Organization - What worked for me

I don't feel like I have any great ideas for organization but I'm going to share what I have done that works for me.

1.  Weekly Class Roll Sheet: I printed out a class roll for each week for my clipboard.  I took attendance and made notes there. When I assigned homework, I marked it on this sheet if students had it in class. When I checked notebooks, I recorded it here as well.  If I needed to make a note about a question, a discipline issue, anything at all, I used this weekly class record sheet.

2.  Materials Distribution: I had a table in the front of my room near the door ... students picked up whiteboards, markers, and any other tools we are using for the day as they entered.  Any handouts that went with the lesson were on the table for students to retrieve. This simplified getting materials to students. At the end of the day, I moved left over handouts to a hanging paper pocket file. Absent students know to go to the pocket file for missed handouts.

3.  Agenda: I created a slide for the agenda each day.  It was projected as students entered so they knew what we were going to do, and what they needed to work on for the warm-up.  I kept those slides, posted them on my website. That way, if students were absent they could review the agenda slide as well.  Parents could also see the slides.

4.  Unit/Lesson Website: I created a class website for our lessons.  Each unit had a link to a set of pages on the website.  All handouts were linked there, notes, homework, homework solutions, and more were on the website.  Parents and students could access the website any time to see what we were working on. I used Google Sites and put all handouts in Google Drive to make it all easy.

5.  PLC/Planning: I worked on a PLC - about 7 of use taught the same course.  We planned together - and typically we planned the whole unit before it began.  I liked that.  I could build the website pages; send the handouts I needed to our district print shop; and put together any other special items I might need.

6.  Class Files: I kept a file box for each class period, a file for each student.  On days when I returned tests, students reviewed their tests, and filed them. When students came after school for test corrections and retakes, they retrieved their graded tests from the file and picked up a correction handout. I had an "inbox" near my desk for completed corrections and retests.