How To Wrap Up The Year  So You Will Be Ready To Start Up Again In The Fall. 

Top 5 Suggestions Schoology and Google

Your Future Self Will Thank You!

@LisaBerghoff/@MrKimDHS

I have been in education quite a long time. I love the end of the school year because when you have the whole summer in front of you, anything's possible. Many of us travel or participate in professional development, connect with friends, family, and colleagues in a very different way than during the school year. I no longer set the expectation that I will get tons of school work done over the summer. It often doesn't happen and if it does then once I meet my new students, I end up tossing many of those plans in the trash. One thing that I have learned however, is that there are a few things I can do for myself before the school year ends that makes the start of a new school year much easier.

For example, I always clean out the clutter from my desk. It's the last thing I want to do during the first week of June but if I do it then, I'm always happy when I return in August to find a clutter-free work space. 

There are even a few things you can do digitally  to help make life easier in the fall. 

Here are my top 5 suggestions.

1. Are you teaching the same course next year? Save your course to resources in Schoology!

You need to first create a "collection" in resources. Click on Resources. Then, click on the filing cabinet and create a new collection. Next, go to your course's materials page and click Options. Select "save to resources" and choose the new collection you created. 

When you return in the fall, you will just click Add Materials  and then choose "import from resources". 

Here is what it looks like when you create a collection in resources:

And here's what it looks like when you save your course to resources:

2. Not teaching the same course and want to hand over your materials to the teacher who is teaching the course next year?

Make sure to add that teacher as a connection. Click on the search icon (magnifying glass) and type in the teacher's name. Once they appear, click "add connection". After following the instructions from #1 above, you can now go to resources, click the collection where your course materials are located, click "share" and "connections" and select their name. 

3. Avoid any grade issues that you would have to fix later. Make sure all assignments are PUBLISHED!

Go to your course gradebook and use the bulk edit tool to make sure all of your assignments are published. This allows you to view all of your assignments at once. Check and make sure there is a check next to the publish button.Don't forget to save!

4. Check your grade setup because you can copy it and use it again next year!

Did you know that you can copy a grade setup from an archived course? It's true! If you have your categories weighted just right and your grade scale set just how you like it, you can copy the grade setup into your new courses next year! Now is the time to double and triple check your grade setup. If you get it right at this point, it will save you from needing to fix it when grades get synced over to Infinite Campus but it will also ensure that you can copy those settings for next year and it will be stress free!

5. Set your course schedule in your Google calendar as soon as you have it.

How difficult is it to schedule time to collaborate with colleagues? Did you know that if everyone's Google calendar is populated with their course schedule and meetings then it is actually very easy to find times to meet? Do this now! You won't want to do it in August and you will be SO glad you did. Even though our schedules are funky and not very regular, it is well worth the time and effort to make sure your calendar is correct. 

Not sure how to do it? Here is a short video: