Work Smarter, Not Harder #10

I hope you are all having a wonderful 4th of July spending time with your family and doing those traditional things such as cooking out, enjoying some sort of water activity and of course fireworks!
I have taken advantage of several graphics sales and I am WELL stocked up!  Now it's time to start making some stuff!  What would you like to see me make? Leave a comment letting me know what you need in your classroom.  If I choose yours, you get it for FREE!!!!  :-) 

I am super excited.  I just surpassed the 300 followers on my TPT store and I'm only 4 away here on my blog. And, by all means, if you are not already a follower, please become one and help me out!  I have a post about Focus Walls with a freebie ready to go as soon as I hit 300, so come on back tomorrow to read it.  I won't break blogging etiquette by doing it today!  :-)

My tip for today in my Work Smarter, Not Harder series is to begin thinking about last school year and the upcoming school year.  Think about what worked and you want to continue, what needs tweaking, and what you want to change. 

Now, there's not a single, solitary teacher in the whole world that doesn't do that every year right???  So, nothing new about this post...except maybe a new way to put that information together.  Keep reading...

Today's tip involves HOW you do it.  I used to have pages and pages of stuff written down.  Then I would misplace it, forget about it when school started, couldn't remember what my own notes meant, etc.  (Anybody with me on this one?? LOL) 

Now, as I'm scouring the Internet and reading all the FABulous blogs out in blogville, I have a Power Point Presentation on my computer titled, (yep...you guessed it...) "Things I Want to do in MY Classroom."  I just have blank pages in it.  Then when I find something I really want to do, I right click the picture and "copy."  Next go to your PP and click on your slide, click "paste," drag and expand the picture leaving enough space to enter a comment to yourself along with the url of the blog post for later reference. 
Here are a few pictures that I already have in my file:

(See my DUH?? note to myself??  hahaha)

I copied the text directly from this site to remind myself.

I made the pictures small enough to show all of them on one page.

Then when post-planning is upon us, simply pull up your Power Point and all of your great ideas for the new year is right there for you to review and do in your classroom.

What is the best way that you have found to keep track of the ideas and changes you want to implement for the new school year?