Learn how to be more organised as a teacher and plan for the new term with these 5 easy organisation tips.
Are you already worried about how busy the new term will be?
Do you need some tips how to be more organized as a teacher?
As you know, the teacher-life is hectic and it is a must to be on top of it all before you start back at school.
How to be more organized as a teacher
There have been years in my teaching career that I was so not organized at all.
On one occasion, I remember starting back after being overseas for my holidays and I just had to ‘wing it’. I hate to admit it because it doesn’t sound very professional, but I was sooo jet-lagged!
Admittedly, I was still only a reasonably new teacher, but after this particular time, it sent me on a search for some strategies for how to be more organized as a teacher – to be much more intentional in my term preparation and to learn tips from my more ‘organized’ colleagues.
Essentials to be more organized as a teacher
The following 5 tips will show you how I got more organized as a teacher use my time more wisely and be much more successful in preparing for the new term.
I hope you will find them useful to have a smoother start to any new teaching term.
1. Finish ALL marking/grading
Getting all your grading finished is an obvious tip, but if you let this job go unfinished, and you’re coming into a reporting term, you will set yourself up for disaster.
I’m a procrastinator by heart, so I have don’t this before.
Here are some ideas I’ve learnt to get my marking done before term finishes
Tip 1: Mark as the students finish their work.
I’m honestly not good at this, but the teachers that I know that use this method are so much more on top of things.
The times that I have followed this tip, I know that I have been far more organised and I don’t feel as overwhelmed with my marking load.
Tip 2: Mark a small amount of assessment per day.
This is a great tip because you can choose your number, say 5 per day.
This will help get through the big pile and help you finish them off in smaller increments.
Ideally, try and finish marking before the end of the term, but if the holidays arrive and you’re not done, MAKE CERTAIN it is finished on the HOLIDAYS!
This is a crucial part of being prepared for the new term.
Believe me, I have had times that my marking was not done and the next term ended up being crazy busy!
2. Plan all subject/curriculum areas
Firstly, look over your teaching units and check what lessons you will be teaching for the first week back after the holidays.
Then you can get your photocopying done and resources collected ready for week 1.
This is a great tip for being organised for the new term because you’ll know what’s coming and stop the overwhelm you might feel if you arrived back at school if you’ve haven’t done this yet.
This makes for a much more relaxing holiday, both mentally and physically.
3. Add key dates to your teacher planner
This step is the key that I’ve found to save my sanity and help to be much productive with time management.
Use your whole school’s activity planner and add all the key dates for new term into your own teaching planner.
This is needed so that you can work your weekly plan around these dates and allocate teaching time.
Plus, you won’t forget anything important, especially like significant events such as school photos, or camp notes to go out.
Related Article: 6 Steps to Save Time Planning Your Teaching Week
4. Tidy your classroom
It’s a must to leave your classroom tidy if you want to be more organized for the next term.
This is a pretty straight forward tip, but if your terms are anything like mine are, there’s very little time left in the day for simple jobs like this.
I like to use the help of my students to neaten up at the end of each day and do a bigger tidy up before the end of the term.
They love to help and put things away and tidy, so work smart and coordinate some great student helpers here.
If you don’t get your room cleaned by terms end, it’s another job for the holidays or it could set you up for a disorganised start for next term.
Related Articles: Classroom Jobs – How to Effectively Use Student Helpers
5. Return all unwanted teaching resources
It’s important to remember to take back all resources that are no longer needed in your room for the next term.
Things like math manipulatives and library books etc, because if they’re not being used there’s not much point leaving them in your classroom.
This stops the clutter than can eventually accumulate causing you unnecessary overwhelm.
Plus, other teachers won’t know where this important student equipment is, if you leave it in unnecessarily in your classroom.
How to be more organized as a teacher?
If you’ve skipped until the end, I understand you’re busy. Use the summary of the top 5 tips for how to be more organized as a teacher for the next term.
- Get all marking/grading finished
- Plan all subject/curriculum areas
- Add key dates to your teacher planner
- Tidy your classroom with the help of students
- Return all unwanted teaching resources
These tips may seem simple, and they are, but do them before you finish for the term and you’ll set up yourself for a much more organized and positive start when you get back.
Don’t worry if you’re not that organized, but if you want to cut some of the overwhelm, tackle one idea at a time and you’ll find it will eventually fall into place if you get a system going.
Here’s to a great start to the new term, working smarter, not harder in your teacher life!
N.B. Enjoy your break and don’t forget to do something you love to re-energise yourself for the new term.
Also, make sure you take care of yourself too. Read the post, Practicing Self-Care to Prevent Teacher Burnout for some self-care suggestions.
For more information about putting yourself first, enrol into the free course from Self Care for Teachers called PrioritiseYou.
I completed this free 5-day self-paced course last year. It was very valuable and taught me a great deal about teacher self-care and prioritising yourself.
It was well worth the time.
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Remember you are worth it!
Michelle xx
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