How comfortable ARE YOU when it comes to NOT having a hard copy of a document? My guess is that as a possible Gen X-er or Gen Y-er (Millenial), you may be a bit more comfortable than my Baby Boomer generation; However, as an environmentally conscious grandmother AND a technology embracer, I challenge you to start thinking about what YOU could be doing in the classroom WITHOUT PAPER!
Here are just two things I’ve begun doing so far:
- All meeting agendas and subsequent minutes are posted on a Moodle course for each group (Principals, Department Chairs, ISTs, Instructional Coaches, New Teachers, etc.) If someone wants a printed copy, I ask them to print their own; however, I post the agenda on the screen during each meeting and participants are getting into the habit of bringing with them their own laptops for notetaking. In fact, I have also begun actually taking the minutes on my laptop as everyone sees them being typed on the screen. I’m finding that when something needs to be clarified, they catch it immediately!
- All Power Points, video clips, articles, and websites used for professional development sessions are posted on appropriate Moodle course sites for participants to access during and after each session.
It’s interesting to consider how I may gauge the measure of success with my new system, but if one could judge by reading faces, I can tell you that the sense of panic I see when they come to one of my meetings now and notice that I no longer hand them a paper copy will hopefully soon turn to a new practice! We are scheduled for our third meeting next week, so I’ll let you know!
One advantage to going GREEN is the fact that there is one repository for all notes per topic instead of BINDERS! The principals, department leaders, IST teachers, instructional coaches, and even my administrative assistants know where to find documents that previously would have just been filed away in a binder. Perhaps I can even begin arranging more aesthetically pleasing knick-knacks on my shelves!
Our school district removed printers from every classroom this year in an attempt to save money. It is amazing how this has helped to expedite a paperless classroom. Now that we have to walk to a printer, you think twice about ways to get the copy to yourself in a more convenient way. Do you think removing printers for all classrooms might be the solution to a GREEN classroom?
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