Sunday, September 25, 2011

Binders of Information

I began my second year of second grade determined to do better at the following:

1. Organization
2. Teaching Reading
3. Employing and utilizing centers
4. Communicating with Parents
5. Enjoying educating my students.

Sounds easy, but trust me, these are the areas in which I struggle.

After an earthquake and a hurricane and some major flooding it seems as though things are finally getting on track.

This weekend I decided to tackle the organization of my lesson plans, anecdotal notes, and the other information that seems to pile up on my desk. Instead of creating one large binder, I settled on four smaller binders--one for each quarter of the year.

In each binder there are five sections:
1. Lesson Plans-I normally keep these on a clipboard, take them off, and stack them on a pile. Instead I am going to take them off of the clipboard and file them into my binder.

2. Reproducibles-There are some many copies to be made each week and the originals are usually stored in a magazine organize from Ikea. However, I plan on placing them in this binder in order to be apply to access them easier in the future.

3. Calender/Dates-During Teacher Inservice at the beginning of the year, each teacher receives a school calender. The issue: I need more space to keep track of my tests and quizzes. I went on Microsoft Word and downloaded a simple template, printed it, and placed it in the binder. (Side-note: Write tests and quizzes in pencil until completed, then trace them with a pen. This will allow you to be flexible if needed.)

4. Anecdotal Notes- I am the worst at keeping anecdotal notes. Solution: make quick notes on notebook paper, type later. If I make quick scribble notes that I am able to dictate and recall what happens it will be easier to type up the short anecdotes and print them out. Let's hope this works!

5. Extras-This is where I plan on keeping my current reading group list (more on them later), a list of the centers I utilized each week in order to make sure I don't repeat if necessary, and anything else that doesn't have a specific home in the rest of my binder.

I will carry only one 1" binder in my teacher bag from now on! I cannot wait to grade myself on whether or not I utilize this form of organization.