Here in Australia we’re currently on our Summer break.
Now, I know many of my Northern hemisphere friends are currently experiencing some quite cool temperatures, and I feel for you. I am, however, currently melting at the moment (thank you to insufficient air-conditioning in my house) because our weather’s finally warming up.
Today I made my first trip into the classroom since December 20th and I spent all day in there rearranging and trying to tidy and pack away Christmas decorations. Now, it wasn’t completely on part of being organised – we have people coming in to clean our carpets soon and I have NO STORAGE space but I needed to move my boxes and stuff off the floor. So… I had to figure out a way to do that!
Anyway, no pictures of that today, because it’s not done and I’ll be headed back in next week to do a bit of work so I’ll come back with photos of the slightly different set-up for my 2014 classroom.
Instead, I’m going to share some of my goals and ideas for the new year. Hopefully I’ll do these over a few posts to spread them out, but today I’m going to start with one simple goal I have for this year:
I’m ALWAYS behind on correcting work. It’s not something I’m proud of, and definitely something I’m striving to work towards improving. I always give immediate verbal feedback, but getting that mark on the page proves a bit trickier when dealing with the hundred and one different things the kiddos (and school!) would like me to attend to.
What’s even worse is the pile of corrected work that I accumulate and must find time to hand back to the kids for filing in folders or books without compromising valuable learning time. (Am I right, fellow teachers? This is a time-consuming task.)
Then comes the inevitable:
Student: “Miss Galvin, which folder/book does this go in?”
Me: “Your Maths folder.”
Student: “Which folder is my maths folder. The yellow/green/blue/purple one?”
Me: *head meet desk*
And it goes on, no matter how often I explain which book or folder work belongs in.
So – here is my solution, a goal for the new year:
I correct all my work in coloured pens. I very rarely use a red pen (not if I can use pink or green or orange or purple, etc). SO. When I print off book covers for the kiddos this year, each subject will be colour-coded (as per usual), but I will correct all work in the colour of the subject.
Then, when handing out work, my little ones will have a visual reference.
My simple solution.
I will also dedicate one lunch eating time (we eat for 10 mins inside before the kiddos head out to play) to handing out corrected work that the kiddos MUST file away before going outside.
People, ROUTINE is going to be my catch-phrase for the year! ❤
What little tip do you have for making YOUR life easier in the classroom?
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