During my 6th grade year, there was an organizational tool that took my school (and the world?) by storm. It was known as a Trapper Keeper, and it was essentially a colorful, fancy three-ring binder with lots of pockets, accessories, and a velcro flap that promised to keep all of your school needs in one compact, portable portfolio. Perhaps more importantly for an 11 year-old, a Trapper Keeper was a status symbol. If one had a Trapper Keeper, there was a chance to be somebody. Without one, well… life would be tough.
I remember hounding my parents for one until they finally gave in. (I’m sure you students know exactly how that works.) My Trapper Keeper was blue, and moments after returning from the store I proudly organized my pens, pencils, and erasers in the zipper pouch, and I dutifully labelled each folder. I practiced walking around the house holding my Trapper Keeper, and imagined my friends and teachers complimenting my good taste and responsibility at school the next day. It was a magical moment in my life. I had the latest fad, and it was actually going to be useful.
And for one brief, shining moment, I was in Organizational Heaven.
So, I was reminded of this moment last week as I watched my beaming 6th grade students get handed their own new tool, a laptop computer. During a “Laptop Bootcamp”, they were taught how to organize their school life by using such tools as digital “drop” folders, Google Drive, and Google Calendar, to name but three. As I watched them effortlessly navigate these complex, computerized systems, I realized that the way these digital natives will organize themselves in class makes my old Trapper Keeper seem pretty stone-aged. They will be able to store a vast majority of their 6th grade work on Drive, and they will be able to share this work with others at a click of a button. And the beautiful thing is that there will be very little paper to have to deal with.
Google calendar will be a place they can go to check their daily schedule, note their homework, pick up documents from their teachers and organize their busy lives outside of class.
I imagine that these organizational tools my students learned about during Bootcamp was just the tip of the iceberg. Over the coming weeks and months they will no doubt learn many more ways to make their lives here at school more efficient.
There were a lot of smiles during Bootcamp. And while I can’t be sure if the smiles were due to their newfound organizational possibilities or their newfound gaming possibilities, I’m am sure that their newfound tool beats a Trapper Keeper.
