Evernote

Evernote is a program that is perfect for my kind of class. I am going to teach biology and in my class my students will not be focused on the standardized curriculum, but rather on biology itself. My overarching goal is to teach students to develop an interest in biology. Because of this, I want to be able to constantly share bits of facts and interesting thoughts with my students, as I want them to do with me. Evernote allows me to do just that. Evernote allows me to keep a notebook of files, pictures, thoughts, and videos that I can edit from any of my computers or mobile devices. At the same time, it allows me to publish my notebook online, similar to a blog. My students will be able to get on the website and see any interesting facts, pictures, links, videos, and more, that I put up. I have always planned on giving students extra credit just for finding something they find very interesting and researching it enough to explain parts of it to me. This way, given the students catch on to that idea, I can also add interesting thoughts from other students. It can be my secret way of getting the students to peer pressure each other into becoming interested in biology. Evernote would also allow me to get messages to students after school. If I do not know an answer or tell the class that I will look something up, I can put the answer on evernote after I research it. I feel that it is important for me to admit to my students when I do not know an answer, and just as important for me to help them find the answer or find it for them. Finally, Evernote allows me to have more than one notebook. I can have one personal notebook that helps me keep my life organized, one class notebook for the described functions, and one professional notebook where I can share notes with other teachers. Evernote allows you to connect notebooks together, which I would assume means one person’s notes also show up on another’s notebook, but without another person I can not explore this function. If this is true, the science teachers at the school where I work can share notes, or the teachers in the entire school, or even in the county. We can share pieces of information, school policies, and ask questions of each other. This would be almost as helpful as an in person meeting of the teachers, and it can be constant and convenient.