WGU Classroom Tip of The Month

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WGU Classroom Tip of The Month

• Novembers Tip
• Organization for the Classroom Teacher

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General Organizational Tips for Teachers
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General Tips

• Touch a piece of paper ONCE. File it, record it,
  hang it up or throw it out, but dont move it
  from place to place.
• At the beginning of the year, have students fill
  out index cards with their basic information and
  class schedule. Often times, parents do not
  update school records in the guidance office and
  the student information in your computer may not
  be accurate.
• If possible, go back to school shopping for your
  classroom. Stock up on basic supplies when the
  stores are offering back-to-school sales. You
  will save money in the long run.

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General Tips (cont.)

• When you get your student roster, take the time
  to make a folder for each child in your e-mail
  inbox. This allows you to drag and drop any
  correspondence from the parent, guidance office,
  school office or administrator. You will still
  have a record of the e-mail without having it
  clog your inbox.
• If you dont have e-mail at your school, make a
  file folder for each student and keep them
  alphabetized in your filing cabinet. You can do
  the same thing as above, but the old fashioned
  way. Quick tip At the end of the year, turn
  all the file folders inside out and re-use them
  for your students next year to save money!

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General Tips (cont.)

• Order a rubber stamp of your name at your local
  office supply store. Stamping Mrs. Jane Smith
  on hall passes, progress reports, reading logs
  and course registrations will save you a lot of
  time!
• Look at your to-do list and allocate some
  responsibility to students. If you need to empty
  your own trash and clean your own chalkboard,
  consider giving students some of these tasks.
• Find other teachers who teach the same class as
  you and share lesson plans, class ideas and
  grading strategies. The more you share with each
  other, the less you have to create on your own.

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General Tips (cont.)

• Utilize your bulletin boards. Dont spend a ton
  of time on these to make them look pretty and
  seasonal. Do something with them to make your
  life easier! Use them to announce upcoming
  events, teach current vocabulary, display
  diversity, list homework assignments, show class
  rules, etc. They can look attractive while still
  accomplishing a task.
• If you teach the same class all day long, make a
  transparency/PowerPoint of notes and directions
  for the lesson. Dont repeat the same thing six
  times! Do the work ONCE and then talk about the
  instructions via transparency or PowerPoint.
  Answer student questions, instead of reading the
  instructions to the students.

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Organizing Yourself
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Organizing Your Workspace

• Analyze your workspace. Do you have your own
  classroom or are you a floating teacher?
  Whichever you are determines your approach to
  organization.
• Floating teachers should request a cart from
  their library/media center to store a few basic
  supplies. Make sure you get some see through
  plastic containers with lids to secure your items
  and allow you easy access to your things. Ask
  each teacher that you float to for a small space
  in their room to keep a few things to lighten
  your load and to get them off your cart. Also,
  ask for a wall cabinet and a drawer in their
  filing cabinet, as well.

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Organizing Your Workspace (cont.)

• Stationary Teachers have their own classroom and
  have a permanent place to store their things.
  Use your classroom furniture wisely and dont be
  afraid to ask your principal or custodial
  department if any additional furniture is
  available to best suit your needs. Ideally, you
  should have a teacher desk and a supportive
  chair, student desks or tables, a computer work
  station, a reading library bookshelf, a teacher
  bookshelf, a locking filing cabinet (two, if
  youre lucky), a locking storage cabinet, a
  student make up table and a bulletin board area.
  Assess your storage needs and allocate your
  furniture and space accordingly.

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Organizing Your Workspace (cont.)

• Here are some simple suggestions to help organize
  your desk and surrounding space
• Invest in a desk calendar/blotter with large
  squares to write in meetings, parent conferences
  and due dates. Youll always be able to see your
  week events at a glance.
• Keep your basic supplies on your desk (things you
  use every day). If you dont use it every day,
  put it in a drawer and out of your way.
• Purchase some simple organizers (baskets or desk
  trays) and use them to get papers off your desk.
  Label them Inbox, Outbox, To Do, To Copy and To
  File.

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Organizing Your Workspace (cont.)

• Keep your important binder close by for quick,
  easy access to essential school information.
• Ask your school custodian for an extra filing
  cabinet. If they dont have any, look for garage
  sales or on the Internet to find great deals on
  bookshelves or filing cabinets to hold your
  files, papers and homework assignments.
• Make sure your desk is straightened before you
  leave each day. It will start tomorrow off right
  if you walk in to a clean work space.

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School Information Binder

• Are you always looking for a memo or constantly
  misplacing something you need on a daily basis?
  If you put it all in one centralized binder, you
  can access things quickly and easily without
  tearing apart your desk.
• Prepare a large binder with sheet protectors.
  (You are too busy to whole punch every paper you
  get. Sheet protectors allow you to just slide
  things in quickly.)
• Prepare a place on your desk or area nearby
  (within reach of your desk phone), so you can
  grab it when you need fast answers.

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School Information Binder (cont.)

• What should I put in this binder?
• Your school phone directory
• Directions to access your voice mail
• Your state standards/school benchmarks
• Your syllabus and course curriculum
• Open House Parent Sign in Sheet
• Complete list of your ESL and ESE students
• Fire Drill/Bad Weather Drill Instructions
• Library/Media Center Policies
• District wide Test Dates
• Anything your school uses or references often

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Professional Development Binder

• If you havent already created a personal
  binder/file to organize all your professional
  development (PD) trainings or hours/points,
  please do so ASAP! Most states require PD hours
  to renew your teaching license, so organization
  in this area is essential. I recommend
• Log the date, time, presentation title, presenter
  and the location of every session you attend.
• Keep any handouts distributed and jot down some
  notes you remember about the presentation on
  those handouts.
• If your district has a certification office and
  your points/hours are reported to that office,
  ask for a quarterly print out of their records
  and discuss any discrepancies with them.

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Professional Development Binder (cont.)

• Try to attend trainings offered by your district
  so your points/hours are recorded on site. If
  attending an off-site training, make sure you
  request to have the hours/points transferred to
  your certification or professional development
  office before you leave the training. Also, make
  sure you get the name of a contact person to
  follow up with in the event of discrepancies.
• Keep copies of all forms you fill out for
  yourself. When your teaching license is up for
  renewal, make sure you copy all the forms and
  paperwork before sending originals in to your
  states DOE.

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Pre-made Forms

• If you are given a form at the beginning of the
  year and you know you will use it a lot, make
  copies of it now and then store them close to
  your desk. When the time comes, they are within
  arms reach for quick access. Common forms
  include
• Copy request forms
• Leave/Temporary Duty Elsewhere Forms
• Parent Contact Logs
• Bathroom/Library Passes
• Detention Forms
• Parent/Teacher Conference Forms
• Reward Certificates or positive notes home

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Pre-made Folders

• Dont scramble around last minute putting
  together information when you can have it
  prepared in advance! I recommend you have the
  following folders ready to go within the first
  month of schools opening
• A substitute folder (short term leave) put in
  class assignments for two days of leave. Also
  include necessary information from your school
  bell schedule, lunch period information, fire
  drill procedures, helpful students, phone numbers
  of administration, attendance sheets and a class
  synopsis form so you know what took place.
• A substitute folder (extended leave) same as
  above only provide assignments that can last for
  a week until a new teacher fills your position.

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Pre-made Folders (cont.)

• New Student Folder anytime a student joins your
  class beyond the first day, they are at a
  disadvantage. They dont know your policies,
  rules or class procedures and they are probably
  too nervous to ask. Take the time to make a few
  folders in advance so when a new student arrives,
  you can hand them the information they need to
  know (class syllabus, rules, your contact
  information, state test dates, lunch times,
  guidance procedures, etc.). This will save you a
  lot of time throughout the year as students come
  and go. Remember to touch base with the student a
  few days later to see if they had any questions
  about the folders contents.

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Organizing Your Students
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Training Your Students

• If you train your students to use the
  organizational systems you have in place, you
  will make your life a lot easier.
• Require the students to use the student station
  when they return from an absence. If you have the
  assignment calendar and extra copies of handouts
  in one spot, they wont need to ask you questions
  about when they were absent.
• If your school provides student planners to the
  student body, require them to use them for hall
  passes and homework assignments.
• Dont allow students to take supplies from your
  desk. Insist they use the student station.

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Student Station

• Avoid students taking things/supplies from your
  desk by setting up a student station in your
  room. Use a small table/bookshelf and stock it
  with some basic items. Here are some ideas to get
  you started
• A large, dry erase calendar make sure the date
  blocks are big enough to allow you to write what
  you did in class each day. This will prevent
  students from constantly saying I was absent.
  What did we do yesterday?
• Basic supplies stapler, paper clips, ruler, hand
  sanitizer, band-aids, safety pins, pencils and
  pens. (Buying your own band-aids prevents
  unnecessary trips to the nurse!)

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Student Station (cont.)

• Baskets/Trays for Homework Collection Instead
  of collecting daily homework, have baskets or
  trays on the student station, labeled by
  period/subject. Students can turn in their work
  as they arrive in class, allowing you more
  valuable class time to teach. Note Make sure
  you pick up the work in the basket quickly or
  some students will attempt to complete the
  assignment secretly during class and turn it in
  as they exit the room.
• Additional copies of handouts you distributed in
  class. This allows students to help themselves to
  worksheets without having to continually ask you
  for assistance when theyre absent.

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Seating Chart Ideas

• Decide on a seating pattern that best suits your
  classroom management style and the amount of
  students you have. The four most common are
  traditional rows, u-shaped, full circle and quad
  seating.
• Seating charts can be randomly generated by your
  schools grading program. If that is not
  available to you, use an old-fashioned seating
  chart that you create yourself. Quick tip Put
  the students names on small post-it notes at the
  beginning of the year. Now you can move them
  around throughout the year and not have to
  re-write their names each time you change seats.

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Quick Ways to Group/Partner Students

• Buy a Deck of Uno Cards and randomly pass them
  out. You can group kids by numbers, colors, odds,
  evens, the list is endless!
• Play Famous Pairs. Students are paired up by
  finding their well known partner. Batman finds
  Robin, Abbott finds Costello, Lucy finds Ricky,
  etc.
• Animal Partners- create a sheet of animal clip
  art with approximately 20/25 animals. Put a line
  underneath each picture. Allow students time to
  sign each others paper under the same animal.
  (Mary signs her name under Amys penguin and vice
  versa). You can only sign each persons paper
  ONCE. When the teacher says Meet with your
  penguin, everyone is automatically paired up and
  20/25 partners have quickly been created.

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Organizing Your Supplies
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Containers and Organizers

• The possibilities for storage containers are
  endless! Check your local discount stores, dollar
  stores or even your own home. Here are some ideas
  to get you started
• Pencil boxes, coffee cans, film canisters
• Video cassette case
• Baby food jars and baby wipe containers
• Photo storage boxes
• Ziploc bags (my favorite for storing chapter
  flashcards!)
• Clear storage carts on wheels for easy mobility
  and easy access to stored items.

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Organizing Your Time
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Organizing Your Time

• Arrange a detention wheel with other teachers.
  Instead of each teacher staying after school with
  their detained students, have each teacher pick a
  day to stay late and all other teachers kids
  report to that teacher on that day.
• Learn to balance your school life and your home
  life. Many teachers over commit themselves to
  sponsoring clubs, coaching or attending school
  events and burn themselves out in the process.
  Limit yourself to doing a few extra-curricular
  activities and leave it at that. Remember, it is
  okay to say no, if you have said yes before.
  

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Organizing Your Time (cont.)

• Consider adopting a homework completion policy
  vs. a homework accuracy policy. If youre
  going over homework every day (and yes, you are
  supposed to do that?), there is no need for you
  to check every answer the night before. Scan the
  work, give full credit if the assignment is
  complete and then allow the students to make
  their own corrections to their own work when you
  go over it in class. Let homework be a
  completion grade and tests be an accuracy
  grade. This will give students a fair grade all
  the while giving you a well-deserved break!

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Questions or Comments

• If you have any comments or questions about this
  presentation, please contact Marcella Ryan, WGU
  TC Alumni Mentor, at mryan1_at_wgu.edu
• Please visit our WGU Teacher Blog and share your
  organizational tips and ideas at
  www.alumni.wgu.edu. Click on Teachers College
  and then choose Teacher Blog to post your
  ideas.