Organization Frenzy!

I have no idea why, but I have been organizing my classroom like crazy! It started around the last day of school and has not stopped. I wouldn't say that I had trouble organizing in the past, but there were some little things that bugged me about the way I organized things. I thought about some frustrating aspects of my day-to-day and I realized that they might be my own doing....opps.

I recently decided to use my hanging folders in a new way. I had never really had a place for students to turn in absent work. They were required to hand that over to me when it was done. I mean physically hand it to me. That was inconvenient for me, because I am often busy talking with other students or checking student work at the beginning of class. At the end of class, I am usually working until the bell and then recapping what they need to remember, so there just never was a good time for students to pass that to me.

I also get very frustrated with students when they do not have assignments. I have many students that lose papers that were given to them the day before, or the paper is misplaced in their locker or another class's folder. It is beyond irritating to have students not prepared or wanting to retrieve something from their locker. However, kids are kids and this does happen. I was thinking about ways to remedy this problem and keep the irritation and disruption to a minimum.

I have a separate place for assignments students need to retrieve when they have been absent (with their name on it), so I decided to just put all extra copies of assignments in these hanging folders. If a student has lost their copy of an assignment, I can have students quickly grab a new assignment, which would have students engaged and eliminates the need to go to their locker. This will not help their grades, if it is a graded assignment, but at least they will be engaged with the rest of the class. I like the placement of the folders! I am also thinking of adding a "no homework" slip that requires students to fill out when they haven't completed their homework.

Another annoying procedural aspect of my organization would be extra supplies. I have several students (we all have them) who never have any paper or pencils. I decided to put a drawer out with the Turn-In tray that only contained extra paper. That should help students if they are without paper.

I'm still working on the pencil idea. I'm not sure what to do about that. I know that some of us just give pencils away, but I don't have an endless supply! That is something that students lose easily, and with middle schoolers they sometimes break these on purpose! Why should I give a student a pencil every day? Meh. I'll have to think on that...