Monday Made It (On Wednesday): Branching out with a Bullet Journal

Well, I haven't blogged in awhile... Anyway, one of the nice things about summer is having more time to do things like blogging and reading and napping and eating lunch with grownups.

On Monday morning I was reviewing over the Monday Made Its at Tara's blog (including the ones from last week). I have enjoyed surveying everyone's creations for Monday Made It for the last few years. It is always inspiring and gives you ideas to get you thinking about getting ready for the school year.

I felt completely inspired by Nicole's guest post from last week where she shared her bullet journal. I have seen bullet journals on Instagram, but I hadn't given it too much thought yet. Nicole shared her bullet journal and this blog post, which had been her inspiration.

So for my Monday Made It (shared on Wednesday) for this week, I decided to start my own bullet journal. I actually use an Erin Condren planner that works pretty well for me for keeping up with grad school homework and due dates. I have used both Plum Paper planners and Erin Condren planners. I prefer to horizontal weekly layout; it works better for me. At work, I tend to keep a little task list on a small notepad I found at Staples last year for a $1. On one half, it says "To Do Now" and on the other half it says "To Do Later."

The part I have struggled with keeping organized is more for long term goals and ideas. I liked the idea of trying a bullet journal to organize other parts of my life like lists of books I want to read, long term research goals, projects for grad school, projects for my classroom, etc. I had a cute journal I bought at Barnes and Noble a couple months ago that I hadn't used yet. I love this size journal. It is slim enough to fit in a purse or backpack easily, making it even more portable than my planner.



I have always kept an "idea journal" (hence, part of why my blog is named the Idea Backpack). I am someone who is always coming up with ideas and finding the need to record them somewhere. My idea journals have never been very organized though or necessarily easy to locate things later.  So I liked the idea of creating a bullet journal to organize different lists of goals and ideas with a table of contents.



Below are a few more pictures of some of the pages I started. Of course, one of my first priorities was making different "To Be Read" pages. I love keeping track of my reads on Goodreads, but I also like the idea of a physical list I can add to by genre.



I haven't added any doodles or artwork or done creative lettering yet. I was more just trying to get it started and begin organizing goals and ideas for this summer. Hopefully over time I will branch out and be a little more creative with some of my entries.

Once 2016 is over, I might also try incorporating the planner aspect into the bullet journal as well. How do you organize your ideas and goals? Do you use a journal or planner?

Creating a Thinking Classroom

I began this post on Sunday, but I am finally posting it after a couple days at camp with my students.  You can read more about what I learned about myself at camp at my personal blog. 

Some teachers have those big READ decorative letters hanging in their classroom library.  A previous coworker told me I needed to have giant letters in my classroom for THINK.  On almost any personality test I have done, I am first and foremost analytical. I think about everything.  My mind is busy and scattered.  This is why I learned to make lists and write things down.  This is why I have to organize my physical space because it allows me to begin to organize my mental space. 

After two weeks in middle school, I am so excited about the potential of the rest of the school year.  Seventh and eighth graders are independent enough that we can now really pursue my passion – thinking. My primary goals for my students this year are to become better thinkers and to be able to articulate their ideas. As teachers and students alike, we have to take time to stop doing to allow time for thinking.

I have a co-worker who uses the ideas of Dr. Sandra Kaplan in her teaching.  In discussing the traits of a scholar this  past week with her students, she introduced the idea to them of keeping an idea notebook. She bought them mini-composition notebooks from Staples and they used tabs to create sections.  The students will write down their questions and ideas in each section. 

I am absolutely in love with this idea! I played around with having an ideas section in our binder last year, but it did not really work.  There is something more special about having a separate place just to keep ideas. 

One of the very first things my advisor recommended to us last year when I began my doctoral program was to keep an idea notebook.  It is a place to record ideas and even notes from discussions during research meetings.  I had already been keeping a notebook, so I was to get some validation for my habit.  My past notebook was giant conglomeration of ideas related to work, school, home, and every aspect of my life.  It could be difficult to go back and find things.  Thus, last year I decided to try a sectioned notebook to see how I liked it.  I bought the Arc notebook by Staples.  You can see below how I created sections for ideas for for work, school, research, blog, and home. 

I also could have just made tabs like my co-worker did with her students. I am finding I am using it some, but I am also recording a lot of ideas in Evernote on my iPad.  For me, I am finding it easier sometimes to record ideas on there in different notebooks than even in my paper notebook. I like Evernote because I also have the app on my Mac.  So I can use it from a variety of places.

 I really want to encourage my students this year to ask questions, generate ideas, and pursue their interests.  I work at a blended learning school, so all of my students have Macs.  Like all good teachers, I am going to “steal” my co-worker’s idea of using idea notebooks.  With my 7^th and 8^th graders, I am thinking about giving them the option of using Evernote or using a physical idea notebook.  Like myself, some may even use a mixture of the two.  I want my students to apply what we learn to the real world.  I like Evernote because you could also save web links and pictures.  When we get ready to start doing research papers later in the year, I am thinking Evernote could be a great resource to record resources and thoughts about those resources – an updated version of the index card.

Have you ever tried idea notebooks? How did they work for you?