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Fundamentals Training / Get More Organized

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Keep Track of Your Class Schedules and Appointments Using Google Calendar

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Get More Organized

By Google for Education Published: Aug 27, 2020 20m Beginner (4)

 Expected Lesson Time: 20 minutes

Go through the sections below, then test yourself (and get credit) by
doing the Lesson Check.

Getting Your Tasks in Hand

As educators, we know how important it is to stay organized if we want to keep our lives on
track. While many people like to use their calendar to stay organized, another great way to stay
on top of things is to create to-do lists. Google Tasks (a feature found within Gmail and Google
Calendar) is a powerful tool that allows you to create detailed to-do lists using the emails you
work with every day.

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recognizes a date in an email. Google Tasks goes a bit further and allows you to take the
content of a mail message and send it to your Google Calendar with all of the information
included. No more copying and pasting information: with just a few clicks, it bridges the gap
between what we need to do and when we need to do it. You can also create multiple task
lists for different projects you’re working on.

In addition to Google Tasks, a unique application found within everyone’s Google account is
Google Keep. This application adds more power to Google Tasks by providing a web interface
for our task lists and allowing us to add information, images, and text, and even collaborate
with other users. Suddenly, your to-do list can be worked on and shared with others, just like a
Google Doc!

Making More of Lists and Tasks

Lists are around us wherever we look. It could be our to-do lists we write every morning, the
sticky notes posted on our computers, or deadlines scrawled quickly across the back of a
napkin. Regardless of the setting, it’s inevitable that we’ll need to create and organize lists…
thankfully, Google has two useful tools that can help keep track of all of the chaos.

Google Tasks and Google Keep are fantastic tools to keep us organized, while also providing
an option for greater collaboration. Whether it’s a simple to-do list for you to work on when you
get to school, or something larger you need to work on with a colleague, these tools are a
sure- re way to stay organized. Furthermore, each of these tools are easy to use and
customize for any purpose.

Let’s take a look at a few of these tools’ features and see how they can bene t you in
organizing some of your projects.

Click on each card below to get started.

Google Tasks Google Tasks in Calendar

Google Keep “Keep”ing Images

Google Classroom allows you to create

tasks and assignments for your students
with speci c due dates - no more excuses
for missing those deadlines! Check out Unit
7 to learn more.

Organization Begins Now!

The time has come for us all to step a bit outside of our typical day-to-day operations and nd
out how Gmail Tasks or Google Keep can help get our lives a bit more organized and secured.
Below are some scenarios that are likely to have appeared in a classroom near you - perhaps
even your own.

As you read through these situations, determine what you think might be the best solution for
staying organized. Please keep in mind that both options might be feasible, but pick the one
that you feel would be easier to adopt. Think of factors such as time, location, accessibility,
and ease-of-use as you consider each scenario.

Scenario 1

You get the occasional email from your principal asking you to complete a particular task by a
speci c time. You’re very thankful that the principal trusts you with these items and you want
to make sure you get them done in time. What would be the best solution to stay on top of this
task?

Scenario 2

A colleague has asked you to help her coordinate the staff holiday party because of how
organized you are. There are a lot of things that need to be acquired for the party in order to
make it a success. How might you collaborate with your colleague to get things organized and
make the event successful?

Scenario 3

A fellow educator has handed you a printout he found at a conference and thought you’d
bene t from. How might you take the information from this and store it for use later on?

Write down what you feel are the best solutions for each of these scenarios and compare them
with the ideas your colleagues have come up with.

Jot Down Some Ideas For These Situations

Use this as your temporary notepad, or jot down your ideas on paper.

Save Clear

See What Other Educators Said

My principal emails me quite a bit with things he’d like

me to do. Thankfully he’s not pushy, but he also knows
that I leverage my calendar quite heavily to keep track
of everything. When I get emails like this, I’ll frequently
add the email to my task list and then assign it an
appropriate due date so I know I won’t forget. Once the
email is open, I simply use the ‘Add to Tasks’ feature
and it’s instantly on my list. When editing the task, I
assign the due date I know is needed and the item
appears on my calendar with a link to the email
providing me with all the information. Once the task is
complete, I can mark the task as completed either
from my task list or my calendar.

I’m the type of person that uses my phone more than

my computer since I travel from campus to campus on
a regular basis. When my principal emails me about
something they’d like me to do, most often it’s based
on when I’ll be back on that campus. What I typically
do is copy the content from the email and create a
new note in Google Keep and paste that information in
there. Then, I’ll use the remind feature to remind me
(either by location or by date… whichever the situation
calls for) to complete the task as needed.

A lot of times I’m the person people ask to help

coordinate small and large scale events. For a lot of
these events, lists are my lifeblood for making sure I
have everything needed for a successful event. Over
the years, I’ve constantly re ned my approach to
different events. For small scale events, I use Tasks in
my Gmail to keep a short list of the little things I need
to bring. If someone asks me the things I used, I can
quickly forward the list to them. For larger events,
Google Keep is better suited as it’s easy for me to start
a note and then invite colleagues to collaborate with
me to make sure everything is in order. This way, the
collective wisdom of the organizers of the event can
make sure everything is order in time by using the
reminders feature.

My inbox is where I spend most of my time. I’m a

creature of habit and still use email for most of my
communication to others and myself. I have multiple
task lists for different topics I like to add to with tidbits
of information, whether from colleagues or something
intriguing from the web. When my colleagues give me
handouts like this, what I’ll typically do is email myself
a copy of the document. If one of my colleagues gave
me a paper, I’d send it to myself in email and then add
that to the corresponding task list it was applicable to.
I know it’s not the best, but it’s what I’m used to and I
know I can throw the paper away after this.

I’m constantly looking for ways that I can improve my

teaching in class. I’m open to trying new things, but
most importantly, I like to get feedback from my
colleagues to get a fresh perspective. My ideas are OK,
but they can be improved if I seek input from my
peers. What I typically do when teachers are asking for
my approach to lessons is to put that information into
a Google Keep Note. This way, I can share that with
them and they can instantly start collaborating and we
all can bene t from each other.

One of my missions over the past few years has been

to declutter my desk with extra papers I don’t need. I
appreciate receiving the information and don’t want to
lose any of the valuable information my colleagues
give me. What I’ve started doing is using Google Keep
to take a picture of the handout using my mobile
phone so that way the picture of the article can be
stored and organized with similar ideas. This way, the
paper goes in the trash but the ideas stay with me and
I can have them accessible wherever I go since it’s
stored safely on the web.

Lesson Check

Now let's do a quick check to make sure you got this lesson (and that we give you credit for it)!

1. Gmail Tasks allow for which of the following?

 Multiple task lists

Color coding of tasks

Collaboration of lists with other users

None of the above

Check Answer

 Correct!

2. With a Google Keep note, a user can:

Add pictures to notes

Color code notes as needed

Remind the user of when an item needs to be addressed

 All of the above

Check Answer

 Correct!

3. Google Keep reminders will automatically show up on your Google Calendar when
assigned (when Reminders is toggled on).

 True

False

Check Answer

 Correct!

4. In order for a task to appear on a speci c date in your Google Calendar, you must:

Click and drag the task to the calendar

Click on More then Add to Calendar

 Assign the task a due date

Add the task to the Calendar Task list

Check Answer

 Correct!

Next Activity
Unit 5 Review