5 steps to become the most organized teacher in your school v2

5 StepsTo Becoming The Most Organized Teacher In Your School

by Elaine Tan Comeau (Founder & CEO at Easy Daysies Ltd.)

2One of the key foundations for being the best teacher you can be is organization. This sentiment holds true for new teachers just starting out or veteran teachers wanting to turn over a new leaf.

Being a highly effective teacher requires organization skills - for yourself, your students, and your classroom.

Conversely, a lack of organization can be a big time waster for teachers who have precious little time to waste. You may have a stunning personality or be the most creative instructor, but if you are unable to find your students work or are becoming stressed simply by keeping on top of your job, please keep reading.

Only a teacher (and perhaps your understanding spouse) can fully comprehend how hectic teaching can be. It requires you to juggle lesson planning, instruction, staff meetings, parent meetings, team meetings, grading, and working with students.

An organized teacher finds that by keeping things in order and maintaining structure, classroom management is easier, and time is not wasted. In return, this allows for more time spent on student learning and a better overall sense of control in the classroom. Organization does take extra time in the beginning but is more than worth it for both you and your students.

Within these 5 key steps you will find simple a-ha ideas that will make your teaching days much easier and stress free. You can be known for being the organized teacher, rather than the teacher who is constantly scrambling to get their act together. Great teachers are life long learners, so get ready to learn and do!

Here are the 5 STEPS were going to cover together in this e-book! PART I Me, Myself, & I - Personal Reflection & Action

STEP 1 You, Your Desk, and Your Space (Files included)

STEP 2 Your Year, Your Day, Your LessonsPART II Your Classroom Setting the Stage

STEP 3 Materials and SuppliesPART III Your Students Your Raison dtre

STEP 4 Your Students ResponsibilitiesSTEP 5 Your Students Work

Scholars Choice | teachers.scholarschoice.ca5 Steps to Becoming the Most Organized Teacher in Your School by Elaine Tan Comeau

3Scholars Choice | teachers.scholarschoice.ca5 Steps to Becoming the Most Organized Teacher in Your School by Elaine Tan Comeau

PART IMe, Myself & I Personal Reflection & Action


You have heard the saying, A place for everything and everything in its place. Teachers are often known as pack rats because we are great at seeing the use for something in the future. Whether you are just starting out or in your 15th year of teaching, getting organized is always a daunting task. However, sorting through each and every paper and thing-a-ma-jig that you are going to file, store or toss out will be worth every moment of hard work.

Get ready to roll up your sleeves and put on some comfy clothes for this task!

Start by organizing one area at a time. If you have not used it in 2 years, toss it out! Be ruthless. Believe me, this rule will need to be revisited often. If you cannot bear to throw it away, create a box labeled free and put it on the staffroom table.

YOUR DESK

Let us begin with the heart of it all, your desk. Clear it off completely and lets start with a clean slate.

Things you should you have on your desk:

1. Day Book

2. A table-top file system on your desk with colored files labeled:

To Do

To File

Step 1

You, Your Desk, and Your Space (Files included)

Step 1: You, Your Desk, and Your Space


To Read

Lesson Plans

Back to School Forms

My Class

Substitute Info

Photocopy File (Consolidate your trips to the office or photocopier by going once with everything in this file)

Files for regular daily or weekly worksheets like: Spelling (with weekly spelling word lists, test sheets, etc) or Math Drills

3. Sticky Notes

4. Three Bins labeled: Hand In, Hand Out and To Be Finished

5. Clip Boards (hanging on a push pin board on the wall behind or beside your desk)

Class Lists

Monthly Calendar

Emergency/Fire Drill/Earthquake Drill Forms

Seating Chart

Staff Weekly Notices

KEY ORGANIZATIONAL TIP

for your desk: Have a 5 or 6 tiered

file system with laminated folders

tucked in it labeled: Monday, Tuesday,

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and My

Class at a Glance. Having this system

was the best thing I ever did, not only

being organized for the day but for the

week. When I discover something I

know Ill need for another day, I simply

prepare it and stick it into that days

folder. It sounds simple but take note

that this will make a huge difference in

your time management for the year!



YOUR FILE CABINET

In your file cabinet, keep a log of phone calls to your classroom parents. Make a template with:

name

phone number

date and time of the call/meeting

reason for communication

results

Keep photocopies of this template in the front of your Student Profile binder so you will have quick access to it and can file it behind the tab with the students name on it. How handy is that? All in one book and no need to write on scrap paper and transfer informa-tion.

MANAGING YOUR FILES

I suggest having a folder for common subjects within a main theme and assign a colour for each theme, curriculum strand, or subject area. For example, make all Language Arts fold-ers blue and have individual folders labeled with more specific subcategories like: Gram-mar Rules, Spelling Words, Oral Language, Reading and Viewing, Book Reports, Writing and Representing, etc. Different subjects will be contained within different colours. For example all Mathematics related materials would be red, Science would be green, etc. You can even be so organized as to have your students duo-tangs and notebooks match your colour schemes. This makes it easier and more efficient for your students to locate the right book with ease when needed.



I have discovered that as a teacher who moves around a lot, having a portable accordion folder keeps me very organized. There are slots to order and locate everything that you need for the day or week, right at your fingertips. Here are some suggestions for labeling the tabs on this handy portable system:

Class Lists

To be Photocopied

Marking

Parent Communication

Staff Communication

Class Moneys and Notices

To Prep

To Do



Step 2

Your Year, Your Day, Your Lessons

It is easy to feel overwhelmed when you think that you are responsible for teaching an entire curriculum to each one of your students. The best way to organize your thoughts around this is to think from big picture to small picture. You can map it out on a large piece of paper.

Create a four-column chart with titles across saying:

WHEN WHAT WHO HOW

Jot down the months (September - December, January - March, May - June) and Term 1 or Term 2 or Term 3

Main Subject Title and then specific concept or learning out-comes (e.g. Mathematics Mea-surement, Place Value)

Here you will list who will be your support team. Will you be team teaching or platooning? Will there be a guest speaker? Resource Teacher? Librarian Support?

List the materials and resources that you will be using to support the what, and anything else that would enhance the students learning, such as field trips, guest speakers and films.

Step 2: Your Year, Your Day, Your Lessons


Step 2: Your Year, Your Day, Your Lessons

You will find that once you have created this, you will come back to it like a guideline for the year and it will keep you on track like a compass!

When preparing for the next day, pull out all the material you will need for the next days lessons. Photocopy all that needs to be photocopied and place it in the file labeled by the day it is going to be used. Think through all that you will need, including art supplies and resources and have them on hand.

Remember, you dont need to reinvent the wheel. You are not the first teacher to have ever taught a certain topic. Google it, share and trade ideas from other teachers at school, head to a local educational store for great ideas (like Scholars Choice!), and dont forget to use your school districts resource center.

10


PART IIYour Classroom Setting the Stage

11


Step 3

Materials and Supplies

If a student is unable to locate supplies or find the right workbook, time spent looking for it is time wasted. You are their teacher and their wasted time is your time misspent.

Have a shelving unit in a central location where notebooks, duo-tangs and class textbooks will be stored. Colour code all the duo-tangs and note books so students can see that all green duo-tangs are Science, blue duo-tangs are Language Arts, red duo-tangs are Math, etc. Label the shelf that the duo-tangs sit on so that students will always know where to return them once they have been collected.

None of these books need to be in their desks. With emptier and cleaner desks there is less fidgeting, better concentration during instruction time, and less time wasted with students being unable to locate books and supplies. You will notice that books will be kept better and last longer as students will not be jamming them into packed desks.

Step 3: Materials and Supplies

12


PART IIIYour Students Your Raison dtre

13


Step 4

Your Students Responsibilities

Assigning daily jobs to your students allows them to learn responsibility and have ownership in the classroom. We want our students to learn to respect themselves, their belongings, their friends, their teacher and their classroom.

Have a Class Job Chart with library card pockets and label the jobs with two pockets be-side each job. Having two per job allows for teamwork and makes sure that the job is done even if one is absent that day. Class jobs can include: Class Library, Attendance, Work Collectors, Hand Out Helpers, Clean Up Crew, etc. You can be as creative as you would like. I have often used a community theme in my classroom and we role-played.

Once, I was the Mayor and the jobs were as follows:

Mail Carriers collected and handed out work

Horticulturalists watered our plants

Media Technicians helped with setting up media equipment

Police Officers made sure chairs were pushed in and all were working quietly when needed

Librarians kept our class library in order

Step 4: Your Students Responsibilities

There are certain tasks that your students can do just as well as you.

14


Environmentalists made sure lights were turned off when we left the room and recy-cling was done

Store Managers would sell school supplies to someone who needed to replace their items

Bankers handed out monthly class money to students, etc.

I keep all classroom supplies such as glue sticks, pencils, scissors, etc. in small, clear labeled bins. You can give a dollar value to each item so that students have to learn the responsibility of keeping their supplies properly and learn math skills by having to purchase new items when needed with class money. Have students keep only two pencils, one eraser, one glue stick, one ruler, one pen or black thin-line marker in their desks.

Step 4: Your Students Responsibilities

KEY ORGANIZATIONAL TIP

for your students is a Visual Daily

Schedule showing the shape of the

day. This visual routine needs to

placed at the front of the classroom

and be large enough to be visible for

all the students. A visual daily routine

helps kids to feel safe, be more orga-

nized, responsible and independent.

Most importantly, it reduces anxiety.

Your visual routine just needs to state

the plan of the day, using words and

pictures so that students who cannot

read can still confidently understand

their day. Seeing a visual daily routine

will allow students to have smoother

event transitions, which will make your

day run more efficiently. It is amaz-

ing how a visual routine can help you

move 25 grade ones from their class

to the library and to the gym without

a single tantrum or meltdown all be-

cause the students were able to see

and predict what is going to happen

next. This will save the teacher from

having meltdowns and tantrums too.

:) [Editors Note: Elaine is the founder of

an award winning teaching product that

helps with this task called Easy Daysies.]

15


Step 5

Your Students Work

You can number your students according to the class roster and have a student helper file work away each day as needed, this is faster than having to look up names in alphabetical order. When work is collected in numerical order it makes it more efficient for marking and recording marks down the class roster as well.

Remember that not every piece of work has to be graded. Make priorities on what will be graded. For example, marking a daily journal can be tedious and painful. You can tell your students that you will choose two random days for marking, keeping them on their toes and keeping you moving forward. Once the class is running smoothly and students are familiar with your expectations, they can help mark class work together as well. Spelling tests are an easy and non-subjective test that can be marked by classmates.

When new work or assignments are handed out, put names of absent students on the work and place them into the To Be Finished bin by your desk. This will prevent work from being lost before the absent student even has a chance to get it.

To save time on repeating instructions over and over throughout the year, have directions or expectations for tasks posted up on the wall like a poster. (ex: C.O.P.S. for reminding students to check writing for: Capitals, Omitted Words, Punctuation, and Spelling).

Step 5: Your Students Work

16

GET ORGANIZED, YOU CAN DO IT!

It is never too late or too soon to start getting organized. Just remember to start with one area at a time. If you follow even one of these steps you will thank yourself all year long. Just remember that your students will feel the difference of having an organized teacher versus the chaos we all hope to avoid.

Elaine Tan Comeau is a mother of three young children,

a wife, an elementary school teacher, an award winning

entrepreneur, and CEO & Founder of Easy Daysies Ltd.

Elaine enjoys all things food, game night, appies with

friends, family movie nights, big belly laughs, finding great bargains, black and white photography, and all

things organized.

As an elementary school teacher, Elaine created a

product line to help kids have easier days, hence the

name, Easy Daysies. Easy Daysies was inspired when

parents asked her to create a visual routine to help their

kids be more independent, co-operative and responsible

at home just like they were in her classroom. After eight

years of parent requests and making visual routines for

free, Elaine did the research and discovered there were

no products like this currently available. She decided to

create and market her product for the benefit of parents everywhere.

Elaine and her husband worked at packaging kit after kit

from their kitchen table but just could not keep up with

the demand of the orders. Encouraged by retailers, Elaine

and her family brought her products to Canadas most popular investor show, CBCs Dragons Den. She and her family incited a bidding war amongst all five investors and she left securing the partnership of Kevin OLeary and Jim Treliving.

Easy Daysies continues to win product and business

awards and is quickly becoming a household name.

It can be found in neighbourhood toy and educational

stores across Canada, including Chapters Indigo and

select Bed Bath & Beyond in the USA. Easy Daysies is

also recommended by child psychologists, occupational

therapists and educators.

Elaine is currently writing a series of eBooks in

partnership with Scholars Choice. To view and purchase Elaines products at Scholars Choice, click here.

About The Author


5 steps to become the most organized teacher in your school v2

Documents

organized teacher

best teacher

effective teacher

students responsibilitiesstep

students workscholars

great teachers

new teachers

key steps