New Teacher Tip #5: Get Organized from the Start!

As a new teacher, you desperately need a grade book and a planner before school starts. Sometimes schools give you a grade book to work with and/or they require you to submit grades online.  But every school I know of requires hard copy teacher grades, attendance book, and planner.  These things are legal documents and can be used in court.  (Let's hope they never have to be, but you never know!)  We all wish that we could go paperless but many schools don't have the technology or the money to do this yet.  So be prepared to handle a LOT of papers!  I suggest buying a few large binders and setting them up with categories of things you know you will need to organize.

If you are a high school teacher and you are looking for a traditional teacher store planner, good luck.  If you are like me, you will probably never find one that meets your needs.

I have worked in two different schools that had rotating-drop schedules.  Some days you taught classes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7.  Some you taught 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8.  There is no printed planner on the market that can easily accommodate this, unless you spend your last week of summer filling in the days and time blocks for the whole year.

Which is why I created the ultimate planner and teacher binder!

My planner allows me to take any schedule that has 5 blocks through 9 blocks (these blocks include a place in the planner's schedule for lunch, because we all know most of us plan on working through lunch too!)  I made an Excel file that will allow me to type in my whole bell schedule (Days A, B, C, D, E, F...) and assign a letter to each calendar date (September 3, 4, 5....)  Then, I can easily print out my planner and bind it at Staples, creating a very easy custom binder and the only one that I know of that works well with rotating schedules!

Along with my planner, I created a form for everything I need as a high school teacher to get me through the year and still be organized and not chest-deep in papers.  (Hey, I'm short, so it doesn't take that many papers...)  Printable Grade book Forms, Attendance forms, College Recommendation Forms, Hall Passes, Field Trip Forms, New Student Catch-up Forms... Everything I need.  And everything is totally editable.

If you would like to view my Teacher Binder and Planner, click here.

Would you like to receive a free monthly email newsletter with lab ideas, science teaching tips, and more? Sign up here!