Spring Cleaning for Teachers Series – Part 2
My favorite work avoidance tactic is cleaning, organizing, and decluttering the spaces in which I live and work. I imagine there are a lot of us out there with massively unorganized Google Drives, especially with the state of hybrid and remote teaching this year. In this part of the Spring Cleaning for Teachers series, I want to share with you my best tips for creating and maintaining a well organized digital filing system. Today, I will walk you my tips to organize digital files so you can set yourself up for success for next school year!
Are you ready for a little Spring Cleaning?
1. Save NOTHING on your desktop!
I think that most of us are out of this bad habit leftover from the time before cloud storage, but I still cringe when someone shares their screen in a meeting and I see a ton of files cluttering their desktop. Regardless of whether you use Google, Microsoft, or Apple to store your files, please please PLEASE do not save things to your desktop. For one, they are not safe there. Unless you have a flash drive or external hard drive and diligently backup your files, you could be in for a sad surprise if your computer breaks down.
The cloud is an amazing tool. You can access your files anywhere, on any machine, forever. “Lost” files are a thing of the past. AND, when files aren’t taking up storage space on your computer, your computer runs faster. Your files are far safer on the cloud than your machine, and you can find things more efficiently when they are saved in an appropriate space ( i.e., NOT your computer’s desktop).
2. Have a consistent naming system for classifying files
The first step to getting your files organized ( once they are off of your desktop, that is) is to have a consistent naming system that you use for every single file. As an English teacher, I usually start with the text or unit the file goes with. Then, a short description of the activity itself.
For example:
When naming files, I try to think “What words will I use to search for this later?” This will become important for step 3!
3. Use emojis and color coding to help you quickly access what you need
I had no idea you could use emojis in a folder title until I listened to an episode of the Shake up Learning Show with the crazy- talented Kasey Bell! Emojis can:
- Provide a quick, eye- catching pictorial reference
- Push that folder or file to the top of your screen if you show files alphabetically!
I use a microphone for my podcast notes, and a little pen for my blog posts. I downloaded the chrome extension JoyPixels, but there are a ton of emoji extensions out there that would do the same thing. When you name the file, simply copy- paste the emoji into the file name.
Likewise, color – coding my files in Google Drive helps me distinguish my most important folders from everything else. This year I am teaching 12th grade English and AP Lang. By right- clicking on those folders and selecting “Change Color” I can assign each folder with a unique color that makes it identifiable at- a- glance. Note that you can only color code folders, not individual files.
4. Keep as few folders within folders as possible
When I open Google Drive, I have several major folders:
This keeps my main Drive landing page looking clean. However, within those folders, I have very few ( if any) subfolders. Why? When everything is named consistently, it becomes MUCH easier to simply search for the title of your file. This definitely took a while for me to adjust to, because I have always believed that the more subfolders you have the more well- organized you are. But there IS such a thing as being TOO organized ( GASP!). If it takes you five minutes to find one file because you have to keep scrolling and clicking on folder after folder, then what’s the point?
5. Clean it up regularly – only keep what you need, love, and use!
In Part 1 of this Spring Cleaning Series I shared my process for periodically decluttering my files. You can check that post out here!
I hope this guide is a helpful tool to help you finally get your digital files organized and ready for next school year! Do you have any questions I didn’t answer in this post? Leave a comment below!
