How I Organize Authentic Resources

I’ve struggled for years to organize my authentic resources for my Spanish classes. Recently I learned about about a program called Airtable and my head began spinning with all of the possible ways I could use it. Before we talk about that, let’s chat about why authentic resources are such a pain to keep track of.

The Struggle With Authentic Resources

The underlying issue with my authentic resource struggle was that I didn’t know where to save them. I’d be cruising Twitter or IG and find something awesome I wanted to save but wasn’t sure where. My go to was Pinterest.

The Problem With Pinterest

I pinned things only to have them get buried in a board, never to be seen again. More often than not it seemed that when I did find a pin I wanted to use, the link had broken and the resource was gone.

Enter Airtable

Airtable is essentially a spreadsheet on steroids. The beauty of it is that I now have a place to store my resources, easily sort them, and upload the files for download later. I can do this all without taking up precious storage space in Google Drive or Dropbox. The best part though, is Airtable’s ability to tag and sort entries. Check out the video below.

Tagging Entries and Custom Views

You can enter custom sort fields and enter any parameters you’d like. In my base, I chose to tag my resources with the class I’ll use them form, the theme they relate to, and the type of resource it is (article, infographic, video, audio, etc).

You can also create custom views. I created a view based on type of resource, another by class, and finally by theme. You can create any view you’d like so I could create view that with one click would show me authentic resources I’ve saved that are for Spanish 1, about “family”, and are infographics. The possibilities are literally endless.

Other Uses

You can create an Airtable base for anything you’d like. Eventually I would like to create a music database. I think it would be wonderful for FVR and classroom libraries too.

Want To Try It Out?

Enter your email below and I’ll send you a blank copy of my Airtable base to explore and play with. Please note: You’ll need to create a free Airtable account to make a copy and use it. I’d love to see how you use it! You can tag me on Twitter @lisajmch or Instagram @lamaestramch.