Organizing Student Materials

When teaching high school, student materials can quickly become chaotic without some organization in place. Here are three tips to keep student materials nice and neat

1. Names On Textbooks

   Obviously, students should always have their names on their textbooks. However, if the students write their names on the top and bottom sides, then you can see whose book is whose when stacking them on a bookshelf. Bonus points if you can have one bookshelf per class period.

2. LARGE Turn-In Bins

   Grading is already overwhelming without overflowing turn-in bins. I got mine from an At Home store and labeled them by class period. They hold more than a week's worth of work which works for my grading style, I like to grade all paper assignments at one time.

3. Notebook Baskets

   If you use interactive notebooks, I highly suggest keeping them in baskets by class and keeping those baskets with their turn-in bins for easy access when doing notebook checks. I keep my baskets on top of their turn-in bins.

4. Bonus: Separate Grade Levels

   If you teach more than one grade level, separating their materials can also help when grading. I know that all of my 8th-grade materials are on one shelf and the 9th-grade materials are on the other. This way, I can grade like assignments.