If you are anything like me, your classroom is always a mess. And it’s basically impossible to keep up with. In my case, it really has nothing to do with the kids. They actually do a great job cleaning up after themselves (for the most part). Over the years I’ve picked up a few habits for keeping my classroom neat and mostly organized. Well, at the very least I’m not spending every prep period cleaning anymore.
Getting Rid of Clutter in Your Classroom
There are plenty of things in your classroom that aren’t used everyday. In fact, I bet a lot of those things are seasonal! All of your stuff from the fall that your students don’t need or use anymore should be packed up and put away! You can always go back and grab it if it’s truly needed. For me, it’s my Rutherford model, which is basically a giant hula-hoop I hang on the wall (and use for a lab). We don’t need it the whole year, and putting it away helps me to deal with some of my classroom clutter. Consider packing up these things in your classroom and I’m sure you’ll feel a bit better.
You should also get rid of the things you simply don’t use. You have to be really honest with yourself here about what is used and what isn’t. Either email the staff to see if anybody else wants it, or dump it in the faculty room with a note on it that it’s up for grabs. Move that stuff over to a teacher that actually will get some use out of it and for you: a less cluttered classroom.
Classroom Paper Flow
This was something that took me a LONG time to figure out. Every single teacher has a different way to organize their papers and I was taking lessons from a teacher who “micro-organized.” It was way to detailed for the Type B part of my brain. It would take me so much time to try to organize everything into separate files, boxes and piles that I couldn’t manage. The papers would be spread ALL OVER MY ROOM. Once I found a paper flow method for my classroom that made sense, my classroom clutter diminished overnight. Spoiler: It all went into one bin, and I stamped everything in the box at the end of each day. That told me the date it was submitted so I didn’t have to worry about the late work component.
All those old papers your students never got to, or extra copies of things leftover? Throw them into a drawer or bin and save them as sub plans. Sometimes I have class sets that I ask the sub to take out and distribute. Other times, my students shop through extras and they each get to practice something old they’ve already learned. It’s a great way to get those papers used up, and used effectively instead of getting mixed into your eventually pile.
Deal with the Eventually Pile
I’m guilty of having a pile of papers in my classroom that I don’t feel like dealing with. I call it my “eventually pile” since it’s a pile of things I’ll get to eventually. I often throw out most of the contents of the eventually pile when I get to finally dealing with it. Take this as a reminder to deal with your eventually pile.
Interested in dealing with the mountain of post-its on your desk. Try this post-it pile brain dump file I have for you. It’s a great way to organize all of your notes and prevent those post its from falling on to the floor and finding their way to the garbage can. Let this be the end of classroom clutter!
