8 Tips for Using Google Keep for Music Teachers

8 Tips for Using Google Keep for Music Teachers
8 Tips for Using Google Keep for Music Teachers

This is a guest post by one of our blog writers, Katherine Miller. 

During these unprecedented times, the lines between home and work can be a little blurrier. Music teachers might be more used to this then others as we often hold rehearsals before and after school, performances on night and weekends, and have to find professional development opportunities devoted to our craft outside of our own school and districts. 

However, for most of us, rarely do our teaching responsibilities have to actually be in our homes on a day to day basis.  

As we learn to navigate this new normal, it is important to establish a healthy home and work balance.  I know, I know! That is much easier said than done! 

I, too, have my new music classroom in my bedroom and my work room at the dining room table. However, as we turn to technology to help us effectively teach our students, we can also use it to help delineate the lines between our home and work responsibilities.  

My favorite way to accomplish balancing my home and school tasks is by using a tool called Google Keep.  Google Keep is a note taking app available on both Android and Apple devices as part of the Google family of products.  

As with their other applications, Keep is linked to your Gmail address and can be used on any device (computers, tablets, phones). Although there are many options for apps that can do the same functions, there are a few reasons that Keep has become my go-to tool:

  • Notes can be created that include text, lists, images and even audio
  • Notes are synced to your Google Drive and can be accessed from any device connected to your account
  • It allows for colorful design which supports visual organization and the ability to easily find specific notes. Think digital Post Its!

Along with those reasons, Google Keep allows me to keep my duties at home and school together, but separate much like the physical spaces in my home. 

If you are craving a balance in your music teacher life too, here are my 8 tips for making Google Keep your go-to tool too!

8  Tips for Using Google Keep for Music Teachers

1. Turn your notes into checklists

Music teachers, whether teaching from home or school, wear a lot of different hats! You can keep track of all of these different responsibilities by turning any note you create into a checklist by adding a checkbox next to each item. 

Who doesn’t love the satisfaction of watching all of their tasks get smaller and smaller? You can do this by clicking the three dots at the bottom of your note to open additional options. Show checkboxes is one of the options that appears. 

Google Keep Checklists

2. Dictate your notes instead of typing

From your mobile device, you can dictate a new note just like you can dictate text messages. This allows you to quickly add notes in the middle of an online lesson or rehearsal once we are back in our normal classroom spaces. You can also use your Google home products to dictate notes too!

3. Set reminders and pin your critical notes

Creating work hours while home makes the delineation between work time and family time a bit clearer. In Google Keep, you can prioritize the notes you need during each time by pinning them at the top of the screen.  

You can also add reminders to items that do not need to be done  right now, but during your school  office hours by adding an alarm to go off at a specific time or location.

Google Keep Pin
Google Keep Reminders

4. Share your notes with others

Collaborating with colleagues is a little tricker when you have to leave the appropriate social distance! To continue to be productive when apart, you can add collaborators to your notes. 

This allows others to not only view but to edit the content of the note so productivity does not need to slow down on shared projects. This is also an awesome feature to use at home as you  brave the grocery store. 

Collaborators to a  grocery list  on Google Keep can all add items instead of heading to the store with you. One trip with your shared list allows you to buy everyone’s must have items….if they are available at the store,  of course!

Google Keep Collaborate

5. Use the Chrome Extension to add online resources to your notes

If you are anything like me, you have been reading all the things about virtual learning from music teachers around the world. Google Keep can be a great way to keep all of those amazing ideas in one place. 

You can do this by adding the Google Keep extension for your Google Chrome browser. This allows you to save a webpage, image or social media post with just one click to a new note . 

You can add this extension by following this link: Google Keep Chrome Extension

6. Add tags to organize your notes

Add labels to your notes! I love following other educators on social media because I am always impressed by the creative ideas people are willing to share. When I find a great idea online, I use the Keep extension to add a new note. 

Then, I  organize it with other notes like it by tagging it with a label.  This helps to keep track of all of the ideas I have found  and be able to easily locate them at a later date. You could make  labels for each ensemble, grade level, standard or any other way that helps you the most!

Google Keep Labels

7. View your notes and email side by side

You can see your notes as often as you see your email! The Google Keep icon appears in the toolbar on the right-hand side of your Gmail screen on your computer. 

If the icon  is selected, your pinned notes, or the notes at the top, will appear side by side with your email. This is super helpful if you are keeping track of to-do lists! You can also see this toolbar in your Google Drive.

Google Keep Icon

8. Personalize your notes

Color can help you to easily and visually separate notes. You can also add images as headers to personalize your notes even further! 

You can use Canva’s Google + header template to create your own  or you can download the ones I created for free by following this link:

Google Keep Headers for Music Teachers

Finding tools to help organize our new normal is a small thing we can do to keep a healthy division between our work and school lives when they are happening in one place. 

You can create a time, a place and a note for all of the different aspects of your music teacher life. Moving your notes and lists on line also has  a few other benefits! 

Notes created within the Google Keep app or website are searchable and won’t get lost like the paper you have been using. It also allows for the seamless saving of lessons, ideas, tweets, blogs and other things you have found and you love from all the extra time you have been spending on the internet. 

These relaxed days at home will go away. The challenges we are facing now will give way to new challenges soon. Our new normal will not be new for long. And hopefully, Google Keep will help to set yourself up for a better normal when it does.

Download your copy

Would you like to take a copy of this article with you? Click the button below and a copy of this will be sent directly into your inbox.

About the writer

Katherine Miller

Katherine (Katie) Miller holds a Bachelor of Music in Education degree from Otterbein University (Westerville, OH) and a Masters of Educational Leadership from Antioch McGregor Midwest (Yellow Springs, OH). She has 15 years of professional musical experience as a music educator and performer.

She is currently employed by the School District of Waukesha in Waukesha, WI, where she teaches K-5 General Music and serves as a district model tech classroom. She was recognized in 2018 as a WPT Education Innovator by Wisconsin Public Television Education team.

Twitter: K8TMiller

Looking for More Resources for Music Teachers?

Hello! I’m Katie Argyle – an Australian music technology trainer and consultant with a passion for helping music teachers through my business Midnight Music.

I’m a qualified teacher but no, I don’t currently teach in a school. I help teachers through my online professional development space – the Midnight Music Community – where there are tutorial videos, courses, links and downloadable resources.

MMC Mockup new

I like to focus on easy ways to incorporate technology into what you are already doing in your music curriculum through a range of creative projects. I also run live workshops and have presented at countless conferences and other music education events.

If you want simple, effective ideas for using technology in music education, I would LOVE to help you inside the Midnight Music Community.

Learn more and take a sneak peek inside

Leave A Comment

You might also like...

Introducing

The Midnight Music Community

An online community where music tech professional development, lesson ideas, and accountability come together.
Ultimate Free Music Tech Resource Guide Guide 2023/24

Download Now for FREE...

The Ultimate Music Tech Resources Guide for 2023-2024

Claim your copy of our annual guide to free music technology resources, designed especially for music teachers. Discover interactive music websites, software, productivity tools, and assessment resources you can use in your music classroom for free.

Follow Me on Social Media

PRIVACY POLICY

This is the Privacy Policy for the Midnight Music website located at www.midnightmusic.com (“Site”).

The Site is operated by Midnight Music Pty Ltd ABN 87 619 652 603 (“Midnight Music” or “Company” or “we” or “us”).

Midnight Music understands the importance of protecting your personal information and undertakes to adhere to this privacy policy at all times to ensure your personal information is effectively safeguarded.

Information you provide to us

The Site provides various places for users to provide information. We collect information that users provide by filling out forms on the Site, communicating with us via contact forms, responding to surveys, search queries on our search feature, providing comments or other feedback, providing information when ordering a product or service via the Site, and other circumstances where collecting personal information is reasonable and permitted by the Laws of the State of Victoria, Australia.

We use information you provide to us to deliver the requested product and/or service, to improve our overall performance, and to provide you with offers, promotions, and information.

Information we collect through automatic data collection technology

As you navigate through the Site, we may use automatic data collection technologies including Google Analytics to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns. This will generally include information about your location, your traffic pattern through our Site, and any communications between your computer and our Site. Among other things, we will collect data about the type of computer you use, your Internet connection, your IP address, your operating system, and your browser type.

The information we collect automatically is used for statistical data and will not include personal information. We use this data to improve our Site and our service offerings. To the extent that you voluntarily provide personal information to us, our systems will associate the automatically collected information with your personal information.

Use of cookies and pixels

Similar to other commercial websites, our Site utilises a standard technology called “cookies” and server logs to collect information about how our site is used. Information gathered through cookies and server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our site, and the websites visited just before and just after our own, as well as your IP address.

A cookie is a very small text document, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier. When you visit a website, that site’s computer asks your computer for permission to store this file in a part of your hard drive specifically designated for cookies. Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser’s preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a website to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites.

The Company reserves the right to use technological equivalents of cookies, including social media pixels. These pixels allow social media sites to track visitors to outside websites so as to tailor advertising messages users see while visiting that social media website. The Company reserves the right to use these pixels in compliance with the policies of the various social media sites.​

How we manage personal information

Midnight Music undertakes to take all commercially reasonable steps to ensure that all personal information collected by us is accurate, up-to-date, complete and stored securely. When your personal information is no longer required for the purposes which Midnight Music uses personal information, all commercially reasonable steps will be undertaken to securely destroy that information.

How your personal information will be used

We use personal information for purposes of presenting our Site and its contents to you, providing you with information, providing you with offers for products and services, providing you with information about your subscriptions and products, carrying out any contract between you and the Company, administering our business activities, providing customer service, and making available other items and services to our customers and prospective customers.
From time-to-time, we may use the information you provide to us to make you offers to purchase products and services provided by third parties in exchange for a commission to be paid to us by such third parties. Should you opt to take part in such promotions, the third parties will receive your information.

Disclosure of your information

Midnight Music considers personal information we collect about you to be confidential and will not disclose such information to third parties except in the following circumstances:

  • Where you have consented to your personal information being provided to a third party;
  • Where Midnight Music is required by law to disclose your information; and
  • Gaining access to your personal information held by Midnight Music

Except in circumstances where access to your personal information may be denied by the Privacy Act or other Law of the State of Victoria, Australia, your personal information will be provided to you upon request.

Visitors’ General Data Protection Regulation rights

If you are within the European Union, you are entitled to certain information and have certain rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These include the following:

  • We will retain the any information you choose to provide to us until: (a) you ask us to delete the information; (b) we decide to cease using our existing data providers; or (c) the Company decides that the value in retaining the data is outweighed by the costs of retaining it.
  • You have the right to request access to your data that the Company stores and the rights to either rectify or erase your personal data.
  • You have the right to seek restrictions on the processing of your data.
  • You have the right to object to the processing of your data and the right to the portability of your data.
  • To the extent that you provided consent to the Company’s processing of your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing based upon consent that occurred prior to your withdrawal of consent.
  • You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority that has jurisdiction over issues related to the General Data Protection Regulation.
  • We require only the information that is reasonably required to enter into a contract with you. We will not require you to provide consent for any unnecessary processing as a condition of entering into a contract with us.

Contact us

Should you have any queries in relation to the above or require further information regarding the Privacy Policy please contact us:

Midnight Music Pty Ltd
PO Box 219
Glen Waverley
Victoria 3150
AUSTRALIA

Email address: support@midnightmusic.com