I am entering into my tenth year of teaching - my first was made up casual work and blocks, the next 8 were in a permanent position (I have been Head Teacher for 2 years moving into my third). I am astonished at how much I have fit in, but also, how much more I still need to learn, and how much I want and need to do within my teaching practice and for my faculty!
The thing many teachers work on consistently, is work/life balance. I will be the first to admit that I totally love being busy and whilst I don't love being totally frazzled, I like working under pressure. My mantra is, 'Bite off more than you can chew, then chew like crazy!' I am always looking for more efficient ways to organise myself and the administrative aspects of the job, but frankly, it is so I can fit more in and do things in a more effective manner, not exactly have more balance!
So in an attempt to remember everything and complete all assigned tasks I have devised a few organisational strategies for 2016:
1. Class Organisation: One of my pressure points is balancing the needs of my students with the needs of my faculty. I worry sometimes, that I am not putting as much time into my teaching as I used to, so acknowledging that I need to balance these needs, I ensure I spend the time needed to develop the resources that I know my students need. To keep on top of my teaching I am utilising an A4, loose leaf 'Createl Publishing Management Daily' teacher chronicle for my class rolls and lesson planning. I will store film viewing permission notes, late slips, student information (not the confidential items - these will stay in the staffroom), reminders of when students will be absent for extra-curricular or family reasons, upcoming notices and copies of assessment tasks and anything else that may be useful.
I utilised the Management Daily last year and it was quite helpful having reminders of what needed to be done on the left hand side and I could also fit extra notes, like things I needed to tell students about in the left hand column http://www.createl.com.au/buy/tpd-management-daily-w/2555.
2. Missed Work: Students are sometimes absent from class and I am yet to come up with a foolproof method to provide them with the resources they miss. I am reluctant to leave them in a spot for them to collect themselves because I am conscious of paper wastage and I need to know students have been given certain resources for assessment preparation. I had a few expanding files around so I grabbed one and labelled it 'Standard English' and the other, I labelled 'Advanced English'. I chose the alphabet stickers out of the vast array of sticker options, so now I can just write the absent students' names on the resources they are unable to collect and then I will pop it in the file where their last name falls. I will (hopefully) check it every lesson and hand out missed resources for students to catch up. Here are some pretty expanding files http://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/colourhide-my-trusty-expanding-carry-file-pink-acexpcflpk.
3. Resource Organisation: I have tried to colour code my classes a little - Year 12 Advanced English is pink, Year 12 Extension 2 English is red, Year 11 Standard is purple, and Year 10 English is blue. I have my resources in colour coded folders on my computer, in hard copy folders, and I also have plastic document wallets in each colour, on the wall. I store spare copies of upcoming assessment tasks on the wall. I try not to reprint too many resources for students - if they lose their hardcopy I refer to them to the soft copies I upload to Edmodo or Facebook. Though, with assessment tasks, I always print extra copies for students. I gently admonish for not being organised, and I give them a new copy as soon as I can, if a student is aware that they need a copy, I am not going to stand in the way, I want to support them with their assessment tasks as much as possible, until they develop their autonomy and responsibility. The document wallets that expand somewhat, are much easier to staple to the wall and they have more room for documents, http://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/j-burrows-document-wallet-a4-button-closure-pink-jbdwba4pk.
4. The Year Ahead: After doing some searching on Pinterest, I came up with a possible way to give myself a bit of a 'heads up' for upcoming tasks and requirements - like entering report outcomes, providing the Senior Executive with BOS information, NAPLAN dates, and other things like staff birthdays.
Firstly, I purchased a pretty pink Crystalfile Carry Case, 10 red hanging files and 50 pink manilla folders - who doesn't love a good stationery shopping expedition!
I then allocated two hanging files per term and left the last two from the pack for miscellaneous items. I labelled the hanging files Term 1, Term 2, Term 3, and Term 4 and then placed 5 pink manilla folders in each hanging file, one for each week of the term. I labelled each pink manilla folder with Weeks 1 - 10 and then added blank folders for first and fourth term - for the 11 week allocation we have this year. I then popped a copy of the Teachers Mutual Bank Planner for 2016 in the front. I am not using this as a planner, as such, but as a fast date reference so when I get a due date, I know what week to pop a notice in (here it is: https://www.tmbank.com.au/~/media/community/pdf/school-planner/2016/nsw-2016.ashx). I devised notices to fill in when a job comes up, so eventually, I will have an entire 'Year in the Life of an English Head Teacher' box. I am going to use this system as an almost notebook of happenings, but also as a way to store things needed at particular times in the term, such as birthday cards for staff and NAPLAN organisation.
Here are the job cards that I intend to use to log the tasks I complete day to day:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByEC3f0f7OHrNjk5QWd3bHVVQzA/view?usp=sharing I am going to have these printed and I will hand write details and file straight away - any organisation system needs to be simple and fast!
http://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/crystalfile-carry-case-assorted-ac8007799
Eventually, I hope to take some leave, so hopefully this will be support the staff member taking on the Head Teacher role as well.
5. Management and Leadership: I purchased a 'Createl Publishing Compact A5 Daily' http://www.createl.com.au/buy/tpd-compact-a5-secondary-l/2568 for the management and leadership side of the job. This compact diary has space to write in what is happening throughout the day - such as what lessons I have as well as duties and regular meetings. I will also be using this diary to keep track of PDP meetings and other meetings with staff, lesson observations, meetings with Senior Executive, parents, and students. I will not be using this diary for lesson planning, instead it is going to be my whole school kind of document. Where school events, staff Professional Learning, staff absences and other important items are written.
6. Faculty Newsletter: Late last year I started an 'English/History Faculty Newsletter' (soon to be the 'English Faculty Newsletter'). My aim is, to attend the Executive Meeting on Tuesday afternoon and type notes directly into the Newsletter Template I have set up (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByEC3f0f7OHrUGU4c3hvTnhMRFU/view?usp=sharing). Anything that needs to be discussed at the Faculty Meeting will be typed into the Agenda Template. I will then email the newsletter to staff along with student information that I do not want to be floating around in hardcopy. I will provide the Faculty Meeting Agenda to staff on Wednesday evenings. Any general business for discussion raised with me in person or via email during the week will be added to the agenda as well. Hopefully this makes the Faculty Meetings more efficient and ensures staff time is not wasted.
So, along with my giant wall calendar and my general 'To Do List' book, hopefully these strategies will help me keep on top of everything and hopefully, I am super organised!