Classroom Organization and Management

I am not organized, never have been.  My teaching desk is no surprise a disaster even though I hardly ever sit there.  During my first weeks of teaching, I lost my entire stack of lesson plans for the week and had to redo them.  The ones I turn into my principal are not detailed at all so I had been handwriting them so I'd have a solid formula to follow.  Big wake-up call!  I needed to get better organized!  What a shocker......LOL.........

I teach PreK-5th grade general music, so I created a bright green binder (so I can FIND it) with dividers for each class.  I type up my lesson plan outlines and slip them into this binder.  When those lessons have been taught, I put them in a file folder so I can refer back to them next year so I don't have to reinvent the wheel.  I think this is working very well!

I also found a great organization bin at Goodwill for $8.00.  It's a set of 4 different colored bins stacked and sitting on one set of wheels.  I can keep my green lesson plan binder in there along with music, intruments or other materials I'm using that week.  With the different bins, I can keep my materials sorted.  It has a flat top on it so it's a solid place I can rest my teacher book (which is too heavy and large for my music stand).  This is the best organization tool I've found.  I LOVE IT!!!

Another challenge was how to justify my student's participation grade which is 65% of their overall grade for the 6 weeks.  I created classroom rosters from our gradebook system, copied it to an excel spreadsheet and added headings such as:  Off-Task, Doesn't Follow Directions, Disrupts Lesson, etc.  I can simly check which of these behaviors were displayed next to the student's name.  I also left room to add additional comments.  One check mark results in one point deduction from that week's participation grade.  An office referral results in 5 points deduction.  I keep these in a file folder by 6 weeks.  It's solid documentation for grading and my principal loved it.  With 350 students in and out of my room every week, I needed a simple way to track this information and this is working GREAT.