Organization Apps for Teachers (and others!)

"Oh good, you brought me papers to play on top of!"

My life lately has been SWAMPED! I am teaching, planning, and having absolutely no social life....unless you count hanging out with my cat as a social life...

As a result, I am trying to find a few ways to stay organized and get things done more efficiently.

I have an iPad through my school, but I still use the Android tablet I used in Mexico.Here are a few apps I find really helpful.

Want to stay productive? Does grading nonstop make your mind wander? Check out any of the pomodoro timers that are out there to let yourself take programmed and beneficial breaks. Here's one of my favorites!

My friends all seem to love Remember the Milk, but I am a bigger fan of Any.do. Whatever your preference, I encourage you to look into a "to do list" app. It really does help me stay on track and become less likely to forget things.

With all of these apps your tablet or phone is probably getting a little cluttered. Well, you're in luck because I know of an AWESOME free app that helps streamline your screen! The EverythingMe launcher is PERFECT for fellow app addicts. It acts like your personal administrative assistant. There are a few different features of this app. My favorite is the Prediction Bar. If I am at school then it knows I am probably going to be clicking on the timer app! However, if I am at home at 11pm, it instead makes Netflix easy to select. It also managed to put everything in nice folders making my home screen seem much more manageable and making everything easier to find.

What am I missing? Are there any apps essential to your sanity?

Book Review: The English Tenses

Tenses can be tricky!

This review is late. I read this book about a month ago and had a review written up to auto publish about two weeks ago. Unfortunately, due to the magic elves that live in my computer. I have no idea where the original review went, and I've been very busy with school lately and unable to write a new one. Apologies again to author Phil Williams for this delay.

The English Tenses Practical Grammar Guide is not a book I would suggest students or teachers read from start to finish (though you certainly could). I would suggest that teachers keep this on hand to review before teaching a specific tense (or to brush up if they are teaching a new level). I would also encourage advanced students who learn well independently to consult this book to help them grapple with English tenses.

Basically, this would be a great addition for any English teacher's bookcase.

This book goes into a detailed description of the differences between all the different tenses of past, present and future. Seriously, all of them. Go to the link I gave above (or click on the book cover below) and check out the, "look inside" function Amazon gives. You'll be able to peruse the very detailed table of contents to get an idea of exactly what is in the book.

To the left you'll see a quick example of the table of contents with all of the different information is has on past tense! This repeats for the future and present tense as well.

Each section includes an explanation and the basic rules of the specific form in question. Then, Phil goes over the affirmative, interrogative, negative and negative question forms using multiple different examples and charts to make it clear what part of the sentence correlates to previous examples.

As a paperback, this book is under $25. If you read books on your tablet, kindle or online, then you can download the Kindle version for less than $7.00! It has AT LEAST 100 pages of solid information on tenses sure to clarify this topic to anyone who reads it.

Overall I'd encourage you to add this book to your wishlist. If you do get a chance to read it, or have a different text you'd recommend let me know in the comments.