Whether in the classroom, at home, or on our morning commute – we never have the time to do everything we want. Utilizing organization hacks in your middle school classroom can be the difference between a stressed or ready-to-go start for your day. We really need to improve our efficiency to let us have more school-free time at home.
If you need to take back more of your time, read on for my best middle school classroom organization hacks.
How should you arrange a middle school classroom?
Start with your goal for the space. If you want students focused on you, use simple rows; if you want collaboration, push desks into small groups. Add supply buckets for faster transitions, but know students will fiddle with anything in them. And keep clutter down, since anything left out invites disruption.
I decided to start here because, whether at the beginning of the year or at the end of the year, you can always improve and make a quick improvement. First, consider how your students are seated and your goal for this arrangement. If you have movable desks or tables, how do you want students to interact? Should they be focused on you at the front of the class? You may want to use simple rows. Are you expecting them to work collaboratively to solve problems and rely less on you? Consider pushing desks or tables together to make small groups.
Do students need to access class materials often? Consider having a bucket that can go on each table with commonly-used supplies for quicker transitions. I’ve used this method over the years and, while I like it, there are drawbacks. Students will play with any materials in there so make sure they are not going to be distracting. Students will also leave trash in the buckets.
Lastly, I’m going to give myself some advice and give a goal of mine this year: less clutter. I leave papers, recently used lab materials, and even my lunch around the room. You are just asking for a disruption whenever anything is left out that students can use when they are not supposed to.
How can you speed up your grade book?
Use a color and symbol code. I write minor grades in black, quizzes in blue, and major grades in red. For minor work I mark a check, check-minus, or X instead of scoring every answer. A circle in the box flags an absent student's make-up work so nothing slips through.
Keeping up with grades is a requirement of nearly every teacher. However, recording them doesn’t have to take a lot of time with these middle school classroom organization hacks. I use a simple code to show grades.
First, I like to use a color-coded system for my three grade categories. Minor grades (such as classwork grades, homework, ticket-out-the-doors, etc.) are written in black pen. Quiz grades are written in blue pen. Major grades (tests or projects) are written in red pen. I keep all three colors at my desk for easy access.
For minor grades (such as classwork grades, homework, ticket-out-the-doors, etc.), I grade with a simple system: check, check and a minus sign, or an X. A check mark denotes a complete grade (100%), a check minus means some amount I think appropriate for the activity (maybe an 75%), and an X means the student put in little effort.
For quizzes, tests, or projects, I put a checkmark for 100 and then use the percentage for anything less (95, 87, etc.). If a student is absent and will need to make up the grade, I make a large circle inside the box. This way, I can easily tell which assignments need to be made-up and then I can write the grade inside the circle when it is completed.
How do you make lesson planning faster?
Put clickable links to your files right in the lesson plan so you can open the exact activity you need in one click. Then keep a daily plan on a sticky note listing your activities in order, with time estimates if it helps. It only has to make sense to you.
Depending on your school’s expectations for lesson plans, you have some ways to make this quicker. The biggest thing that helped me reduce my time in this area is to add links to my lesson plan so I can click on it and access the file that I need for a specific activity. My school uses Office 365 so I can link to the URL of the file that will be needed. This makes it easy to share lesson plans and materials with your fellow teachers (as long as they have access to the files). This method should work using Google as well.
This next organization hack is one I use every day – a daily plan on a sticky note. It doesn’t need to make sense to anyone else except me. I write down the activities I will be using that day in order. This helps me know I have all the materials (printed copies and lab materials) for each class period. Sometimes, I include a time estimate so I can keep track of where I should be during the class period.
If you’d like to speed up your lesson planning, check out my NGSS units in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!
How should you organize your teacher desk?
Keep it simple. A no-frills water bottle is my most important item, since dehydration gave me headaches early on. I keep graded work visible as a reminder to hand it back, and a desk organizer holds my grade book, attendance notebook, and daily recordkeeping items so everything has a home.
Keeping a desk organized is not easy for me but I am doing better. One of the most important things on it is my water bottle. I noticed during my first few years as a teacher that I was always thirsty. I would get headaches from dehydration and just feel worse as the day went on. I finally got a simple, no-frills water bottle to keep on my desk. I know that I need to drink it one time before lunch and one time after.
I also keep my graded work on my desk. This is just to serve as a reminder for me to pass it back in a timely manner; otherwise, I simply forget about it. Seeing it next to my computer is a good reminder to do that at the beginning of class after I enter my attendance.
Lastly, I have a desk organizer where I keep my grade book, attendance notebook, and any other daily items I need for recordkeeping. I keep my smartboard remote, pens, and cloth there. I’m trying to keep any other items I do not use regularly out of this area.
How do you start class efficiently?
Write the day's plan on the board instead of answering "what are we doing today?" for every class. Then open with a science bellringer that reviews basic skills in a fun, low-stakes way. It gets students working right away while you handle attendance and individual needs.
As you are standing at the door between class change, do your students ask, “what are we doing today?” as they walk in? When I first started teaching, I would answer with our schedule and say it four times between each class.
Well, it only took me a few years to realize I could write it on the board. This is a great way to get students started on a task and keep up good habits like writing down upcoming tests.
The first thing I do in class each day is a science bellringer. I’ve used a few different styles over the years but have settled on one that reviews basic science skills in a fun way. From making observations, writing a hypothesis, and even playing 20 questions (always the class favorite), I find students really enjoy these. This lets students practice these skills while I handle attendance, individual student needs, and so forth. After a set of ten, I collect their responses for grading.
How can you make the most of your planning time?
Follow a routine. First prep tomorrow's materials, then empty your turn-in box and record grades, then handle only urgent emails and mark the rest unread for later. Once a week I build the next week's plan. Getting all of that done in one period took years, but it keeps work at school.
Planning time is one of your greatest tools for keeping schoolwork at school (when it is not taken up by a meeting). I follow a similar pattern each day.
First, pull up my lesson plan (which includes links to any materials I need to print) and get ready for the next day. There is no fear like that of a middle school teacher that realizes they do not have a plan for the day when kids start showing up in 10 minutes. I’ve been there and it’s no fun. Take care of tomorrow’s activities so you won’t have to think about it in the morning.
Next, I empty out my turn-in box where students have placed things I need to grade (more on that in the next section). I write them in my grade book and put them in the return box on my desk.
Then, I reply to any necessary emails. If it is not urgent, it can wait until later. I like to keep any emails that need to be addressed later as “unread” so I can see them more easily. After reading the email and deciding I can deal with it later, I click the “mark as unread” button. If possible, I come back to my email at the end of the day and clear that out.
Finally, at some point during the week (usually Wednesday or Thursday so I know what I’ve been able to cover this week) I make the lesson plan for the next week. This is why I like linking to the activities. I can think through the plan this week but have easy access to them next week when I may have forgotten exactly which folder they live in.
If I can get all of that done during my planning, I have less to do at home. Realistically, it took me four or five years to get to the point where I can do almost all of this in my one planning period a day. If you are new(er) to teaching, it may not be possible yet but you will see ways to improve your efficiency over time.
If you would like ready-to-use materials to fill your lesson plans, check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I have units for every middle school NGSS standard!
What are the best tricks for faster grading?
Do more quick assessments of minor work with the check/check-minus system instead of checking every answer. For tests, face all papers the same way and grade one section at a time to stay consistent and spot misconceptions. And never staple test pages if you can avoid it, since flipping 100+ papers wastes time.
This is probably the area I’ve changed the most over the years. I do more “quick assessments” of minor assignments like classwork. This is where my check/check-minus system comes into play. I don’t have to check each and every answer – I give a subjective grade on their effort.
When it comes to tests and quizzes, there are a few tricks I’ve learned. First, I place all the papers with the same side facing up. Then, I grade them one section (or possibly the whole page) at a time so I can be consistent and look for common misconceptions in student answers. I circle any incorrect answers (just the number) with a pen or marker. After I finish a page, I write either the number of questions missed or the point total lost on the bottom of the page. If there are no errors, I put a check so I know I’ve graded it.
I never print a test or quiz with stapled pages if at all possible. While it sounds like no big deal, flipping a page for 100+ tests to get to the next page is way too time-consuming. Then, you have to flip them back over when placing the final grade on the paper. Also, if you use a darker marker or pen, you can read the number missed (or the check) on the back page and not even have to flip it over to write the grade at the top.
I truly feel that efficiency in managing your school tasks is one of the real keys to avoiding burnout. While a lot is expected of us, we have to guard our available time without students to get as much done as possible. Any place you can claw back some of that time is a win for us.