The Mighty Dragon of Chaos
When you are inherently unorganized, life’s simplest tasks can be ove

rwhelming. That describes me exactly. I am one of those people, left to her own devices, would simply suffocate under the piles of stuff that accumulate around me. Fortunately, I am not ashamed to admit this personality flaw and am in constant search of tricks to lasso the mighty dragon of chaos.

Over the years, I have collected ideas from every teacher I have met. While some work well for them and not for me, I have managed to piece together enough tools to keep my classroom running somewhat smoothly most of the time.

Below are my top ten stolen organization secrets:

1. Have specific places for students to turn in work – I use plastic stackable baskets, with bold clear labels for each hour. This stops students from tossing a paper onto my desk and being sucked into the black hole, never to be seen again.

2. Have a designated place for students to collect their work from when they are absent. The last thing I do each day before leaving school is take care of absent work. I look at my attendance book and for each student gone each hour, I put exactly what we did that day with any homework and handouts in a basket marked with the hour and ABSENT WORK. This puts the primary responsibility on the student, and makes my life easier without the question of “What did I miss yesterday?” being easy to answer.

3. Have a NO NAME folder. Unless you teach in Lake Woebegone, your students will on occasion, turn in work without a name. Later when they note a missing assignment, you can now simply point, “Did you check the No Name folder?”

4. Use online grading programming - if your district does not use something like PowerSchool, fight to get it. This makes for fewer parent phone calls, fewer students questioning about their grades, fewer writing lists of missing assignments, and best of all, no last minute panic at report card time. But do not get behind on grading - you expect students to turn work in on time. Have the courtesy to assess and return promptly as well. I find myself much more accountable when grades are posted for parents to view.

5. Write the day's lesson on the board. This solves the perpetual “What are we doing today?” question as well as focuses you and your students on the task at hand. Also, write notes on board - reminders for week, etc... so kids learn to look there. Help them learn to be responsible and plan ahead.

6. Have a board in hall outside classroom where you write what students need for class each hour. This method of reminding them what to bring each day helps teach middle schoolers to be organized. Students can be overwhelmed with so many classes and different teachers and thinking in 4 minutes can be tough.

7. Expect students to come to class prepared - I do not allow them to go get calculators, pencil, etc... I loan pencils, paper, textbooks, etc...they are all in designated area of classroom. I do not loan calculators, but "If you wanted it you would have brought it to class" usually sets the tone. Time in the hall is wasted time and I simply do not allow them to go get forgotten things.

8. Keep seating charts on a podium or other easily accessible location so you can take attendance in a split second as students are completing the class starter for day - something written on board to get their minds into gear for today's class - as you take attendance -ours is required to be online within first 10 minutes of class so I do it immediately when the bell rings. Seating charts also are invaluable to a substitute teacher. Mine also serves as a roster for fire drills or other trips out of the classroom since I have no grade book as such.

9. Use email for parent contacts whenever possible – This saves time and makes it easy to keep paper trail. Parents appreciate the ease of contact. Talk to parents early on - establish a positive relationship before there are problems. Send them a positive email about something you notice about a student. Those positives are like money in the bank when you do encounter a discipline problem later in the year.

10.Let go of the things that don’t really matter. My first years in the classroom I spent hours organizing my class library. When students returned books, I had to put the checkout cards back in and shelve the books back in their appropriate location. Finally, a couple of years ago, I decided enough of that! Now students know my books are NOT organized. If they want a book, they will have to dig for it. It is almost like a treasure hunt. Books in order may matter to you, but for me, those are hours better spent on other things. Examine your own classroom for those little things you can let go.

My classroom is not neat and tidy and shiny like some. It has that homey, lived-in, loved look. The tables are never quite in perfect straight lines, the computer cords are twisted and tangled, and my teacher desk looks like a recycling center exploded on it. But my students and I spend our time together engaged in learning, and for the most part, things run smoothly. With a little help from my stolen ideas, I bet yours could be the same!