Preparing for next year... I want to be more organized

AmericanLitTeacher — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:34:00 GMT

This is my first blog and hopefully not the last. For years (this will be my 6th year teaching) I have told myself that I will be more organized and that I will journal about my teaching experiences, so I thought now was the best time to start. There are 3 more weeks in my summer vacation, and I plan to use them to organize and plan for my next year teaching. I taught American Lit for 4 years in GA, and I moved last year to OK and taught sophomores. I have to say that I was not at all prepared, and it was not a plesant experiance. Moving from one school to another was tramatic enough - moving to a different state and teaching a different grade was almost more than I could handle, so I want this year to be better. I'll be teaching American Lit again, and I think that will solve some of my problems. The other problem I have is organization.

I've pick up some bad habits over the years, and I want to correct those bad organizational problems. I know that I need to work smarter not harder. I think being organized is part of the key. It I know where everything is in my classroom then I won't be looking for those worksheets for a student that has been absent for a week or so. I know that if I have things better prepared then my classroom management skills will be better.

Does anyone have any hints or thoughts on managing all that paperwork?

1. make up work

2. disicpline forms - tardies, detentions, and such

3. lesson plans, worksheets

I'm not bad at organizing, but I know I can be better.

Thanks for the help and I hope to write about my success in the future.

American Lit & other things

Preparing for next year... I want to be more organized