All teachers need an easy-to-use system to help them stay on top of endless pages of marking, revising, and homework. Plan as thoroughly as you can, and if you don’t already have one, develop a system of organization. It is truly amazing how much paperwork and marking is required during the first year. It is easy for a new teacher to feel overwhelmed and confused. Try to avoid these initial feelings by planning your lessons in advance as much as you can. Trust a system that is easy and user-friendly. Consider these tips when organizing or opening your classroom for the fall semester.
Remember, being well organized and having well-prepared lessons are also important to having a well-run class.
1) Have a computer backup plan. Buy a flash drive, hard drive, or consider creating a Google Documents account.
2) If you use a paper program, prepare everything you need for a smooth entry into the school year. Prepare important calendar dates; wait until your class is set to copy students. If you are working with an electronic system, decide on the grade weights or averaging system and set the formula in the software.
Make sure you have a storage plan.
3) Have a plan for storing brochures such as a stacking/filing system and a specific location to find those stacks. Keep only 1 master copy of each file and recycle bulk copies from last year. Make sure you have a copy on your computer!
4) Prepare a make-up work plan and a location that is ready for action on the first day of school. You never know when you will need it!
5) Pick a location for this year’s paperwork. If you keep an individual student file for each student, have an organizational system for each class. If you keep a separate file for each course or section, organize by that system as well. Work very, very, very hard to have an empty file cabinet drawer this year. You can at least leave the papers in the file cabinet and close the drawer, even if there’s no time or maybe you don’t need to file in folders.
6) Old photographs and newspaper clippings tend to yellow and become brittle. Laminate colorful squares and recycle the rest. Libraries are a great place to donate unwanted textbooks and old readers that students no longer need.
7) For teachers on a staff teaching the same grade(s), a common file or folder can be helpful for quick and easy access to work pages. Again, these should be broken down into skill sets and subjects.
Organize your own supplementary resource material. It could be a checklist from the teacher that you refer to and use often, some uplifting words for bad days, or a list of reminders.
9) Have a folder with the policies and regulations of the school. You especially need to know where you stand in terms of how your school deals with discipline problems. Having this file at your fingertips will definitely help you when you are faced with difficult and unforeseen situations in the classroom, which it certainly will.
10) If you are a reading teacher, you may want to have a folder for informal reading comments as you listen to your students read the first week. Pre-assessments (e-assessments) during the first weeks of school are especially important to get to know your students.
11) Have letter folders ready to send home on the first or second day to parents. You may consider a separate drawer with different letter folders.
12) Keep a folder with the necessary brochures for any new students who may arrive a week or a month later. There’s nothing worse than running around the room looking for important brochures for a new student!
13) If applicable, post a list of buses. Keep an extra copy in your folder.
14) Make sure you have a posted schedule for lunch and PE. This is VERY important for students. Again, keep a master copy in your folder.
15) Have a folder of blank journal templates for the first day of school. Younger students can write a letter to their parents telling them everything they learned that day. Seniors can write a list of goals stating their intentions for a good school year. Keep extra folders with blank seat maps, blank papers, and other templates.
