resource management - help!

[Puffinity]

Newbie teacher here. I've been told not to be too needy so I'm asking here. I am a messy person by nature and I am finding it incredibly difficult to stay on top of things. At the end of the day my desk looks like a bomb's gone off in a paper factory. I haven't found a way of dealing with homework on loose sheets yet or to keep spare worksheets etc for pupils who are absent. I just lose track and end up printing off stuff a million times because I can't find it and then binning it when I'm tidying up. Any suggestions about how to keep track of things and organise my desk???

[Helbelle75]

I have a folder for each class, and it has spare worksheets (name written on of those students missing that lesson) as well as any stray exercise books, and homework sheets, which are marked asap and given back out to stick in books.
I have filing trays with resources I need for lessons that week, and each evening before I go home, I get the next day ready, so p.5 on the bottom with class folder and resources needed, then p.4 etc. They are then removed from the pile and into a box near my desk so they are tidied away.
I also have magazine files with text books in so they are not cluttering up my desk and I can just pull them out when needed.
I'm a bit of a neat freak, as you can probably tell!

[Puffinity]

Hi! Thanks for your replies! Some really helpful ideas here! Trouble (loving your username btw, very appropriate) I teach secondary so there is loads of stuff for each class x4...

[Puffinity]

Oh and no TAs here - not sure there are any in the entire school apart from in the SEN department (!)

[BizzyFizzy]

I've been teaching for over 20 years and I am still very messy and disorganised with resources. I won't get any better now.

I have trays for each class, so I put the photocopying for their next lesson in that tray. If a student is absent, I write their name on the handout so that I can get it to them next lesson.

My room still looks like a bombsite! Under pressure as I am out for the next two days so other teachers are going to witness it!

[Puffinity]

Bizzy nohoo! It's supposed to get better:) Am definitely going to start writing names on resources for absent students - such an obvious thing to do! Also going to buy little plastic baskets to put on the desks with glue and scissors in so they can glue stuff into their books without me having to distribute glue sticks all the time. Bit risky but let's see! Also need to memorise how many kids I have in each class and print stuff off accordingly, rather than printing too much. Not my problem if they lose their sheets!

[CharleyDavidson]

I have as set of drawers labelled for each day of the week and when I prep my resources, any that are paper based go in the right drawer. I try to have systems which means that everything has a place and the children know where that is.

Any spares from when sheets are given out have the names of missing children written on them straight away and filed in the child's drawer, or the day of the week drawer of mine for when we are next coming to that piece of work.

[ChuckGravestones]

I use bulldog clips, with stuff like that, a printable for each class that goes on the top of the pile, with ticked off work for those completed and spares blank for absentees, so that the name can be written on once the rest are in.

[mineofuselessinformation]

...or use a set of drawers, labelled with each group. Record on your planner (I use '+sheets' and then tick it when I've printed them) so you know you have resources to print off.
That way, I found I keep on top of things.
If you're primary, make a list of what you set day by day and use drawers again as suggested above.

[Puffinity]

Thanks for all the advice! I went a bit nuts on Amazon last night and now have pencil pots, pencil cases for my students, magazine files and stackable magazine drawers on the way! Let's hope the pencil cases don't get used as ammo... Magazine drawers are for printing and spare worksheets, the files for books etc (organised by class) and the pencil pots were just a frivolity for my own desk :)

[BlessYourCottonSocks]

I am messy - and so I colour co-ordinate everything. So, for example Y7 have a green folder, Y8 orange, Y9 yellow, Y10 pink, Y11 blue etc etc. Photocopied w/s, lesson resources etc go in there. Also have a HW folder in the same colour - and so when kids bring HW in on loose sheets I shove it in the HW folder.

It means when I am looking for spare sheets for Y9 lesson or someone's handed in hw at least I know it's in the yellow folder...

www.whsmith.co.uk/products/whsmith-a4-document-wallets-pack-of-5/37958121


It does help.