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| Apple crates make great shelves. |
scribblesbyartteachervanallen.blogspot.com
Work smarter, not harder. If you teach multiple classes like I do (26 each week, thank you very much), do yourself a favor and streamline all of those required plans and charts into one multi-purpose document. I finally figured this out during my 8th year of teaching and my daily life miraculously got less complicated. I now have 10 weeks of attendance, seating, behavior and planning on one double sided sheet of card stock (see pictures below). My binder stays with me wherever I go. I have a much better memory for patterns than names, so when I see a student in the hall I usually associate them with the weekday/grade/period/seat that pertains to them. I flip to the appropriate chart and can address them by name when I greet them.
Re-think your format and reclaim wasted space. What's the point in wasting the left half of your open notebook with the back of another form? Hole punch the sheet you use for grades, phone call logs, or whatever else you need to have close at hand during class on the right side instead of the left. Insert it face-to-face with the attendance/seating/planning chart and you'll have all the information you need directly in front of you at all times. Are you a lefty? Switch sides so that your most frequently used document is on your dominant side. As you use up both sides of your charts and need fresh ones, put the old ones in another binder for future reference.
Helful hint: One slight change that I strongly suggest making in your attendance routine is to substitute a dot for the usual check mark indicating that a student is present and on time. This small shift reduces your visual clutter and makes it less confusing if you ever use a -/checkmark/+ system for homework or classwork.
Keep records of all calls to one parent in one place. I was given a document years ago that was invaluable in logging my parent contacts, mostly due to it's simplicity. To create an effective, streamlined parent contact form I suggest formatting it with a heading of contact information and columns underneath. I like having 5 columns: one each for a phone call's date, time, reason/purpose, whether or not the guardian could be reached, and who you spoke to about what. When applicable I use the code LM for left message. You can fill them out as you need to or have the students write in their own contact info on the first day of school in lieu of a 3x5 card.
Security note: I often call parents from my classroom on my cell phone using *67 to block my personal contact information. This keeps students honest by not giving them the option to get my number from an adult's phone. It also keeps me from getting after hours calls. Each student number is labeled as Parent-FirstnameLastname in my contact list. To find a parent contact, all I have to do now is go to the 'P' section and scroll down to the student's name.
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| I recently attached a wired pen to my binder, now I always have something to write with! |
Log breaking news as it happens. If you're not keeping detailed records on each student you're leaving yourself open for disaster. That being said, there are only so many hours in the day. I don't know about you, but I am not devoting my precious class or personal time to writing full sentences about student behaviors. Develop a system of symbols and/or letters that stand for common behaviors and note them directly next to that student on your seating chart and/or class attendance documents.
Get out your magnifying glass and look at the bottom of this image.
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The information entered in the boxes under seats A & B at each table
refer to the date found in the corresponding box at the top left of the form. |
Under the weekly planning area is a line with my own codes for attendance and common student behaviors. I use T for talking (out of turn, way too loud or over instructions), U for up or wandering, WO means that the student walked out of class without permission, B is talking back/bad attitude and WS stands for sitting in the wrong seat. Usually I indicate good behavior with one or more + signs or a word like 'helper'. NEVER forget to mark down positive behavior, and make sure to tell your students that you do this. Showing them the +'s next to their names really drives the point home and reinforces your good intentions.
Helful hint: One slight change that I strongly suggest making in your attendance routine is to substitute a dot for the usual check mark indicating that a student is present and on time. This small shift reduces your visual clutter and makes it less confusing if you ever use a -/checkmark/+ system for homework or classwork.
Security note: I often call parents from my classroom on my cell phone using *67 to block my personal contact information. This keeps students honest by not giving them the option to get my number from an adult's phone. It also keeps me from getting after hours calls. Each student number is labeled as Parent-FirstnameLastname in my contact list. To find a parent contact, all I have to do now is go to the 'P' section and scroll down to the student's name.
A big thank you to Ginna D'Alba- starting the name with 'parent' was her idea!
Bonus Tip: Once you have forms that really work for you, keep the originals all together in one place. I have a 'Necessary Forms etc.' binder that I go to several times a year. Inside I keep a copy of every log, chart, form, and evaluation/rubric that I use. I always have my most current welcome letters and first-day-of-school plans, and there is a section in the back for invaluable and pertinent info that I don't want to lose. I also include office papers that never seem to be there when you need them like fax cover sheets and maintenance request forms. I often write the word original across the top in yellow highlighter because it doesn't show up in black and white photocopies and ensures that you won't use the form accidentally.
How have you streamlined or simplified your frequently used files for the sake of sanity?
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