School Tips

ABSENT STUDENTS ~ Online grading programs do a fantastic job of keeping students (and parents) informed about missing or late assignments.  Here are a few ideas to help manage the work, handouts and assessments that are missed and need to be made up when students are absent.

• Here's What You Missed Form ~ Have peers complete this form to help an absent classmate know what he missed when he was absent.  We love that kids are helping each other and absent students know exactly what they missed and what they need to do without needing to ask the teacher.

MAKING LIFE AT SCHOOL MORE FUN!

We loved the ideas shared by We Are Teachers.  Sometimes teachers need to get creative and not take ourselves too seriously to make work FUN!

ORGANIZING YOUR CLASSROOM LIBRARY
There is not a teacher alive that doesn't spend large amounts of their own money to outfit their classrooms. Classroom libraries are particularly expensive to build and maintain. Then kids walk off with them to boot! As an English teacher I was nearly driven mad trying process after process for having my kids check out books and for me to keep track of them. I tried check out cards. I tried sign out sheets. I tried not letting them take the books from my room at all...cruel, I know. The best system I have found so far and have now used for four years is the free book inventory and checkout site, Classroom Booksource. It has a great app that scans the UPC of your books and builds an inventory--this is by far the most work upfront, but if you have access to a little child labor....

Then at the start of each school year you upload a spreadsheet of your students and they can start checking out books. I modeled the process many times and provided a video tutorial on how to manage the book system. The site sends me emails of over due books and I can print reports of who is reading what and how often students are and are not checking out books. At the end of the year I average only 10 lost books and the student whose name is last in the database must pay to have it replaced. Boom. 


STRETCH YOUR PREP
Teaching is tough when you are ON 90% of the time and only get 10% time to prep. A lost or wasted prep can create a devastating domino effect that can be hard to recover from. We wanted to share a few things we have implemented to maximize our efficiency during our precious prep time.

1. Save walking to the office or around the building until the last 10 minutes of your prep. Keep a pile of errand items in a bin on your desk and make your way around the building at once. This also keeps conversations with those you run in to to a minimum. When you only have 10 minutes until your students return you will be more effective with your time outside your room.

2. Assign certain tasks to certain prep days of the week. Write your next week's lesson plans on Thursdays. Complete your printing items on Fridays. Grade papers on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and so on. Adding a routine to your prep will keep you on task.

3. Keep a prep to-do list like the one HERE. Cross things off as you accomplish them. Add things as they come up. If you write things down you will better remember what needs to be done and you will prioritize more effectively.

4. Set a timer and allow yourself 8-10 minutes at the start of your prep just to "be.' Eat a snack. Glance at a few websites. Do not allow yourself to go down a rabbit hole!


ORGANIZE YOUR DESKTOP
We stare at our computer screens for a longer amount of time then any of us would care to admit. One of the things that I do to keep my desktop a zen place to pitstop is to first make it pleasing to look at. I highly recommend you use a personal photo, quote, or decorative background so when you and your students catch a glimpse of it, it is a conversation starter or inspiration. On of my favorite places to get unique backgrounds is from Ivanka Trumps website. Politics aside, her website is FULL of work and home tips and ideas. The second option for my desktop that is functional and fashionable is a desktop background that has organization built in. My go to site for technology organization is HERE. 

Google Lesson Plans

Audio Exam Player

Google options for students' with needs

Plickers