A stroke of genius?????

The ongoing theme of this blog has been organization. I've been teaching for 9 years, but I haven't found a way to organize my stuff that works really, really well for me. Every single year, I struggle finding things I know I have or recreating the wheel because I've forgotten I have something. So I've been working really, really hard to get organized once and for all with a system that works for me.

I know that I need to have things written/printed and at my fingertips in order to make good use of them. If I have to go online and look it up it won't happen. I've played around with binders and didn't really use them after I set them up. The last 2 years I did find great success with planners. I would divide the day up into my classes - 4 each day - and jot notes on what was to happen that day. That worked great!! As long as I planned ahead. Too many days I would get to school and the planner was blank. That left me scrambling to figure out what I'm teaching and how I'm teaching it. But when it worked it was by far the best system I've used.

I used to use a bullet journal in my private life very successfully. A bullet journal is what allowed me to orchestrate a  trans-pacific move with 3 animals, 2 people, 2 houses, and a bunch of stuff. So in early May, I purchased a book to try using a bullet journal for school. It kind of works, but I can see the limitations are going to be like the planner - if I don't use it, it will become a nightmare.

I like my online lesson planning, but I don't like having to go online to view them and to get the resources. I need to have my resources handy, in a place I can get to them quickly, and have a written account of what I'm doing from day to day.

I was going to use binders and I bought 4 nice ones at Costco just for that. But, they don't hold the sheet protectors so that I can see the dividers. I need to either, be able to see the dividers or limit what I put in those binders.

So that is my conundrum. What do I use to organize my stuff so that I can use it easily through the year?

What about a notebook? I could use the notebook as a bullet journal type system where I can keep track of my lesson. If it's a regular notebook, it will have holes in it and I can keep it in the binder with my resources. I will have room in the notebook for detailed information on my lessons, maybe even just print out the digital ones, and lots of room for notes and changes. Of course, with a notebook, I won't necessarily have to print out all my resources. I will have them listed in the lessons and as long as I make notes that I need to print/copy them I can do it before class. I think this may work. I could keep a binder that has the resources for one unit at a time. That way I don't have a lot to keep but I have what I need handy. That way if I don't update for a day or a week, I'll still have things ready to go and won't get all flustered. This may be brilliant.

Okay, I'm going to give this a shot today.  I'm going to give some serious layout thought to my notebook and mock on up for chemistry. If it works, I'll make one for real.

Okay, I'm off to work on this.