Sunday, June 3, 2018

Using Google Keep as a Writer's Idea Book

I am in the thick of a course about teaching writing.

One suggestion I learned from this course, and I've heard it before in a workshop on the Readers and Writers Workshop Models, is to have students keep a notebook of ideas for future writings. These ideas, or seeds as I first heard them referred, are just that -- seeds for future stories to grow out of. It's another way of saying curation.




While reading, I thought of what I would do if I were keeping a notebook. In fact, I am keeping a notebook, it's just in the form of this blog. So understanding that I am more digital than paper, got me to think about how I curate content from around the web.

I use Twitter and have an IFTTT recipe set up so my "favorites" on Twitter are saved to a separate blog I keep for me or anyone who is looking for interesting teaching ideas.

That got me thinking about students. I would prefer that students use a notebook. But what if I had students who were able to curate content from the internet? This year in Grade One, it seems like a far-off dream, but I will be teaching Grade Four next year, so teaching curation is on my list.

Two tools came to mind - Google Bookmarks and Google Keep. I don't bookmark much, so aside from messing around with it a little, I don't have much experience with Google Bookmarks. I wonder if bookmarks can be shared.

I do use Google Keep regularly, however. I like how notes can be tagged and colored. I was thinking for a seed journal to introduce students to the Google Keep Chrome Extension that allows you save web content with a click of a button. 

Once content, or seeds, are collected in Keep, they can be tagged and color coded. If students are already using Keep, maybe they could choose a color to use for their writing notes since you can filter notes by color in Keep.

Diigo could be another option. It also allows for tagging and sharing. In Diigo, you can make groups.

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