Creative Tricks for Planning & Organizing

Middle and High School Classroom Tips

​I just love finding new, brilliant ideas for organizing.  Some people have such creative ideas! And what better time to discover new ideas than right now when you may be thinking of getting organized for a fresh start for the upcoming school year?
 
I took some time to round up a few of my favorite ways to maintain organization throughout the school year and some new ideas that you might be interested in.  Hopefully they inspire you to stay organized

Class Periods

​Rainbow Colors and Class Periods
 
If you teach older students, it’s so easy to get your different class periods confused!  Brittany, from The Colorado Classroom, shares how she used RAINBOW colors to organize everything in her middle school classroom.  Not only does she color code everything, she uses colors in RAINBOW order, so it’s easy to follow and remember! 
 
By color-coding everything from their reward jars to homework graphs, Brittany is able to easily and quickly discern one period from another!  She shares, “...it eased my own levels of chaos and anxiety by creating a system of organization and structure that I could easily manage, and that my brain instantly enjoyed.  I happen to function well and enjoy seeing things in color; maybe you will too.”  Just think of what you can do with all that free mental space and time if you give this a try!

Grading

If you teach multiple classes and are still searching for an efficient way to grade and keep track of papers, then this idea is for you!
 
**  Sarah, from Tales of a High School Math Teacher, has tried numerous ways to organize grading papers, and shares her favorite one.  She uses a Fold-N-File from Thirty-One Bags.  In each section, she has a folder for each class, and then within each folder she has an “In” folder and an “Out” folder.  With this system, she can keep track of what needs to be graded and what’s ready to pass back for each class. 
 
**  Another awesome grading tip is to use color to “Grade at a Glance.”  Read how Leah hacks her google classroom assignments so that she does not even have to open each student’s file and wait for it to load.
 
**  If you want to try grading notebooks, my biggest tip is to walk around to grade them during a test.  It saves so much time, plus saves your back from having to cart crates of notebooks home!  More about that here: Grading Notebooks

Teacher Planner

If you don’t have a go-to teacher binder with everything you need, you are missing out!  If your teacher binder isn’t neatly organized, personalized, or aesthetically pleasing, then you are seriously missing out!!
 
Kristin, from One Stop Teacher Shop,  shares how she puts together the PERFECT teacher binder.   She includes wonderful ideas of tabs and individual pages you might want to include, depending on your needs, such as weekly lesson plans, small group lesson plans, class lists, and even charts to keep track of grading.

Classroom Jobs

​Classroom jobs are the ultimate way to give you a little boost in staying neat and organized! Brynn Allison, from Literary Maven, shares her brilliant ideas for classroom jobs in the secondary classroom.  Here are just a few of my favorites that will give you a leg up on organization:
 

• Filing clerk - If you keep student work or writing portfolios or have some kind of mailbox system for returning student work, have a student file these papers.
• Homework checker - If you assign nightly homework, have a student collect it. If you collect homework at the end of the week, but check to see if it is done daily, have a student stamp the assignments for completion or check off names on a check list.
• Supplies - Instead of students asking you for a pencil, a piece of paper, or a tissue, have one student in charge of these materials. If all of these things are already out in your classroom and accessible to all students, have a students restock when supplies are low and alert you when more supplies need to be purchased.

Using Your Door Area

**  Noelle, from Maneuvering the Middle, shares a bunch of awesome tips for Middle School Organization.  An ingenious and simple trick she shares is attaching a metal file folder on the door.  Place handouts they may need in the folder.  It’s easy to grab their warm-ups, doodle notes, or worksheets on the way in!
 
**  Another great door tip is to stick a “supplies needed” list in the window by the classroom door.  This helps kids see at a glance what they should grab from their lockers to bring to each class period today!

File Cabinet

I love Kate’s way of reorganizing her file cabinet!  It looks AMAZING and is such a needed investment of time.  This would save hours spent hunting for the sheets of paper that got thrown here and stuffed there during the chaos of the previous year!

Transitions

​Andrea’s tips for managing transitions are amazing.  Having smooth transitions can be a real game changer.  My favorite one is to have a “code word” of the day!  These creative solutions are worth a read!

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