Category Archives: Staying organized

Jul 31 2009

Get Ready for the New School Year

Teachers right now are getting their preparations in place for the new schoolhappypencils year. Me too. I’ve been writing quite a bit about teaching, because it helps me clear my head and organize my thoughts and my to-do list. Here is a list of my latest articles.

Where to Get Cheap Student Whiteboards

You and I both know teachers need to save money in every way, every day. I’ve done this to get whiteboards for the students since I began teaching.

First Day of School Icebreaker Activities

I’m wanted to think of some new ideas, since I’ll be looping with some of the students this year.

Three Things to Do to Set up a Classroom

How to Set up a Classroom

These two articles tell my method to get me in and out of the classroom prep time quickly each year.

How to Plan a Classroom Seating Arrangement

This article gives you ideas and it has a link to a nifty online tool to view your classroom before you begin moving all that heavy furniture.

Organizing a Classroom Library

I use tubs and labels.

Organizing Tips That Teach Student Study Skills

I use a color system that really works. Parents love it, too.

Morning Procedures for Classroom Management

Thanks to Harry Wong, I started doing this my first year of teaching, and I’ve never stopped the practice. It works. 

Curriculum Planning with Backward Design

Backward design will make your curriculum mapping easier, and make you a more effective teacher.

And last of all, Classroom Records Management for Teachers.

Keeping track of everything can be overwhelming, especially for a first year teacher. This article gives ideas for staying on top of the paperwork.

I hope this little list helps. If you want to read my articles as they come out, I post their links on Twitter.

Have a great academic year!

Sep 17 2008

Writing Tip: Organizing Your Writing Ideas

Ideas are something that most writers have plenty of. You might see something on the street, overhear a piece of a conversation, or have an unusual experience. These all become writing fodder, and most writing reflects some of the writer’s experiences.

When you hear things, see things, or experience things that you don’t want to forget, what do you do? I carry a small notebook with me at all times, and I jot snippets of things I want to remember in it. The problem is what happens to these notes after I’ve written them. No matter how wonderful the ideas are, they become lost in the abyss of my office.

Scattered Notes

Some writers tell me they have notes all over their desks, on bulletin boards, in drawers, and scattered all about. Some writers try to organize their notes and file them. I tried that. Now, besides having notes all over my writing space, I have a folder stuffed full of writing ideas. I call it my idea dump, because it’s about as easy to find something in that folder as it would be to find it at the city dump. That system isn’t working, since the myriad notes become part of the landscape of my office, and the folder is filed in a drawer, sight unseen.

Category System

Here’s a system I recently found that might just work. It is to keep all your ideas in an accordion folder. You can sort them into categories. I’m going to try this. I’ll transfer my idea dump, and as many scattered notes as I can find, to an accordion folder with categories. My big categories will be:

  • Story ideas by genre
  • Conversation snippets
  • Setting snippets
  • Character snippets
  • Pictures

I need categories for pictures, because when I see a picture in a magazine or online that fits a character profile, or looks like a setting I want to use, I clip it and save it.

What do you do to organize ideas? I’d love to hear about them. I could really use some help finding that great idea I jotted down last week.

 

 

Aug 27 2008

Wednesday Writing Tip: Write to a Schedule

Habits die hard. Once you set up a consistent writing habit, it will be hard to break it, and you’ll see your productivity increase. A writing schedule will make you prolific.

It’s been said that all you need is a good bottle of bum glue to become a writer. Yes, bum glue. In other words, glue your bum to the chair to write every day.

Just as you have a habit of brushing your teeth and taking a shower each day, once you develop a habit of sitting down and writing at the same time each day, you’ll find that you write more and more. It won’t be a burden; it will simply be something you do.

Once you develop a daily writing habit, it will also make you want to write more. If you miss your writing time, you’ll feel as if something is awry, and you’ll want to make up for it. You’ll be jonesing for your writing fix.

The best time for me to write is early in the morning when everyone else is asleep. It took quite a long time to develop the habit of rising earlier than my family, but now I know that’s my time, and I look forward to it. There are no distractions, no phone calls, no one needing a ride somewhere or a problem solved. All I hear are light snores. Even the dog sleeps through my writing time.

Since I started writing early in the morning, I’ve gotten more writing done than ever before. My writing has improved as a result. When is your writing time?

Aug 12 2008

Tuesday Teaching Tip: Student Numbers

Students numbers are one of the fastest ways to organize a class all year long. They can be used in a myriad of ways, and in any grade level, from primary to high school.

I give all my students numbers before school begins. As soon as I have my class list, I number the list from 1 to 32. At the beginning of the year, your list will match alphabetic order.

Some of the benefits of using numbers include:

  •  Faster gradebook entry. Have a student put the papers in number order before you grade them.
  • Lining up. I have students line up in number order for fire drills and other emergency drills. I walk down the line, counting each student, and I immediately know who is missing if someone isn’t there.
  • Creating groups or teams. You can group by even numbers, odd numbers, prime and non-prime, multiples of a number, high and low numbers, or any other way you can think of to cut a number.
  • Reward tokens. I use a token reward system, and the students have their own number on their tokens. I never need to make new tokens each year. I also use numbers on the bathroom tokens.
  • Number student books and supplies. I know who is assigned which book because I number the books to match the student numbers. This way you don’t need an extra list to keep track of supplies.
  • This year I have a combination class. The 4th graders have numbers 1-20, and the 5th graders have numbers 21-32. I keep separate gradebook pages for each grade level.

If you have a class of 31 or less, you can use the numbers to determine the person of the day. My person of the day gets to be the line leader and to lead the class in the pledge. When I have more than 31 students, I let the students with numbers 32 and higher be the student of the day when someone is absent on their day.

If a student moves, I retire the number. For instance, if student number 15 moves, I don’t use that number again. When a new student arrives, he or she gets the next highest available number. Right now I have 32 students. If I get a new student, he or she will be number 33, even if another student has moved away. I do this to maintain individual grade records of each student for the entire school year.

I give my students folders for math, writing, science, spelling and homework. At the beginning of the year, I make folder labels for my students with their numbers on them. I make four extra sets of labeled folders, and put them in a basket in my supply cabinet. When a new student arrives, I simply pull out the next available set of folders, pull out the next set of books, and the student desk is ready to go. It saves an incredible amount of prep time when I get a new student.

After years of using a student number system, I haven’t found a better way to organize my class. If you have other ways to organize with student numbers, please comment and share your ideas.

Aug 4 2008

Get More Writing Time: Use Your Crockpot

 

Lasagna Florentine in a Crockpot

Lasagna Florentine in a Crockpot

You don’t have to go hungry or eat junk food while you’re writing or teaching long hours if you make good use of your crockpot. Using your crockpot will net you more writing time. I love my crockpot for the way it simplifies my life.

So often writers will say they don’t cook or clean while they’re writing or under a deadline. Teachers get so busy they don’t think they have time to cook. They don’t want to lose focus, so they skip meals, or they eat junk food.

This isn’t healthy physically, mentally, or spiritually. A good meal can be the break you need to recharge and keep going.

It’s often hard to find time to cook, and some of us may not like to cook. With a crockpot, meals can be fast, easy, and healthy. You can cook almost anything in a crockpot, not just soups and stews. Set your crockpot on the kitchen counter, and plan to use it at least three times a week. There are recipes all over the Internet to suit your taste.

To get you started, here are some of my favorite dinners:

Enjoy!

Jul 21 2008

Tuesday Teaching Tip: Organize Your Class With Color

Helping students learn how to organize their papers and projects is one thing teachers must do. Using colors can make that organizing much simpler. I’ve used a color system for a few years now, and the students love it. They feel proud that they can find papers and assignments at any time with no problems.

First, I assign a color to each subject.

  • Math is red.
  • Science is green.
  • Writing is blue.
  • Spelling/Vocabulary is purple.
  • Homework is yellow.

When school supplies go on sale in July, I buy 40 of each color folder. That gives me enough for my 32 students, plus some extras for replacements and new students. In addition, I buy spiral notebooks in the same colors for all subjects except homework. We use these for to paste handouts in, copy notes, and practice work. The notebooks and the folders usually cost between 5 and 10 cents each.

When the students come to my class in the beginning of the year, we practice using the folders. I give them papers to put in their folders, then the next day, ask them to find the papers. After a week or two of practice, the students can find anything they need, anytime.

I’m also a stickler about where they keep their folders. I make them store the folders and notebooks on the left side of their desks, and their textbooks on the right side. This prevents the problem of students not being able to find their folder. It has a place, and it should always be there when they’re not using it.

Every year there are always some students in a class that are terminally disorganized. This system helps them stay on track and eliminates wasted time while they search for things during transitions between subjects. That will make any teacher happy.