OneNote, which you can download for free, is a teacher’s best friend. Read these nine ways OneNote can help make digital lesson-planning easier, faster, and more effective!
1. Use any type of content – text, pictures, audio, video, ink, embedded files, printed digital paper
There’s no limit to the mediums you can use to plan your lesson as OneNote supports learning and planning across multiple modalities, allowing you to add a fun, interactive multimedia dimension and create a more dynamic, effective lesson.
2. Arrange any content type on the page any way you want, just like paper
Drag and drop with ease-no more formatting hassles. OneNote is a digital version of paper, except it saves everything in one place, allows for more types of content, and no pencils or erasers required!
3. Use Tags to highlight important points, questions, or create your own custom tag
Instead of rifling through pages, whether paper or digital, find exactly what you need right away and remember what needs to be followed up on with tags.
4. Collaborate with other teachers in a shared notebook as you build your lesson plans
Collaboration is a key priority nowadays and the sharing of ideas and experiences results in even better lesson plans — work with other teachers to improve and innovate easily!
5. Use OneNote to record and embed audio to guide the lesson
Students learn in different ways– the option of adding audio can help increase focus and add an important personal element to the lesson so students have access to your audio instruction at any time.
6. Use OneNote drawing tools to add visual elements to your lesson plan
Draw with touch or pen in OneNote to add your own sketches and diagrams– very helpful for science and math teachers who need to make annotations that may go beyond typing.
7. Use digital ink to enhance, annotate and be creative with your lesson plans
Effortlessly make important aspects of your lesson plans stand out with digital ink, giving you the flexibility to write/draw anywhere on your notes or pictures.
8. Change the digital paper type of OneNote to college-ruled, graph, or a custom page template background
Different subjects require different backdrops-we’ve got you covered so you can switch easily between and even customize the color and width of the lines/grids.
9. Organize and save your various digital resources easily from the Web as you create your lesson
As you build out your lesson, easily send different resources from the internet (blogs, journals, wikis, websites, etc.) to one place with one click-this Quick Tip video shows you exactly how.
Watch this video on how to send web research for lessons to OneNote:
Want to see OneNote in action for more inspiration? Here are some awesome examples of lesson plans utilizing these tips from our Microsoft Innovative Educators:
- Food For Life , by Ruby Huang (New Zealand), Science Teacher, Howick College
- Count of Monte Cristo Mock Trial , by Kelli Etheredge (USA), Director of Teaching & Learning Resources, St. Paul’s Episcopal School
- Walk in My Shoes , by Lynette Barker (Australia), Teacher Librarian, St. Therese’s Primary School
For more in-depth interactive guides on how to make the most of OneNote in the classroom, be sure to check out www.onenoteforteachers.com.
