OrganizationTool-Pearl Trees

Now that you know a little about the equipment  I am using in my classroom, let's look closer at some of the tools that I use on my computer. These aren't necessarily tools that I use with my students (some are), but they are tools that I use to organize my teaching life. It's comforting to feel the calm of having everything in its place. The first tool I'd like to talk about is a new one for me. It's called Pearltrees. It's a unique and visually appealing way to organize your bookmarks. Now, if you are a web tool pack-rat like myself, you've learned by now that saving all of your bookmarks on your browser toolbar is completely pointless. Personally, I use Diigo to organize the steady stream of websites that inhabit my computer screen everyday, but Pearltrees offers an alternative solution to the chaos.

With Pearltrees, you are able to create a "bookmark web" if you need to group your websites according to different groups within categories. For example, right now I am building a Pearltree to help consolidate and organize different math websites according to which Everyday Math unit they belong in. So, I have a "Pearltree" called, "Everyday Math". Connected to that "Pearltree" are other Pearltrees named according to their unit number. If you click on one of those pearltrees, you'll find a bunch of "pearls." "Pearls" are actual links to websites. Confused? I've embedded some Pearltrees that I've been working on below. Also, watch the videos below my Pealrtree for an overview of the service provided.






With Pearltrees, it is also very easy to embed, share, and collaborate. Once I finish creating this "Everyday Math Pealrtree" I will share it with my colleagues, and hopefully they will be able to add some resources that they are using.

It seems like there are a million different ways to organize your favorite websites. What's your favorite?