Putting Technology to Work for You
Laurie King
How have you made technology work for you? See if any of these apps would help you be more engaged or productive. What app helps you the most at work? Share below in the comments and tell us how the app supports you.
The standards. What do you do when you walk into a class and are not sure if what you see aligns with the grade level standard? Now you can look it up easily. You may want to use this app in a professional development session so your teachers have it for easy access. Most people can use the Common Core app but some states, such as Arizona, have slight changes and thus their own Arizona College and Career Standards app for IOS and Android.
Common Core IOS
Common Core Android
TaskCracker: You probably learned that we should spend most of our time on the work that is important rather than just urgent, right? There are days that this seems impossible, but this app allows me to drag and organize my tasks by day and color-coded priority level to ensure that I get the important work done each week. The $20 purchase was a deal for me to know that I am prioritizing my week to meet my goals. TaskCracker currently works with Outlook and Google calendars on a desktop computer or an Apple device, but they are yet to develop an Android app.
Adaptive Schools: I consistently use the Thinking Collaborative’s work with Adaptive Schools during any of my work with teams. I use this app to analyze a meeting (either with my team or on my own) and determine the structures and moves to make in our next meeting to develop our organizational and professional capacity as a team. If you are familiar with The Thinking Collaborative, they also have a Cognitive Coaching app for coaching maps, logging coaching records, and assessing States of Mind). These apps support me in developing my teacher leaders and planning effective meetings.
Slack: You can call, message, or send documents to members of different teams easily. You can share lesson plans or agendas with your instructional cabinet, other principals, the ELA team, or specific people. You can easily message your full staff during lock-down or fire drills, even if they aren’t near their computers. People can access the groups to which they belong but all of your workflow is in one easy-to-search place. It also works with Dropbox and Google Drive so that we were able to stick with the free plan.
Notes: I wonder if my actual memory has become weak because I rely so much on the “Notes” section of my phone. I have 4 folders with 97 notes, 13 of which I refer to on a weekly basis. In addition to reminders and mileage, I will sometimes dictate a letter or rough objectives for an upcoming meeting while I’m walking the halls or on duty so that I can then transfer it to a more appropriate format when I have a chance.
For more, read Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal’s blog “10 Best Apps for Principals and School Leaders”
What is your favorite app?