Why You Should Marie Kondo Your Google Drive Right Now (And Probably Your Classroom Too)

Teachers Are Hoarders (It’s True)

I think most teachers are in some way, shape, or form, hoarders. Don’t believe me? Think about it. If you were to walk into a classroom, any classroom today you would most likely find a plethora of materials, books, binders, folders, files, etc. that haven’t been used for at least a year (if not ten). Up on the shelves or in the closet you will no doubtedly find that one item that has never been used, but is always kept, “Just in case, because you never know when you might need it!”. And I am undoubtedly one of those teachers that has a tendency to keep almost, but not quite everything. It’s a hazard of a profession where resources and funding are scarce, and too often we invest our own money (beyond everything else that we already invest) into purchasing resources, manipulatives, and more for our classrooms, our sanity, and our students.

So if another teacher graciously leaves or offers you a resource, what do you do? You look at it and visualize possibly having an opportunity to utilize it in your classroom, imagining what the lesson would look like, and then you stick it on a shelf only to forget about it until you are later rummaging for a different item. Sound too familiar? I know for me it does! And beyond the physical copies and materials that we keep in excess in our classrooms, many teachers now have an additional storage space that will never become overfilled or dusty, and is so easy to access from anywhere. It is the beauty that is Google Drive and “the cloud”. Now, we don’t have to wrangle paper copies from the depths of their long forgotten stacks, we can merely open our devices and access them with the click of a few buttons! Magic right? Well, it would be if we could locate the exact file that we are looking for within the abyss of free TeachersPayTeachers downloads, files from previous years, shared files, meeting agendas, handbooks, student-projects, and so much more. Time is precious teachers! We all know that. So why do we spend so much time searching for our own files online?

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Enter Marie Kondo

Have you heard of Marie Kondo yet? Best known for her incredible tidying techniques and strategies, she has inspired many across the world to change the way they think about and execute organization. She has written several books on organization, the most well known being The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (2011), and also hosts a show on Netflix titled Tidying Up with Marie Kondo (2019). Haven’t jumped on the Kondo train yet? No problem. The essence of her decluttering technique comes down to this concept, to determine if an item needs to be kept, you need to ask if the item brings you joy, and if it doesn’t get rid of it. Seems pretty simple and straightforward right?

From the perspective of a teacher, however, I think we may need to slightly revise the question to: Does the resource, manipulative, material, etc. bring you or your students joy? Woah. That question alone to me is mind-boggling. Does the old math worksheet pdf that I haven’t touched in three years bring myself or my students joy? No. Do the TeachersPayTeachers freebies that I’ve never used bring myself or my students joy? Absolutely not. Are they cluttering my space on Google Drive and taking up precious time? Of course they are.

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How to Get Started

Teachers may be hoarders for a variety of different reasons, but that doesn’t mean we always have to hoard! In fact, by eliminating some of the clutter, we may actually save ourselves time and the opportunity to rediscover the best of our resources that we have. Let’s bring a little joy to ourselves and our students shall we?

Step 1: Open Your Google Drive and Take Inventory How many files do you have floating around in your drive with nowhere to exist? How many folders do you have? Do you use all of your folders?

Step 2: Start With the Floaters

Begin with your files that are not in folders. With each file ask yourself, Does the resource, manipulative, material, etc. bring you or your students joy? If the answer is no, delete/discard the file. (Don’t worry there will be other TPT freebies in your future! Hopefully ones that bring you and your students joy!) If you need to, check the time that the document was last edited on the top bar. Has it been years? If so, it probably isn’t bringing you or your students joy.

Step 3: Sort Through the Folders

Go through each of your folders (If you don’t have any skip to Step 4). In each folder sort through the files deciding what brings joy and what doesn’t. When you finish a folder, decide if the folder does or does not bring you joy. If it is unnecessary, remove it and clear up some more space!

Step 4: Organize the Joyful Items

At this point, your drive should be filled only with items that bring you or your students joy. (Insert a happy dance here.) Now let’s just organize them. Marie Kondo is known for using boxes to help organize different items around the house (such as shirts in a dresser). Your boxes here, my friend, are folders! Create categories of folders that make sense for you and your students. If you would like to (because you are a HUGE fan of color coordination like me), you may even designate specific colors to specific folders by opening the folder options and then selecting “Change Color”.

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We Kondo This

As teachers, we save every precious item, because we worry there may be a day when we need them. In fact, in some circumstances, we almost feel guilty if we discard them! (I know I do!) The truth of the matter is though, that by decluttering our work spaces (whether physical or digital) we will have more time to focus on our students. So, For the Love of Learning, please keep these words of wisdom in mind:

“The best way to find out what we really need is to get rid of what we don’t.” - Marie Kondo