Teaching Organisation Tip

My love of organisation has caused me to write this post. As school begins in a few days I have been sorting a lot of stuff out. I thought I would share how I organise my ‘everyday’ folder for work.

The first thing in my folder is my timetable. I often scribble my timetable because of the many changes on a weekly bases.

Behind this I keep class lists. I keep one of all the children in the year group and a further two for my own class; one with tick boxes and another with space to write next to names. I find I often need a class list for some reason or another; ticking off trip money, observations etc. I keep multiple copies just in case!

The next section is devoted to assessment. Now, as this is just a folder that is an everyday folder, it does not contain all my assessment. Currently it just holds the data from the end of the previous year. It is useful to have it easily accessible, particularly at the start of the year when you are still getting to know the children.

The next section holds my groups. I change these around quite often so it’s useful for my brain to keep them to hand. I also try to keep a record of the stage of reading book the children are on in this section too.

The next session holds my long term plans. These help me to see clearly what topics I will be teaching and help get the creative juices flowing.

The next section holds my marking stickers. These are a relatively new addition to my school but they are brilliant. There bright and child friendly but have useful information for assessment. E.g. ‘I assessed this learning by myself’ and ‘Verbal feedback given by a teacher’.

The next section is a classroom plan. When I have got my new class settled into table places I write names and additional needs on a classroom plan. This can be useful for people who come into your classroom but don’t know your children.

I do not keep planning in my folder. I keep the weeks plans in my room where both me and the classroom assistant can scribble all over them. I then file them in another folder at the end of the week. I don’t find I need to take plans home as I generally make tweaks to my Smartboard pages if I think of changes at home. Other changes usually get decided after the previous lesson due to Assessment for Learning.

This folder is not jam packed with lots of stuff but useful stuff I need at a glance. I love technology and have it all on computer and memory stick, but some things just need to be ‘real’!

♥