A Logical Place for Everything and Everything in it's Place

Well, it's that time of year again. The students are on summer vacation and the teachers are living the life they always get bugged about. Although, I know that teachers can do a lot of work over the summer, some people just don't get it. Anyway, I digress.

Summertime is a great time for new beginnings and preventative maintenance. Many of you may be moving to different classrooms, switching grades, or just want to update your current classrooms during this time.

Take the time to reflect on your past year and prepare for the upcoming one. Think about the physical layout of your classroom and what can be done to maximize the efficiency in your class. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Did students sneak past me because my desk was too far from the door or the students' desk?
• Did little Billy distract the whole class every time he needed to sharpen his pencil because of where the sharpener was located?
• Was there a group of students I had trouble keeping an eye on because there was little space in the aisle by their desks?
• How can I break my classroom into zones? (Individual work, group work, whole class instruction; art, math, music, geography)
• What items did the students need to use the most? These items should be easy access (calculators, manipulatives, books, etc.)
• What will the flow of my room be?
• What items do I use the most at the front of the room (store them there), what items do I frequently use at my desk (store them there), and what items do I use infrequently (store them more out of the way)?
• Can I make it more clear what items are for everyone's use and what items are only for the teacher? (Have a separate shelf or table where the 'everyone can use this' items go and make a firm rule that nothing on your desk is to be touched.)
• Is there a logical place for items to be handed in that is not just 'somewhere on the teacher's desk'? (Try a bin on a nearby shelf or an extra student's desk. This helps you as a teacher because you don't want to have to spend extra time cleaning off your desk everyday so you can work. A different, designated inbox for assignments also helps with the 'I handed it in, you must have lost it' problems, also.)
• What didn't work this year, and what can I do to improve that for next year?
• What ideas have I come up with or heard of that I've been meaning to try?

Maybe you just need to tweak a couple of things, or maybe your classroom needs a complete overhaul. Whatever your situation, remember to have fun over the summer coming up with new ways to make your classroom better.

Please comment or send your questions to me at organizingteacher@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :)
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Do your SHARE!

Ever since you were little you have been encouraged to share. If you are a parent you are encouraging your children to share. As a teacher you want your students to share. So... are you sharing?

I have a mission for you: make a team and share your lessons. I know I've talked a little about this before, but this time I want to be a little more specific.

If you share your lessons, you'll have so much more time to do other things. First things first, you need someone to share with. I suggest getting a group together of teachers near you who teach the same grades/subjects as you. If you are in a large school, and there are three grade 7 classes, and you teach one of them, then work with the other two grade 7 teachers. If you are not in a large school look to the other schools in your board/area. Any teacher that works or lives within a reasonable drive from you and has to cover the same curriculum as you is a potential group member.

Also, try and think outside the box. In Ontario, there are public schools and Catholic schools. But they both have to cover the Ontario curriculum. It *should* be relatively easy for a Catholic teacher to take a 'generic' lesson and add some faith ideas into it; especially with all of the extra time they will have from the process.

So do a little research, make contact with some colleagues, and set up a meeting. Try to emphasize that this is a time-saving meeting and not a time-wasting meeting. I suggest that after your initial meeting, most of your lesson sharing be done via email, so that you can easily edit each others work for your own purposes.

Things to consider during your first meeting:

• Divvy up the lessons (will each teacher take one subject for the year, or one unit of math this month and one unit of science for next month?)
• How often do these lessons need to be exchanged? (plan a lesson at a time, a week at a time, a unit at a time?)
• Are you sharing EVERYTHING or just a few subjects?
• If emailing lessons, what format to use? (old Microsoft office, new Microsoft office (annoyingly not backwards, compatible), wordperfect, within the body of the email, .txt, other)
• What units have already been covered by each teacher (you could share these, or if all teachers have already covered the same unit, you can move on)

By the end of your meeting you should have a clear idea of who will be responsible for what units, and when the first units can be ready for.

Let me know if you try this, and remember, the more teachers in your group, the less units you will have to prepare yourself. And, don't be afraid to tweak the lessons you receive.

You could even take this one step further and have meetings to reflect on the units after they have been implemented.


Please comment or send your questions to me at organizingteacher@hotmail.com

Have great day!

Valerie :)
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