May 28, 2012

My Teacher Notebook

One of the things I do every summer is tweak, edit, and modify resources for next year. I'm sure this is a universal teacher hobby over the summer. This past year I began using an all-in-one-place teacher notebook and I'm expanding it for next year. Here's your own personal tour :)

my cover

when you flip open the cover you are greeted with wonderful little tabs 
custom made by yours truly.
these make my heart happy. :)

section one: Important Information.
This includes my contact, school map, master schedule, etc. 

 section two: Year at a Glance
 this section includes monthly calendars with topics for each day.
I LOVE having my year completely planned out before the kiddos ever arrive.
Of course some tweaking will take place along the way, but this helps ensure that I will get to all the glorious info my students need to learn. It also makes weekly lesson planning much easier.

section three: Unit Outlines
 this section includes general topics per 9-weeks...
 
(this page is nowhere near completed yet. it will be complete after my summer CCSS work)




 ...and the standards that are included in each section for quick reference.

section four: Lesson Plans
this section is currently empty since it's summer.
I'll do a post and show you my personal lesson planning template some other time.

section five: Cooperative Grouping
 this is my go-to section for my Kagan grouping info.
This page is how I group students by level before I create cooperative teams. Their names and assessment scores go in the first two columns, I then decide which category they fall into for our current content (high, high medium, low medium, low). 




This second page is how I keep track of my groupings throughout the year. Next to the #1-7 I write down the team names that my students come up with. This is an entire activity that helps promote unity, team pride, and interdependence within teams. I then list out which H, HM, LM, and L students are in each team. 
I generally rotate groups every 6 weeks, or three times per semester. I use one page per class period per semester. It helps me make sure students are not in the exact same groupings. I also record notes about which students should or should not be grouped together in the future.



 section six: PLC Notes
this is pretty self-explanatory

You probably noticed that I don't have a section for grades or parent contact, two very popular sections in most teacher binders. Since I teach at the secondary level, I have anywhere between 120-150 students each year. I also take a LOT of grades throughout the year to continually monitor learning and development. Therefore, my grades get their very own gradebook. Here is my cover for next year :)
This gradebook is often stuck inside my notebook and carried around that way, but I love having it separate.

My parent contacts also get their very own binder. Maybe I'll do a post about that some other time.

Do you have a teacher binder? What are you favorite parts?


11 comments:

  1. Great post! Thanks so much for linking up at the 5-Star Blogger Challenge!

    Charity
    The Organized Classroom Blog

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  2. I love your organization! We have a teacher binder in my district that is already divided into sections for us. =)

    I of course have several other binders too!

    I am your newest follower and I would love for you to come visit me when you get the chance.


    Heather
    Heather's Heart

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  3. I too am spending some summer hours "tweaking." I appreciate this post on organization and I intend to follow your lead. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Although I have always had a teacher's notebook, I really like some of your ideas and will be "tweaking" them to fit my needs. Thanks for sharing...

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  5. I have recently started using a teacher's notebook. I am also tweaking it this summer. I also teach algebra. I will be incorporating Common Core standards and would love to learn more about what you are doing with them.

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  6. I love your cover pages and tabs! Any chance you would be willing to share your templates?? Thanks so much :-)

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  7. Thanks 'The Elliots'! To make my tabs, I created the pages themselves in publisher and then made the tabs as separate circles in publisher. All the tab circles were on one page. I cut out the little circles and taped them to the back of each full size divider page in the positions that I wanted. I then sent each page (with tabs taped on) through the laminator and VOILA! I hope that made some sense...

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  8. Do you have an electronic version on your Kagan grouping sheets? (The one page with everyone's name and level and the one that tracks groups) Those are fantastic and I would love to utilize those this year.

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  9. I start my first teaching job in January and this is SO helpful. These are the types of things I would not have thought of until the last minute! So helpful! Thank you!

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