Simpedia

Jeanne W.

I don’t use an ipad app, but I’ve found Workflowy to be an invaluable tool for keeping notes on my 14 students, as well as notes on teaching all of the various pieces that I go back to again and again. Go to workflowy.com to set up a free account and see how it works. Look at several different demos on YouTube. It’s so simple, but so helpful for managing notes on dozens of subjects. It’s an online app that comes up as a tab that can easily be accessed via wifi from your ipad or laptop at the piano during a lesson. You can check past notes or make new notes on what you’ve taught and want to teach in the next lesson.

Maureen K., California

I use Notability on the iPad. I create one “note” per class session. I label at the top the date, the lesson number, and the names of the students who were present, then I write the weekly notes into there.

You can type or write with a stylus into each note. You can also paste photos or stuff from the web, and make audio recordings right in the note, though I rarely use those features. I write the class notes while projecting it to a TV so the students can write the same notes. It saves, then you can organize the notes into various folders or topics if you wish.

David L.

I just use Google Drive and Excel. Then I create a tab for each student and just log whatever weekly info I want. That way I can easily scroll back weeks or months back to see what I wrote. Not sure if this is the best way, but it’s very simple!

Jeff O., Massachusetts

Workflowy is a deceptively simple app. I keep my lesson notes, and EVERYTHING ELSE in Workflowy. It allows you to mark an item “complete” and hide or show it. I have everything I want to teach in levels 1-4 in a single document; when I start a new student or class, I make a copy and put their name on it.

Patti P., Hawaii

Maureen, thanks for the tip about projecting the assignment onto the TV. I have that set up in my studio but didn’t think about putting the assignments up. I’m putting that into play this week!

Maureen K., California

Patti, that’s almost all I use it for, other than a very occasional Youtube video. Please say more about what else you use your TV setup for; I need more ideas!