Teacher Hacks for a Paperless Classroom

Creating a paperless classroom is no easy task! As we still transition out of the copy machine generation, each teacher is a licensed printer tech. It's not uncommon to walk by a teacher's lounge and see three teachers wrist deep in ink stains trying to get "one more packet" to come out. I recommend talking to the printer and appealing to its emotional side.

If you're looking to save some trees, tired of battling with the copy machine, and want to go paperless, here's some strategies that will make your life easier!

We've put out a few posts on how to do some digital lesson planning and records keeping. So here's some strategies for the other areas of the classroom that tend to be a little paper heavy. 

1. Make a Digital Resource Binder with Scanbot

Scanbot is a great app for turning documents into digital files. Scanning is a pain and can be difficult when you don't have access to a quality scanner. Scanbot lets you scan using your iPad or mobile phone. It's a really easy app to use and makes really high quality documents quite easily. Take all of those handouts and resources that you have and put them into a digital catalog instead of binders upon binders that collect dust and pinch your fingers. 

from appadvice.com

2. Collect and Save Student Work on Google Drive

Google Drive is one of my favorites, naturally. If you can, try out the mobile app versions of Google Drive. There's a nifty little feature where you can take a picture and deposit that photo straight into a Google Drive folder. I've found some great uses for this, but saving student work is one of my favorites.

If you're using an iPad, you can snap a picture of a piece of student work and drop it right into a folder. It's really great when it comes to parent teacher conferences and you can pull up a student's actual assignment without having to lug around stacks of papers that will clutter up your classroom in the hope that you might one day have to show it to someone. 

I do it as my students turn their work in. At the end of a week, I've added 5-10 new assignments to each kid's work folder and have created a digital portfolio for each of them. During grading season I can pull out an iPad and sift through previous assignments to make sure that I've got evidence to back up each mark they get. 

Google Drive is literally the only tool you need to go paperless, but there's tons of other apps out there that make the digital transformation a lot easier. 

3. Digital Sticky Notes with Google Keep

Google Keep is Google's app for the sticky note generation. It's probably one of my favorite Google Apps and one of the best sticky note apps out there for many reasons. Its simplicity, ability to connect across many devices, and to add reminders, checklists, and archive notes for later to name a few. Instead of having a desk/wall full of sticky notes and reminders, go for a paperless option that will allow you to organize yourself for the digital age. You can choose colors, types of notes, add images, calendar reminders, and categorize them based on your own needs.

                                   

I find it to be extremely helpful for hanging on to resources I want to keep for a lesson, articles I want to read in my spare time (ha!) or something I need to remember to do. Also, when I have to give 1-1 assessments for students and have lots of tests to juggle around, keeping names and tracking their progress on a Google Keep note is extremely helpful in making sure a kid doesn't get lost in a mountain of test booklets.

4. Eliminate Paper Reading Logs, Sign-Ups, and Quizzes with Google Forms

Feel free to check out any of my previous posts on the applications of Google Forms in the classroom which is simply endless. Google Forms continues to prove itself as a digital teacher's best friend. You can post Google Forms on your class Blackboard or Moodle pages and have parents go there to sign up for things such as conferences, input their contact information, and give you a digital log of all of those things. 

Many teachers have students do reflections and logs for different classroom activities. Using a Google Form creates a spreadsheet for you that is populated as students fill them out. Students create and submit a digital log from home and you get an organized spreadsheet of their responses automatically that you can share with your co-teachers. 

Let us know what your strategies are for going green and making a paperless classroom!