Organizing Across Classrooms: Tips for Keeping Materials Organized When Teaching in Multiple Spaces
Starting in a new district this year has been a great opportunity, but teaching across two different schools—one high school and one middle school—has also been a unique challenge. At the high school, I have one class, but at the middle school, I teach 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classes in multiple rooms. My high school classroom is shared with a Spanish teacher, and my middle school classes rotate between a Health room and another French teacher’s room. I’ve made sure to have a space in each of these classrooms where I can keep our needed materials and supplies. With all of these moving parts, keeping students’ materials organized has been tricky, but here are some strategies I’ve found helpful to stay organized across spaces.
High School: Keeping It Simple
High school organization is relatively straightforward. Students bring their own materials, so I keep it simple. I do have a basket for their Portfolio folders to prevent them from getting lost, and I also let a couple of students who struggle with organization keep their daily folders and notebooks in the basket. This ensures that everyone has the necessary materials ready for class, even if organization isn’t their strong suit.
Middle School: Organizing Materials for Multiple Grades in Multiple Spaces
Middle school is a different story. Most of my 6th, 7th, and 8th graders are still developing their organizational and executive functioning skills, so remembering materials can be a challenge. To avoid the daily “I can’t do my work because my materials are in my locker/at home/I lost them” conversation, I keep all of their class materials in the classroom. Here’s the system I’m using this year to stay organized with different classes in different spaces.
6th grade baskets
6th Grade Baskets
My 6th graders rotate every five days as art of an exploratory program, so I keep things simple with a single packet for each rotation. I have two 6th-grade classes per rotation, so each class has its own basket for storing packets. A couple of students are responsible for distributing and collecting these packets, which helps them take ownership of their materials. When I moved to a different classroom this quarter, it was easy to take these baskets and find a new space for them.
7th and 8th Grade Materials
Since my 7th and 8th graders have French all year, I’ve set up a more comprehensive system for them. They need three materials for class: a folder, a notebook, and a three-prong folder for their portfolios. Read more about classroom materials. Here’s how I’m managing each of these:
Portfolio Folders: The three-prong folders are reserved for student portfolios, and I store them separately in plastic drawers organized by class. This makes it easy to keep their portfolios safe and in one place, so they don’t clutter up our everyday materials.
Folders and Journals: For their daily materials, I’ve organized their folders and journals into four plastic crates—one for each class. Each student places their folder on the front desk of their row at the end of class, and I collect them by row and stack them in the crate. This method keeps things organized and makes it easier to pass out materials at the start of each class. Now that I have a solid system in place, I’m considering making this a student job so they can take more responsibility.
Luckily, I am able to stay in the same classroom for all of my 7th and 8th-grade classes. If I had to switch rooms, I’d still use the crate system for everyday materials and perhaps a separate basket for the portfolios in each classroom.
Portfolio Drawers
Crates of folders for each class
Finding What Works Across Spaces
Teaching in multiple schools and classrooms requires extra planning and flexibility, but these strategies have helped me stay organized and reduce the chances of students misplacing their materials. These systems give my students the support they need to keep track of their work and allow us to maximize our learning time together. If you’re also teaching in multiple classrooms, I hope these ideas help you stay organized too!
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When teaching in multiple classrooms and multiple schools it can be a challenge to stay organized. In this post I discuss how I am keeping my students’ materials organized in my different classrooms.