Welcome back for week 4 of our Classroom Organization series! I hope that you have read the other 3 weeks, and if you haven’t, you can find them here: Week 1: Purging, Week 2: A Place for All of the Papers, Week 3: Organizing Your Schedule (Part 1)
This week we will be talking about other ways to get your schedule organized and how to keep track of all those student appointments. As I mentioned last week, using a clear plastic sheet over my plan book helps me scan quickly to see who is going to be out of the room and when, but sometimes I struggle with remembering to send kids to their appointments, especially if their appointments are not at a natural transition time in our schedule. I’ve started to set digital reminders in order to help with this.
Digital Calendars and Reminders
Since we are a Google school district, we use google calendars for scheduling things like the computer labs, the laptop/Chromebook carts, etc. This makes it really easy to be able to know when these are available without having to walk to the lab and sign up on a paper and pencil calendar.
Another thing that has been a saving grace for me is using the reminders and alarms on my cell phone. When I have a PPT or 504 or another important meeting, I always set a reminder on my phone. I set the reminder to go off 10 minutes before the event. This is HUGE for me. I might know I have a meeting because it is on my calendar. I even will have it in my plans, and have it on my mind…until Johnny comes up to me and tells me that there’s a problem in the bathroom on my way to bringing the kids to gym. I drop them off, I get to the bathroom and Joey is throwing up. Then I have to bring Joey, the trash can, and Joey’s belongings to the nurse. I finish with that, check my mail, and walk back to my room.
Life completely got in the way, and I just forgot my meeting. If I have a reminder go off on my phone a few minutes before the meeting, it stays on my phone screen reminding me of the meeting. This is great for those crazy days!
On a similar note, I also put certain student appointments into my phone as a reminder or an alarm as well. This year I have 2 students who have an appointment to leave for Math Lab at an odd time. They are supposed to leave to go to lab 10 minutes before the end of our Writing block. I kept forgetting to send them because students were sharing their writing and I was engrossed in that task. Finally, after forgetting too many times, I set an alarm on my cell phone to go off at the time they need to leave every day. This has been great! We never forget anymore and they are never late.
Schedule on the Board
Like most teachers, I also post a daily schedule on the board. I just printed, cut, and laminated all of the things we do in our school week. Then I put magnets on the back. This makes it really simple to stay on track and helps out with those kids who like to know what is coming up next. I often take a quick picture of this schedule and text it to a para that might be working with one of my students and it allows them to see any changes etc. The kids come into the room and scan the schedule to see what’s in store for the day. If there is a shortened day or a late opening, I just write the adjusted time next to the subject with a dry erase marker.
Scope and Sequence
Twice a year, we try to sit down and map out the scope and sequence for half of the year. It is so easy to get off track and lose sight of the timeline. We use a printable monthly calendar that has boxes for M-F. We start out with a pencil and write in the non-negotiables. Then we flesh out the different units we want to cover and when. Then we fill in around it with things that match. For example, when we are teaching about a certain topic during science or social studies, we try to match it up with texts that pair well during our reading block. We also try to match up our writing units with our reading texts. By creating a calendar of where we should be and when, it keeps us from spinning our wheels and getting off schedule.
We know that it is not set in stone, because lets be real, the schedules sometimes get crazy! But, it helps us to see that if our Weather Science Unit is supposed to be wrapping up at the end of January, we don’t want to be teaching about clouds on February 20th.
Well I hope that these tips and ideas helped you get some ideas on how to stay on top of all of the schedules you have to juggle. If you make some of these things a daily or weekly habit, it is so much easier to stay on top of things.
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~Heather & Stefanie
