Agenda Book

Last week I talked about ways to keep student supplies organized but there are definitely other ways to keep students organized and on track. One of those ways is through the use of an agenda book. Some schools use them but many do not... I'm definitely a part of the camp that thinks they still serve a valuable purpose. In fact, if I had a class of my own I would be having my students write a couple of things that we did during the day whether it was homework or not (and of course I would also have them write in their actual homework too). Then I would sign it each afternoon before my students went home and have someone at home sign it to indicate that they've read it.

I think agenda books can be such a good tool for students that even I, as a substitute teacher, still use one today

Substitute teacher agenda book

I pick mine up from the Dollar Store at the beginning of each year... I'm even fussy as to which one I get because I need one that has a calendar view page and the weekly pages to keep me organized.

As a teacher I also found myself way more organized the times I used a day plan for myself. When I was teaching French I spent some time after work each Thursday to update my day plan for the following week and put things into file folder boxes that they students would need each day. Of course my plans would often change as we actually did the lessons but it required a lot less prep time during the week if I spent a bit of time doing it one day after school.

One of the divisions that I work in is striving to use less paper and so they use Showbie instead. The teacher just goes over what their last period class did throughout the day and any homework they have and updates it for them. They can view it at home and their parents get alerted when something gets posted.