All of the products I mention below are linked in this post. Any Amazon links are to my own Amazon store, meaning that if you click these links and buy anything through my blog, I earn a small commission – this will not cost you any extra. The products in my Amazon store are all things I have bought and used myself and would recommend to others regardless. I would suggest checking elsewhere before you buy though as you may find these things cheaper in other places. Normally I try to do a lot of my preparation for the following school year in school before the end of the Summer term, so that I don’t have to worry about it during the holidays and can just enjoy the break with my family, however Covid19 put a stop to all that this year and home life and work life have merged somewhat. Below are some of the things that I’m doing/have done and some of the things I've bought to help me feel more organised. Due to the pandemic I feel like there are so many things out of our control at the moment, but there are lots of things you can still do to stay organised. This is not an exhaustive list - and there are some things I'll still need to do when I return to work and get my class lists e.g. seating plans. Keep Your Resources Organised I save all of my resources on a USB stick - I’ve had this one for years and it has only just died on me this week - probably because I kept removing it without safely ejecting it first. However I know lots of people prefer to keep their resources on OneDrive. I organise my USB into folders and subfolders and I try to clearly name each file. For example: Resources > MFL > Spanish > KS3 > Holidays > (folders) Holiday Accommodation - Translation Grid (resource) My Desk in a Bag I am used to having to move between classrooms, as returning to work from maternity leave part-time last year meant that I no longer had a classroom of my own. However, I would like to be a bit more organised this year. I loved Claire Wilson’s ‘Desk in a bag’ idea that she shared on Instagram (@_leolanguages) and have decided I will do something similar this year. I bought these beautiful pastel folders and I will have one for each day that I am in school (I work part-time). There are five sections in each folder and I have labelled these using my Dymo Label Maker and pink tape. I also have an extra folder for anything tutor related, plus rewards (bitmoji stickers and postcards), spare worksheets, seating plans and paper. In the bag I’ll also keep: my teacher planner, pencil case, purse, phone, keys, bottle of water and some Jakeman’s throat sweets just in case. Lanyard I keep my USB stick on a Cath Kidston lanyard, along with my French and Spanish flag pin and my lanyard pen. I also love these Bic pens, but I have lost so many of these by attempting to hang them onto my lanyard. The Positive Teacher company has some cute little badges and I bought a “Head of Year” one for a colleague who will be starting her new role in September. I also bought some cheap and cheerful hand sanitiser bottles that attach to a lanyard, for me and the girls in my department (B&M). My planner Luckily our school normally buys us both a teacher planner and a diary. This year I have decided to splurge and treat myself to a Positive Teacher Company planner instead and after receiving mine I have already decided I will be buying one again next year. I also bought the planner stickers from the same company and have been using these to make a note of key dates from our school calendar ie. inset days, themed days. After seeing the idea on Instagram I have also marked out my holidays using washi tape. I’m not even going to bother with a diary this year – I’ll just keep everything in the planner. Before the Summer I made a note of my usernames and passwords (well, part of them anyway in case anyone decides to pinch my planner!), as well as the photocopier code. There’s nothing worse than coming back in September and locking yourself out of your account after typing in your password incorrectly too many times. In the assessment pages I’ll have each student’s name, tutor group and target grade (where applicable). I’ll also colour code any students who are PP, EAL, SEN – thank you to MFL teacher ‘theclassroomcoffeebuzz’ for this idea – do check out her Instagram and YouTube video for more planner inspo. In the front of my planner I’ll also be keeping the AQA mark schemes and a list of activities for each skill to help me with my lesson planning when I am lacking inspiration. I know many people on Twitter have already done their own versions of these ideas sheets, including Miss Jones MFL and Aurelie. Timetable I always type up my timetable on Word, because it’s easier to edit it if it changes. I colour code this so that, for example all my lessons with each class are the same colour. I also include lesson times (this will be especially important this year with staggered breaks for the different year groups) and any duties, morning briefings, assemblies. I add information at the bottom of the page including: -how many students per class so that I know how many sheets I need to print off -info about shared classes: when they have the group, who’s in charge of marking the books -when their vocab tests are I then print several copies in colour – one my noticeboard in the MFL office, one for my planner, one for my workspace at home and a smaller version to add to my lanyard. Teacher Toolkit I store all of my stationery in these Vonhaus drawers which I will keep on my desk in the MFL office as I like the idea of everything having a place. I created the labels using Canva (free premium accounts for teachers). I love buying stationery and I have spent a fair bit of money treating myself to new things during lockdown, some of which I’ve shared on my social media pages and in this blog. I hope that other people don’t see these things and feel pressure to go away and buy them. You can be organised without spending lots of money on beautiful folders and label makers. You don't need highlighters in 30 different pastel shades to be a good teacher and you certainly don't need to learn calligraphy and spend a fiver on a special brush pen so that you can write neatly in your planner (yes, I have actually done this). If you want to buy these things and it makes you feel happy, then go for it - treat yourself, buy the beautiful stickers and the personalised pencil case. Just remember though that YOU are the best resource - you and your amazing brain that's got you to where you are today.
Dannielle x
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AuthorYorkshire lass living down South || Part-time teacher of MFL || Proud wife, and mummy of the best boys || Sharing MFL teaching ideas and resources || Creator of @morganmfl || Author of 100 Ideas for Secondary Teachers: Outstanding MFL Lessons. Archives
October 2021
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