Systems

Every day I am amazed at exactly how much I learn in my classroom...what to teach, how to teach, what to say, what not to say (a big one), how things work, what doesn't work...the list is never ending. This past Friday I spent a much needed day away from my classroom and instead I was with approximately 50 new teachers at a "training day". The amount of information that I learned in a few hours was overwhelming yet extremely helpful in making me become a better teacher. After the training I swung by my old school (I miss Peter Kirk so much) and was able to spend some quality time with an impressive 6th grade team. I can't find any words to describe how thankful I am in the time they offered to share valuable information.

The most important thing I pulled away from my full day of training and advice from veteraned 6th grade teachers is to implement systems for EVERYTHING. In thinking about this, it's crazy just how many systems are/could/should be in place in a classroom. There needs to be a system for everything and I've learned that there needs to be systems in place that will make my life easier as a teacher. Here's a list to name a few...

• how the kids enter the room
• how the kids take attendance
• where they put their personal belongings
• how and when they can talk in class
• how and when they can get out of their seat
• how and when they can use the restroom
• how they line up to go to p.e., music, library
• how papers get to and from home
• how communication is created to and from home
• how the garbage is taken out
• how the floors get cleaned
• how the class library gets organized
• how papers get passed out and collected
• where class work and homework is turned in
• how desks get cleaned
• how the sink area gets cleaned
• how the community supplies are shared, in place and restocked
• when someone is absent how they find the work that they missed
• when I need their attention, what I do and how the kids respond
• how the students walk through the hallway
• the noise level expectations for class work (independently, in partners, in small groups)
• how information gets relayed to the office or other areas within the school
• expectations for grading and how the students should grade honestly and independently
• ...the list is never ending and I know I'm missing 1,000 things!

There are so many systems that I can do to make my life easier as a teacher. Especially when teaching 6th graders...they can be responsible for almost everything in the classroom. Now the trick is, figuring out how to do that!