoals of the problem:
› Information can be organized into notebooks, sections,
›
›
›
›
›
pages, and subpages
Files are easy to search by keyword and rearrange
Important items can be tagged and then searched by tag
Emails and events from Microsoft Outlook can be imported
and filed
Offers templates for lesson and unit plans
An electronic file for each student to record contact
information, observations, and progress
Problem Dimensions
Attributes of the Tool
Rationale
Abundance of student /parent
contact information
Individual page for each
student
Contact information is easy to
search and update/can be
exported to email
Need to have planning
materials in one easy to access
place
Each lesson plan can be filed
under a specific unit and
grade. Templates are
available for easy planning.
Able to search by lesson topic.
All lessons are filed by topic and
unit electronically(instead of in
multiple Microsoft Word folders
or in binders). Plans are easy to
search and update.
Place to keep worksheet/chart
templates for next year (must
be easy to find)
Worksheet templates are kept
attached to lesson plans as
subpages. Administrative
templates (ie. Attendance
charts) have their own section
for each class
By keeping templates as an
electronic file they can be
altered each year/semester.
They can be searched easily
and printed directly from
OneNote
File notes and emails to/from
parents for future reference
Each student has an electronic
file to keep emails or notes
to/from parents , observations
to bring up during PT interviews
It is important to keep accurate
records of all correspondence
with parents for future
reference. It is easier to
compile a list of topics to
discuss throughout the year
rather than right before PT
night.
Problem Dimensions
Attributes of the Tool
Rationale
Keep on top of all upcoming
events and priority to-do items
Separate notebook for to-do
lists sorted by priority. Can
export events and tasks to
calendar in Microsoft Outlook.
The key to staying organized as a
teacher is to keep track of every
meeting, event, deadline, and
task upcoming. One missed
deadline means work piles up
Record observations about
student progress/behaviour in a
paper-friendly and private
place
Each student has a page for
observations (regarding
behaviour and progress etc)
that can be updated
daily/weekly and password
protected. Events can be
tagged and searched by
name.
If a teacher doesn’t write down
notes about events and
observations as they happen (at
least daily) they will forget them
when it comes time for report
cards or parent meetings. Notes
written on post-its often get lost
and are hard to organize.
Need to track student grades
and missing assignments
Section for student grades for
each class. Missing assignments
can be tagged for each
student and searched using
search engine.
Keeping track of what
assignments are missing from
each student is often difficult.
OneNote allows these
assignments to be given a special
tag and a list easily compiled.
A general overview of the setup of Microsoft Office OneNote.
To-do items are sorted by priority and impossible to forget.
I have created 7 separate notebooks to represent the main components of a
teacher’s day. These include one for each class taught, one for a team coached,
one for administrative duties outside of the classroom, and a to-do list.
Each class notebook contains sections for the Alberta Program of Studies, Class
Information, and Unit Sections.
The ‘Class Information’ section is divided into pages shown above. You can see the main
pages for ‘course outline’, ‘attendance’, ‘grade book’, ‘student observations’, and
‘seating chart’. Some pages have subpages for each month or each student.
The ‘course outline’ page contains a template to be filled out with information
specific to each course. This can be easily modified each year and printed.
The ‘attendance’ page contains a subpage for each month. The subpage
contains a chart that is easy to fill out on a daily basis (you just put your cursor
where you want to type) and easy to print when needed.
Grades can be easily recorded in the grade book page. Missing assignments can
be tagged with the ‘missing assignment’ marker. You can then click on ‘show all
tagged notes’ to create a list of all missing assignments.
The tag
beside this
event is a
reminder to
discuss with
parents.
Under the ‘student observations’ page each student has his or her own subpage. Brian’s
is seen here. It contains contact information, a behaviour observation table, and notes
to/from parents. Emails from parents can be imported to this section. This section can
also be password protected for security.
Each unit taught is given its own section. This section contains a ‘lesson plan’ page which
provides a template for lesson plans to be easily filled in. The template also contains a
space for reflection. Each day of the unit taught then has its own subpage with the
lesson plan, to-do notes, worksheets, and web resources.
Could create one
page per team
member
Create a calendar
page that can be
linked to Microsoft
Outlook – never miss
a game/tourney.
Create a page for
each competing
team in your division.
Track team
members, statistics,
strategies to defeat
them.
Copy and paste drills for practice,
observations on what needs work, and
any new ideas.
**When material is copied and pasted
from a website, OneNote automatically
copies site information so you always
know where you got it from!
As with the notebooks designated for each class taught, each extra-curricular
activity has its own notebook. Above are some ideas of useful sections for a
volleyball team being coached.
The notebook for ‘administrative duties’ can have a section for any professional
responsibilities outside of the classroom. I have created one section for supervision
schedules (seen above) as well as one for an upcoming PD Day presentation (see
next slide)
Often teachers are responsible for preparing presentations for PD day or meetings. The
‘administrative duties’ notebook has a section for all materials related to these
presentations (such as brainstorming, materials, schedule, and final presentation).
Of particular importance is the ability to search all notebooks for specific keywords,
names, or tags. When I type ‘Brian’ into the search engine, I get the above results.
I am able to scroll through every page that contains that word.
1.
Microsoft. (2008). Microsoft Office OneNote Teacher
Toolkit. Retrieved October 23, 2008, from Microsoft Office
Education Center:
http://www.microsoft.com/education/products/office/on
enote/default.aspx#Tips
2.
Microsoft. (2008). Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 Training.
Retrieved October 23, 2008, from Microsoft Office Online:
http://office.microsoft.com/training/Training.aspx?AssetID
=RC102640561033&CTT=6&Origin=RC102640561033
3.
Microsoft. (2008). Microsoft Office Clip Art. Retrieved
October 23-28, 2008, from Microsoft Office Online:
http://office.microsoft.com/enca/clipart/FX101321031033.aspx?pid=CL100570201033