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Your online opportunities will flourish with a little bit of organization. Here are some of the ways I “hold it all together,” but I’m also eager to hear your ideas and questions!- I love using binders. I have binders filled with pages that have all the contact information for the host organizations I use, as well as another binder where I keep all my rosters. I have a binder for all my kit “recipes,” as well as ones for page-sized designs for photocopying or tracing.
- Cubby Storage. This has proved an awesome way to stash materials, kits-in-progress, books, etc. It’s easy to change and retheme as necessary. I started using cubbies as a kid in Montessori school, and I love them! It helps me create fewer (I won’t say there aren’t any) piles in my teaching space.
- Files. I find it helpful to use file folders, especially when hosting my own classes. As students register, I print out their info and add it to the file folder for that class. When it’s time to send out a notice, I pull the file and I know everyone is in there!
- Speadsheets. These can be very helpful for anything from keeping track of student progress through course levels to tracking earning projections and whether you’ve been paid (and how much). It’s easy for things to slip through the cracks, so find a way to make it easy to see where you are in the process. You might also want to set up a spreadsheet that helps you know which kits are needed by when for upcoming classes.
- Bins and Totes. Sometimes it’s really helpful to find a way to organize your demonstration project for an ongoing class. This is especially true when I have a number of multi-week courses running at once. When it’s loom beading class time, I grab that basket, when it’s tapestry time, I have those materials together in a tote to grab easily. Help keep those pieces together so there’s less scramble time before logging into class.
- Computer File Mind Mapping. Create files for documents and pictures on your computer in ways that make it easy for you to find what you need, wether this is for pitching a class or while you’re teaching. You might organize this by host, by discipline, by level, by project, etc. Instead of having giant buckets where it’s hard to find what you’re looking for on the fly, set up smaller buckets and sub-folders so you can navigate quickly to find a course proposal or a picture that will help answer a student’s question.
There are just ideas based on what I use. What organizational methods do you enjoy, or what might specifically work for your style? I love picking up new ideas as well. Share yours here.
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I use an inventory software called CraftyBase to keep track of the supplies I have for students and how to put a price on my materials kits. I don’t love the cost at $39/month but it really does help me keep track materials costs and the value of what I provide in the materials fees, including my time to package the kits. I started using this to put a price on my finished rugs and other artwork and to keep track of my supplies, but for teaching I am finding it useful to understand if I have enough materials to make kits for my next class and how much I need to order.
I’ve actually considered teaching a class in this software someday if the company will let me.
I’m including an example of a small kit I’m making for an upcoming class.
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