Top 9 Notion Tips and Tricks for Teachers

Notion’s modular approach redefines the productivity space. It is suitable for general users, students as well as teachers. You can create a class calendar, manage the curriculum, track student attendance, build a vocabulary database, and even use superior Google Drive integration to streamline workflow. If you’re a teacher new to Notion, find the best Notion tips and tricks.

While you can always build a database from scratch, we’ll use Notion templates to get started.

Before you begin, GT strongly recommends that you check out and master the Essential Notion commands. We will use some of them in the examples.

1. Use the Notion text editor

Before we get started and start customizing the Notion page, let’s take a look at some of the best options in the Notion text editor.

Notion works differently from a traditional text editor. You won’t find any options at the top or bottom of the page. You will need to use the Notion commands.

You can use the ‘/’ command on a Notion page and choose from Header 1/2/3, Bulleted List, Numbered List, Quote, or Separator. This helps you as you break down the upcoming course into different sections and segments.

2. Make the text stand out

As you research and write, you may come across a phrase, quote, or math formula that should stand out from the rest of the text on the Notion page.

There are several ways to do this. You can opt for the Background Color option or the Caption command.

Place the cursor at the start of the text you want to highlight and use the ‘/’ command to search for backgrounds of different colors. Type ‘/ callout’ and Notion will create a separate block with a light bulb icon.

3. Use Google integration

The Google Workspace suite is popular in the education industry. If you’re actively using Google Drive to manage Docs, Sheets, or Google Slide, you can easily pin them to your Notion page.

On any Notion page, you can type “/ drive” and select Google Drive for Notion. Connect your Google Drive account to Notion and import Docs, Sheet or any other file from Google Drive to Notion. We use it all the time to pin GT drafts on a Notion page.

4. Manage tasks

Did you know that Notion also claims to replace a dedicated do-for-you app? Notion provides a way to create a to-do list using the ‘/ to-do’ command. Instead of building a task management system from scratch, we’ll be using the weekly planner template.

Import the weekly planner template from the Default Notion template gallery and start adding tasks under the days of the week. It can be helpful for teachers to plan the class schedule for the coming week.

Remember to use the color background trick to prioritize tasks.

5. Use reminders

A task management system is worthless without a powerful reminder add-on. Fortunately, Notion has implemented a well thought-out callback feature in the software.

You can use the Reminders feature with Notion to get notified for specific tasks. For example, in the Weekly Calendar template, you can use the “/ remind” command and receive a notification about a task on a certain date and time.

6. Create custom models

With custom templates, you can easily replicate the content combinations you use frequently in Notion.

For example, you want to generate the same to-do list at the start of each week. You can also create a personalized course calendar template according to your preferences and reuse it each month.

We will ask you to refer to our dedicated article on creating custom models in Notion for more details.

7. Course calendar template

So far we have talked about the basics of Notion for teachers. Let’s explore some Third Party Notion models for teachers. Among them, the course schedule easily wins the top recommendation for apparent reasons.

The lesson calendar template is all you need to organize the next essays and homework in a class. Teachers can plan their day by adding different classes to attend, incorporating relevant topics to teach, attaching files, etc.

8. Vocabulary model

As an educator, you need to keep your vocabulary under control. In the course of your research, you might come across new words to memorize. Instead of writing them down on a piece of paper or a note-taking app, you can use Notion’s vocabulary template to build a knowledge database.

Teachers can keep track of all newly learned words with their meanings. You can also embed relevant images, wiki files, dates, etc. The model comes from the Notion community.

9. Use widgets in Notion

Using third-party widgets in Notion, you can add weather details, life progress bar, Google calendar, Spotify playlist, countdown timer, and more to a Notion page.

By default, Notion does not support widgets. You will have to rely on third-party sources such as Indify to import Notion widgets.

Visit Indify

Plan your next conference in Notion

Notion can be your ideal digital brain to connect your thoughts. Follow the tips above and start using Notion like a pro. Let us know which tip you found most useful in the comments below.