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,