Dear Future Teacher,
My best organizational tip is to document and track everything you can think of. You will be planning out themes and units months in advance, keeping track of all your interventions, documenting staff/team meetings, and so on and so on! You need a good, dependable, easy to find place to keep up with all of this information.
One option would be a set of binders like I am going to show you in this post. I created these in many different color options, but the black and white is my favorite because it is ink friendly, classic, and neutral.
Make sure you read all the way to the bottom for an awesome freebie ya'll!
Editable planning pages in this binder set include:
1. Monthly Calendars ~ can be edited on computer and printed or print and write in important dates throughout the school year.2. Weekly Lesson Plans ~ 2 formats, subjects are editable
3. Student Dismissal Plans ~ for daily recording of how students leave
4. Volunteer Management Tools ~ to do lists, copying instructions, contract, and sign up sheets ... just print and go.
5. Interventions, Small Groups, Daily 5 ~ editable tables to meet your recording needs
6. Parent Communication, and Discipline Logs ~ editable (names and phone numbers can be typed into the table).
7. Data Tracking by Measure (Individual and Class) ~editable tables can changed to reflect your assessments and needs.
8. Professional Development, Evidence and Meeting Notes ~editable for tracking meetings, your professional development and evidence of meeting teaching standards.
9. Grade Book and Attendance ~ editable tables allow you to type in your students’ names, assignments, dates, etc.
10. Emergency Procedures Info ~ you can type all of your info on each page for procedures and keep it all in one handy binder for grabbing and going... could be very handy when in a stressful situation. I would place copies of this in the sub binder as well.
11. Sub Binder ~ editable pages allow you to inform your sub of all the little things that we often forget on the sub plans. You can edit all boxes to suit your classroom/school.
12. Student Info ~ editable pages to make class lists, record allergies/health concerns, gather detailed information from parents, record parent phone numbers and track student birthdays.
Trust me... you are going to want all of this documentation. This binder set makes it easy to have on hand!
For those of you a little nervous about printing out your own planners, here are my tips for creating your personalized sets.
1. The very first thing you need to is download and install the FREE Janda Truly Madly Deeply font by clicking here. You will need to restart your computer for the font to finish installation. It is important that you do this before you open the binder file so that the fonts in the file remain.
2. Now you are ready to open the binder set powerpoint file and begin your personalization. You can customize the text on the "2015-2016 Calendar" page to anything you want. Next, take your districts calendar and enter all important dates onto the dates in the calendar. Enter all other important dates and any information that you can think of. Make sure that the table sizes do not change as you type... if they do, you will need to make your font size smaller.
3. You are ready to print your calendar pages! First, print the cover separately. Next, print pages 3-29 on a printer capable of printing 2 sided to get your 2 page spreads. Later print all of the spine labels with your customized text when you finish all of your binders.
2 page calendar spread.
Page 3 offsets the calendar pages and is a useful page to have. If you want more than one of these pages, print page 3 multiple times AFTER you have printed your calendar.
4. SAVE your file so that if there any changes you can back and change it.
5. To print the WEEKLY PLANNING PAGES as a planbook, you will need to customize and print the cover (page 30) first. Now, you will want to customize the subjects at the top of the planning pages. You can edit the number of columns in the table as well, just make sure that they continue to fit the page. Next, select pages 32 and 33 (holding the control or command button while you click), COPY AND PASTE these pages 38-40 times (depending on how many weeks of school you will have). Now print pages 31- (whatever page number is the last of these planning pages) 2 sided for the 2 page spread.
IF YOU WOULD PREFER TO TYPE IN YOUR PLANS each week, you can open the file as needed and type in your plans then print. HOWEVER, you will not have the 2 page spread.
NOTE: DO NOT SAVE THE CHANGES YOU MADE TO FILE at this point. You will probably not want to see all of those extra planning pages the next time you open the file.
The remaining sections and pages are all fairly similar. You can pick and choose what pages you want, what sections you want to combine into one binder, what pages might be better hung on the wall, etc.
6. Print all of the spine labels (under the scissors in the pic) on cardstock so that they slide into spines easier.
7. The binder cover and the spine label will look like this when inserted into binders.
8. The Sub Binder features editable pages in which you can enter all of your information before printing. The pages are designed to help you remember all of the "little stuff" that a sub would need to know in you classroom.
10. This section of the planner is for recording interventions, small group plans and daily 5 plans and rotations. You can enter and print off all of your information, bind and go.
Here are four sections of the planner put into separate binders. They will look great on a shelf in your classroom, and all of your documentation will be at your fingertips!
8. The Sub Binder features editable pages in which you can enter all of your information before printing. The pages are designed to help you remember all of the "little stuff" that a sub would need to know in you classroom.
9. The emergency info binder has pages that can be edited before you print as well. Add your class list, parent contact information and lockdown/emergency information before you print. Whole punch and place in your binder so that you are ready to grab and go in case of an emergency. This also contains a sign out log just in case you were relocated and parents need to sign students out off-campus. Click here to grab this section in the Sweetie design for free.
10. This section of the planner is for recording interventions, small group plans and daily 5 plans and rotations. You can enter and print off all of your information, bind and go.
Here are four sections of the planner put into separate binders. They will look great on a shelf in your classroom, and all of your documentation will be at your fingertips!
Click here to purchase the black and white planner which also includes weekly lesson plans, student information, student dismissal plans, data tracking, parent communication logs, professional development, meeting notes and evidence logs.
My friend Julie at A First for Everything took her Nautical planner took her pages to Staples and had them bound! Here is a look at her planner:
Whatever planner/binder set you choose, make sure it fits your needs for documentation and that you are comfortable with using it.
Check out what organizational tips these teachers are sharing this week!
I love the binders, thanks for the freebie!
ReplyDelete