Teacher Routines Through Organization

“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!”

I think my homeboy, Henry David Thoreau, was on to something when he made his declaration about keeping things simple in his memoir, Walden. During my experience in the classroom, my key to simplicity has always been through organization and routines. Teacher routines guarantee efficiency and focus.

This past week, I highlighted five organizational teacher routines that I use in my classroom on a daily basis. Here are the five daily routines:

1. Keeping a teacher binder and a weekly planner

Each day when I take attendance, record grades, or reference paperwork such as a pacing guides or notes from a prior PLC meeting, I go to my teacher binder. Organized with dividers and subdividers, by each prep and a meeting section for those miscellaneous handouts during staff and PLC meetings, this binder keeps all the essentials in one place and as a bonus, it keeps my desk clean. This binder also comes in handy when I have a sub as it houses the seating charts for all of classes, all the bell schedules, and sub notes for the day.

The teacher planner is a practice that I actually just started about three years ago. Prior to this style of planning, I would literally plan all of my lessons on the fly, like the night before. I had a general direction for what I wanted to do in a given unit, but I almost always ended units a least a week or two after my intended window, because of my lack of planning. I now make it an intentional practice to plan my upcoming week the Friday before, during my prep period. For each prep, I utilize three columns: one for the day’s agenda, a second for the day’s sponge, and a third for the day’s homework. With any additional columns, I will create to-do lists.

2. Daily agendas through Google Slideshow

As a protocol for my students and for myself, I create a daily agenda Google Slideshow for every unit. This is one long presentation that has a slide for each day, plus any subsequent slides for activity directions, modeling, or scaffolding. The daily agenda slide is projected for my students as they come in to my class each day. It is required of my students to read it in full, record their homework in their student planner, and then get out anything that is due, as well as any materials needed for our first agenda item. Since my district runs on Google Apps for Education, I give all of my students viewing rights to each daily agenda slideshow through their student account on Google Classroom. Whenever my students are absent, they know it is their responsibility to checkout the daily agenda to see what they missed and need to make up.

3. Absent Bin

In addition to checking out the daily agenda slideshow, my students are also required to visit the absent bin whenever they come back to class after an absence. My absent bin has a section for each prep along with a hanging folder for each weekday. This routine has two benefits: it houses any extra copies of handouts, so I don’t have piles of paperwork everywhere and it keeps my students responsible for making up absent work.

4. Class Dojo

As a beloved app of mine for many years, this tool houses participation points for all of my students. Class Dojo is a free app and website that allows teachers to organize students by period in order to keep track of attendance, behavior, and participation. I absolutely love this tool because it has a student randomizer, a timer, and as an added bonus, you can keep track of group participation on top of individual student participation. For those looking to experience the full effect of Class Dojo, the company recently added a section for videos and activities to help students manage social-emotional learning.

About once a week, I will project each period’s grid, so my students know where they stand with their participation, as it is a grade in my class. If I really want to amp up participation, I will keep the website projected during the period and whenever I award a student a point on my phone, it will ring on the website and congratulate the student for earning a point.

5. Daily To-Do List

Each day, at the beginning of my prep period, I sit down at my desk and intentionally plan how I will spend my time during that period. This is a practice that takes roughly five minutes (or less) of my time, but it is a practice that ensures I’m not wasteful with the paid planning time that is provided. Once I write everything down, I prioritize my tasks and then get to work. When I finish a given task, I will either check it off or highlight it. There’s something so gratifying about highlighting a completed task - it’s like my to-do list just threw a celebration for the biggest event of the year. 

Because I’m also a believer of writing goals and keeping track of them, a year ago, I created a daily to-do list sheet that keeps track of my meals, my daily water intake, and my monthly goal. You can download and print that daily to-do sheet here. I recommend printing a master and then make multiple copies from your school’s copy machine. The free download includes a color version, as well as a black and white version (perfect for running copies in that good ole duplo machine).

Whether you adopt one or all of these routines, I hope they serve you well by saving you time and perhaps, many headaches.

Happy to be serving the greatest generation of teachers,

The Maelid

My Why

It’s my thirteenth year of teaching and I’m more passionate than ever about this exhilarating profession. In a career where teacher burnout is rampant, I find delight and joy in the art, yes art, of teaching. 

So, what makes me tick? What keeps this educator going in the day in age of technology, unmanageable workloads, test scores, poor student behavior, and grumbling parents, essentially making for a battle of teacher versus the world? 

Empowerment.

Despite the waves against us, this is actually the best time to be an educator. For hundreds of years, education stayed the same. Students sat in desks, in neatly packed columns, facing chalky, rectangular blackboards of endless information, where teachers lectured for hours. This kind of teaching was directed at one type of learner and bored many others. As educators, we now face a different front. It is our duty and pleasure to teach to an array of different learning styles, allowing for student voice and choice. While this is an exciting prospect, I understand that it can be overwhelming for any educator, whether seasoned or new.

This is where my new endeavor comes in - Ms. Mumaw the Maelid.

It is my goal to lift and empower teachers to realize their potential and their creativity in order to fully engage their students in a twenty-first century classroom. Whether it be flexible seating, kinesthetic activities, or Project Based Learning (PBL), I want to help educators in this wonderful world of teaching to reach their variety of learners, while having fun, and staying on top of the ball.

Looking forward to working with you,

The Maelid