First, you'll gonna need some baskets, a empty filing drawer, and some hanging files, enough for each one of your students. The baskets are for the papers coming IN to you. I have one marked "To File", "To Copy", and "To Pass Back". The file basket I'll get to in a minute. Let's focus on the 2nd and 3rd baskets first. (Sorry you can't "see" these things in action, but it's summer and all my stuff is in one GIANT jumble in my dining room due to once again switching schools!)
"To Copy" is a basket that when I'm planning my lessons for the coming week, and if I find a worksheet that I want to use in my lessons, I'll put a sticky note with the following information on it: how many I need, what color paper (if I get a choice) and with front-to-back, or 1-sided. My mom, who is a saint with nonexistent hearing and bad knees, comes in once a week to photocopy anything I need. It's her way of staying involved and gives her purpose. All I do is cook dinner for her once a week and let her play around with the Bean. Who am I to argue over a such a deal? Anyway, it comes back to me all neatly paper-cliped together and ready for the week. If you have a parent volunteer or a room mother, look into training them on the copy machine. Saves a ton of time :)
"To Pass Back" is a basket of student work and notes from the office that need to go home to the parents. The student work is work that the students have done, and I have checked, but is not for grade. I'll put a check mark in the top corner to signify that I've indeed seen it, and sometimes if a sheet is full of errors or I see the students not trying his/her best, I'll make them redo it and indicate that on the paper. Office notes such as "School will closed on Monday due to the holiday" and "Sign your kids up for (such and such activity)" or "Buy your one-of-kind, everybody else has them too, t-shirt for the month of October" handouts. This basket is emptied daily by my student helpers. They pass back all the papers in the basket when we are readying to go home for the day.
"To File" is the one that needs the most attention. That's where your filing drawer and hanging folders come in. Each student has a hanging folder where I place all the work that I have used as a graded work into. Every two weeks, usually on a Friday, I'll print out progress reports and to the back of them I'll staple everything in the student folder. This serves a few purposes: 1) the parents can see exactly how their student received the grade they did 2) eliminates parent-teacher conferences where the parents are not happy about their student's grades. It virtually has made those angry parents all but disappear. I'll still get one or two whiting to see how Student X can raise their grade and I will not only give them a second chance on some of the assignments, but resources that they can use at home (websites and links) to practice with their child. Most are just lip service on the part of the parent, but I'm careful to document everything and my life with stressful parents has evaporated like Lake Mead. I must warn you though - I carefully laid all my grading steps out in a powerpoint presentation that I give to parents at open house. This way, they know upfront that not every piece of work their child does will be for grade.
I also grade twice a week: Tuesdays and Thursdays. Those are the days that I have nothing going on in the mornings or prep periods at school (no staff/RTI/Grade level meetings) that could divide my time elsewhere. As soon as a piece of student work has ben entered in the grade book, it goes in the "To File" basket. When I get a few extra minutes here and there, I file them away. No fuss, no mess. If it ends in a pile, at least it's in a basket and looks like I'm on top of things from an administrator point of view!
Well, that's it. Easy paper management for beginners. For years I struggled with the mountainous hills of paperwork stacking up in not-so-neat piles on every flat surface of my classroom. I felt like a hoarder or better yet, Ebenezer Scrooge with his piles of money laid out everywhere. Only my piles were getting me nowhere but down.
Now, no more piles here and no more piles there. A few simple baskets, clearly labeled and the paper clutter has disappeared like birthday cake at a Weight Watchers meeting. (Apparently I am into smilies today.)
Coming up on tomorrows' broadcast: Spelling Activities! Y-A-Y!
S-H-A-U-N-A :)
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