Hi all, Summer is here, and I guess that means I'm not a first-year teacher anymore! One thing that I feel added stress to my first year was a lack of organization. I was hired only a few weeks before the start of the year, and most of my time before the first day was taken up with inservice stuff, so I didn't really get a chance to get things organized. I am naturally a very organized person, and not starting the year organized made me crazy and left me feeling like I was playing catch up all year long. I want to start the new year being as organized as possible! I've seen lots of great tips on these forums, but I understand best by seeing. I was wondering if you guys could maybe post some photos of some of your organizational systems to help me generate new ideas. Things like graded work, turn in stations, supplies, text books, makeup work, your own desk, any other genius ideas that you've had throughout the years that I haven't thought of yet. I teach middle school, so I'm looking for ways to keep 7 periods worth of stuff organized. I would really appreciate it! :thanks:
Pinterest has tons!!! Love it! I have all of my pictures and ideas categorized here Starting at the end of the month, I plan to post a video each day from my classroom focused on how it is organized and managed. Congrats on finishing your first year.
One thing that works well for me is color coding. Each class gets a different color folder. Everything for 2nd period this year went into the red folder, 3rd went into the green, and so on. That one small action made a huge difference. Back in the years when I had a homeroom, I had a big vertical file on my desk with a set of color coded folders there. Anything I had to return to 2nd period went into the red folder there, 3rd in the green and so on. (This year, without a homeroom, I shlepped a lot of that stuff back and forth.) I also had a file for homeroom. Any kid who was absent and missed a non-crucial memo (those went back to the source with a note saying he was absent) would get it from there; I checked it each morning.
Depending on how many classes or subjects you have, I have found the very best thing for me was to use these: http://ak.buy.com/PI/0/1000/226135688.jpg to collect work. I label one for each period. Everything they need to turn in goes in, the drawer gets closed and nothing gets lost before I can get to it. I hand back work the same way. I also love these: http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/media/images/products/full/fg362_f.jpg for keeping extra copies. This year, I'm actually going to try to cut out extra copies entirely by uploading all of our assignments. Then, if a child is absent or loses something, he or she can just print their own copy. We'll see how that goes. All I know is that paper is NOT my friend. My other organization consists of "out of sight, out of mind." Here are some of the things I've done this year. (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link to a blog, but it was the only place I had pictures. If it's not allowed, someone tell me and I'll take it down.)
