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About next year...

Mrs. Ramos
Apr 23, 2016
3 min read

I know, I know. We haven't finished this school year, and I'm already thinking about next year. Crazy,

right? Specially with state testing around the corner! But don't tell me that you don't do it too. Of course! You're already thinking how to set your room for next year, what theme you're using, how can you plan your small groups, how can you incentive appropriate behavior, and manage undesired behavior.

The truth of the matter is, that by the end of this school year, you’ll be so excited about summer, that you’ll forget about the things that you wanted to improve for next year. You will be so sucked up enjoying your summer (and Oh, you deserve it!) that the new school year will creep up on you, and you will repeat all of your mistakes all over again.

In order to avoid that, and leave space for new mistakes (We are humans, and humans make mistakes, although the general public may think we are some sort of machines), please consider a few thoughts. Take a moment to make a list. If you prefer the old school method, write your list in your journal. If you’re more techie, like me, you might open a Google Doc, and type it down. Just make sure, that wherever you store it, have it in an easy accessible place, where you can retrieve it, and USE IT, before the next school year begins.

I already have a few thoughts of my own, so I’ll share my list with you.

Set my students Google accounts and passwords, as soon as the year starts. That will make it easier to set other accounts for them, like Google Classroom, Classcraft, Fluency Tutor, Newsela. This is highly necessary, since many of the apps I use, have the capacity to import my Google contacts.
Make sure that my three-way partners and I, have a standard behavior management plan. It will leave no place for surprises for our students, and will set a clear sense that my partners and me are a team, and speak the same language in terms of discipline.
I will set routines and procedures that are constant, and that will make my students more independent, and accountable for their classroom jobs.
Train my students on library management. This has taken a lot of my time. Students should be responsible of setting the library, maintaining it organized, and making sure to turn back books to where they belong.
Device a way of having constant contact to my students parents. I’ll consider an online newsletter, sms through Remind, or announcements through Classcraft. Hard copies of newsletters are ruled out in a school district that’s going paperless. Plus, it’s a lot easier to send an online announcements, that making who knows how many copies.
Organize my Google Drive files so I can easily find content and resources to use in my class.
And the one I struggle the most, organize my file cabinets. My classroom looks neat and organized, but my file cabinets are a real mess. If I purposely make tabs for hanging folders, so I can file class material, students information, and all that I need, it would be easier to find important documents, and reports.
Find an efficient way to store anchor charts.