Classroom+and+File+Organization

Here is a link Shared by Nikki Hudson. She uses this app/site to organizer her classroom library. Her notes about the link are cut and pasted from her email below.

I just wanted to share an idea with you all about organizing classroom libraries. As mine is growing, I'm finding it harder to keep track of my books, a better system of checking them out to students, etc. This website offers a free, easy to use web-based tool: @http://classroom.booksource.com/. It took less than 10 minutes for me to set up an account and indicate preferences, and you can enter books by using the barcode scanner on your smartphone; older books/those which will not scan properly will have to be entered manually. (You will need to set up an account on the website before using the app.) I had a few problems entering some books, but in less than 10 minutes I had entered over thirty books. After scanning the barcode, the books were entered into the classroom library with the title, author, ISBN and sometimes the number of pages and reading level (the latter of which seems more for elementary/middle level).

You will still have to enter student checkouts manually (after entering student info such as ID #, first name and last initial) as opposed to being able to scan their ID's as in the school/public library (although the old school library pocket cards will be my backup plan). The other potential downside I see is that books are alphabetized by title instead of author, but there is a search function to find authors. On the upside, you can see your library using the smartphone app.

Ms. Soni shared a very helpful document created by Johnny Lantham for the Technology Integration PLT. It has a listing of all the potential resources you may want to use and their possible application.

I have a document collection for each class and then collections nested under each class for each major writing assignment. As students struggle with naming documents according to the directions I give them, sorting on the title still doesn't always help -- a comma or an extra space throws the sort off even if the document name is spelled correctly.
 * Tips for Organizing and Grading Google Docs -** Hedi England

After I have graded a document, I change the name, adding **Graded** in front of the original document name. For assignments that have multiple documents, I change the first part or the entire name so that I can easily find students' work. For example: 4 Library Log Smith 1 becomes Graded LL Smith Fiction. Like the subject line of an email, I can then see at a glance what the contents of the file are and all documents are grouped by student last name.

At the start of the semester, I set up a Google Doc for each student's grading rubric. However, grading this way took copious amounts of time, even with using a dual monitor setup at home. I now print rubrics and score essays the old-fashioned way! If anyone has any ideas on how to quickly and effectively grade essays online, I'd love to hear them!