Another Classroom Organization Post...

So the only real post that I've made to this blog has been about my classroom organization/management of resources from my first year of teaching. I have completed my second year at the secondary level and I want to share how my changes have helped/hurt as well as new things I will try this upcoming year.


Missing Work Folder

 

I have one set of Thirty-One hang up organizers for each of my preps (Geometry and PAP Precalculus), each are labeled above so I can reuse them from year to year. There are 5 folders, one for each day of the week. At the end of the day I place all of my extra copies into the folder and remove any that are currently in that day, so students can get extra copies for an additional week.

Pros: Easy way to manage extra copies. Once it's been past a week I don't accept the late homework anyway so this works nicely for keeping copies of assignments. When a student is absent, I just point them in the direction of the missing work folders.

Cons: Remember to take out the old copies, even if you don't have new ones. I would forget and students would grab really old papers and be confused about what we are doing.

Comments: I will definitely be using this again!



Pass Back Drawers

 I have a drawer labeled for each period with all the papers that need to be passed back. When a student is done with the warm up activity early, they can pass back any papers in their class period's drawer.

Pros: You never have to pass anything back (besides tests/quizzes). Students feel like they are owning the classroom.

Cons: Students won't pass back papers unless there is a buy-in. I usually give them an extra point on their warm up papers, which doesn't do much for their grade but they will take it!

Comments: I wish that the drawers were the narrower kind, but I didn't find those when I bought them. They have a set of 3 stacked drawers which is the size of regular computer paper so the papers don't move around inside the trays.




Turn In Drawers

Each class period has its own drawer to turn papers in. I like these to be a littler larger than my pass back drawers because it allows for various items to be turned in (projects, notebooks, papers).

Pros: Students know where to turn things in so they can get credit. No more leaving papers on your desk and students claiming you lost it!

Cons: Make sure you pick up papers at the end of each day so you know a student isn't trying to turn something in later than its due date. I typically grab the stack and staple it together so I know everything in that pile was turned in together.

Make this better: I leave two staplers next to the turn in drawers so students have access to a stapler without trying to steal one from my desk. It works really well! I even leave extras on top of the drawers and students will refill the staples on their own. I also tell my students that I only accept assignments if they are turned in "properly," meaning face up and correctly oriented in the box. I did not do that last year and it made for a lot of wasted time flipping papers around.

I hoped those few things helped! Implementing these few little things into my classroom has made a world of difference in the amount of stress that I experience in the classroom. Try these out and see how they help you!


Thanks,

Still feeling like a new teacher...

My second summer as a full time teacher is quickly coming to a close, and soon I will be entering my third year of teaching. Some say this may be the magical year where I finally figure out if I'm cut out to be a teacher or not, but I really feel like that will be a lifelong question.

Flipped Classroom - I am going to flip my PAP Precalculus course! I am very excited for the potential discussion and activities in class that we can now do. I'm contemplating whether or not I should also flip my on-level Geometry course. I will probably make this decision in a few weeks.

Resources using: Schoology.com, MyOpenMath.com, Possibly Educanon.com. I have not yet decided on the way I'm going to record my videos, maybe I'll do some mixing and matching on various platforms to see what I like best.


I'm really looking forward to flipping my class and possibly creating resources for other teachers who want to flip their class but are unsure how to take the first steps. Follow my blog this school year for my trials and tribulations!


Thanks,

Classroom Organization

The end of the school year is coming up quickly, and so will soon end my first year of teaching. I have tried a lot of things this year to get my classroom management under control and I want to share with you my failures and successes.

Absent Folders

I have a magazine file for each class period. Each student has a manila folder with their name on it so that when they are absent, the missing work will go in their folder.
Pros: Each student has own place for their absent work, they know where to look without asking the teacher where to go
Cons: Hard to have students keep in order, time consuming when you have large number of students

How to make it work: Have the students become responsible for getting the absent work into the folders. If the students are in groups, the group members will pick up work for their missing friend.

Comments: I will not be doing this again next year. It was hard to get the students to buy into it at my school (worked well during student teaching). I am instead going to do a wall hanger with papers from Monday-Friday and have students pull papers from there.



Pass Back Drawers

There are two 3-drawer plastic drawers that had the period # and pass back written on them (I started taking off the labels before I remembered to snap a picture). Whenever I had something that wasn't a quiz or a test to pass back, I placed them in here by period.
Pros: Less clutter, not carrying too much paper around
Cons: Forgetting to remind students to pass back the papers

How to make it work: Start at the beginning of the year and have students check for papers to pass back when they are done with their warm up activity or with the assignment.

Comments: I started this midway through the year and it didn't really catch on. I believe if I make a bigger deal of this at the beginning of next school year this will be a success.


Reminders Board
I have a small reminder area that I used wet erase markers to write upcoming quiz/test/project dates.
Pros: Students held accountable for checking one place
Cons: Not very big

Comments: I was originally inspired by a pin that had a very larger reminder board, but I didn't have the time to make one at the beginning of the year so this is what happened. It works very well, I have it right away when my students walk in. They have come to learn and check it. I will be doing this again next year, maybe make it more cute.


Exit Ticket / Rate Yourself
Stop light themed exit slip where students answer a question on a post-it and then place it on a part of the stop light according to how well they understood the material that day.
Pros: Quick visual assessment of understanding, documentation
Cons: Sticky notes keep falling, students forgetting to write names if asked

Comments: I love using this in my class, but I don't do it often enough. I run out of post-it notes often and didn't hold my students accountable at the beginning of the year for them to bring their own (even though I put it on the school supply list). Definitely need to make sure students have their own post its, preferrably the super sticky or the whole adhesive back post its. I will be using this again, possibly making a banner with directions.

 Please comment and let me know if you have used any of these this year or in the past, or have any other ideas!

Thanks,