How Vivian Chen Uses Notion in Her Instructional Practice

In this professional conversation, I speak with educational consultant Vivian Chen.

Vivian is a former classroom teacher and coach, and now supports literacy educators independently.

She organizes her work life using a free tool called Notion (notion.so) for a variety of tasks:

• Building a database to plan her days and projects.

• Organizing her business information.

• Capturing her coaching conversations with clients.

Vivian shares a number of ideas any educator could apply to their own practice.

(To connect with Vivian, go to LearnWithVivian.com for more information.)

Recommended Resources

• Definitely check out the video archive of this conversation, as Vivian offers a peak into her Notion system.

• I am halfway through my declutter! I’m writing a little bit every day about my experience in avoiding social technologies in this thread. I am also posting these daily reflections in this pop-up blog I created for easier readability.

• While I am rereading the source of the digital declutter, Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, I am pairing it with Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond Productivity Culture by Jenny Odell (affiliate links). I’ll be sharing the connections I am making between the two texts during the second half of my declutter.

• This episode was recorded in June - no July conversation for full subscribers due to my digital declutter this month. Stay tuned for upcoming professional learning opportunities starting in August. Readers shared a variety of topics ripe for discussion:

  • Planning for effective professional development, including finding time to learn with colleagues

  • Responding to student behaviors

  • Authentic application of curriculum resources

  • Balancing external expectations while meeting students where they are

  • Navigating different philosophies of literacy instruction

  • Being a critical consumer of SoR-related information

What else is on your mind that you would like to discuss? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Take care,

Matt

P.S. Another topic that came up is getting into classrooms and supporting teaching and learning. You can start now on your learning journey with my latest book, the companion playbook, and my new course (playbook included).