whining and bragging

I haven't been around the blogosphere as much as I'd like to in the past couple of days. I'm having one of those weeks that takes you over its' knee and whips your butt.

On top of the general craziness it is to be a teacher, there have been some hiccups. Like when I spent all that time on Monday inputting grades and then LOST EVERYTHING. And when one of my students lost an expensive piece of her cochlear implant on the playground on Tuesday morning but didn't think to tell me until five minutes before the bus was going to bring her home. Oh and let's not forget the groups of college students following me around on Monday and Wednesday morning, learning how to be deaf.ed teachers. And then having to stay until 8 pm last night for parent-teacher conferences (ONE parent out of nine made it. So glad I stayed...)

But enough whining. It's Friday!! And I thought I'd share with you something that I did over the summer that has been making my school year go MUCH smoother:
I made a file folder for each of our basal series stories. I put all the practice book/extra support book worksheets in each. Then, I listed all the skills we're supposed to be learning on the front of the folder so I could go through my own files and pull activities/picture cards/fun printables and put them in the same file.
So now, when it comes to my weekly lesson planning, I just pull the file and I have everything I need right there: homework, extension activities, vocabulary cards, and the basal series worksheets.

It took about three days to set that up over the summer, but it's turning out to have been well worth my time!

Do you have any organizational tricks that save you time?

12 comments:

malia said...

Impressive! I need more organization in my life... can't wait to see what your more organized readers have to say!

Tickled Pink Mandy said...

I have a folder for each story as well... but I like how you put the critical info on the outside-- I need to do this! :)

Elizabeth said...

Everyone needs a good whine and brag every now and then! I loved the smart way you organized your reading units. Here's a post I did a while back about organizing parent education materials: http://cochlearimplantonline.com/site/?p=1241.
Enjoy!
--EAB

Elissa Newton said...

Would you like to come organize my life.

You can whine and brag anytime.

Though I would prefer a Wine and Brag session.

Sherri said...

That has to be helping you so much! I love getting organized like that.

And a big boo to the parents who didn't show up for conferences. How could they not care??

theheadsoffice said...

Firstly - what an awful week!
Secondly - what a great diea to have everything foled like that. Wish I'd thought about that 20 years ago!!

Anonymous said...

Your mother is impressed!!!!

Bethany said...

I hate it when my kid loses stuff on the playground. Hope you were able to find the part! And nice job with the organization. That's not my strong suit. Wish it were.

Unknown said...

Wow! That filing system must be a life saver! Great job! Sorry about the crappy week. I hope this coming week goes better for you!

Sandra said...

You are so organized, I am feeling suddenly very insecure...
I'm happy for you, and I hate you a little bit too...

Mrs. Fine said...

I loooove organization! One thing I rely on are my Everyday Math binders. We use EDM and instead of constantly flitting from this handbook to this handbook to...(this lasted 1 year) I created a big binder for each unit -- complete with my standards for each lesson, my vocabulary cards, supplements, etc. My life = easier now!

Charlotte said...

Organization makes me very happy. In fact, there are certain aisles in the store that I avoid because I can't resist the organization it promises despite the price tag.

My sister lives in fear of misplacing those cochlear implant pieces. They are expensive! Her daughter is four and likes to take them off in random places. Or they fall out and my sister doesn't notice for a while. Did you find them?

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