Episode 2

This week's episode of The Weekly Planner looks at classroom organization and reviews key areas that educators should focus on when setting up and designing their classroom.

Transcript

Today, on THE WEEKLY PLANNER, we will look at classroom organization.

A couple weeks ago, I on social media and came across a video from Jordan Peterson:

SOUND CLIP OF JORDAN PETERSON

Peterson’s message really hits on the core, fundamental value that organization has on our mindset. Our classroom has that very chaotic potential that we have the ability to manipulate. In our function as an educator, room organization plays a huge role in setting the overall mindset of everyone within the classroom. With a good mindset, many amazing things can happen in the classroom

Any classroom across the nation has a melting pot of students from different backgrounds. Each member of that class brings with them a bucket filled with different social, emotional, and physical differences that can create a unique experience that is never replicated from class to class or school year to school year.

As an educator, room organization sets the tone, the standard, and the expectation of how the classroom functions. Room organization is what holds our students together and helps to ensure our students have a rich and productive educational experience. Today’s episode of THE WEEKLY PLANNER will take a look at areas to consider when organizing our classrooms.

For me, when thinking about classroom organization, the first thing that comes to mind is the way in which an educator has their furniture organized. A classroom is a community and the way the desks or tables are organized should represent that. As an educator there are multiple choices in how we can organize our desks and tables. These include:

• a horseshoe format
• a roundtable format
• a group pod format
• a pair pod format
• a traditional format

Different formats work for different dynamics; however, formats like the horseshoe and roundtable can help establish a large group, family community while group and pair pod formats can help students build smaller communities within the classroom. The traditional format allows for students to have their own individual ‘island.’ With all that said, the size of a given classroom can have a huge effect on the format chosen. The use of supplemental furniture including bookshelves, carpet areas for morning and closing circles, and small kidney or circle tables for support and related services must also be taken into consideration when choosing the right arrangement of desks for the classroom. Another thing to consider when deciding the formation and placement of furniture are the different walkways for students and teachers to move around. In the end, how the teacher sets up the given space with the furniture given can help establish an organized classroom ready for success.

A second area to consider when organizing your classroom are the jobs and roles established. In order for society to work, each member has a duty to work some form of a job and sustain some type of role. In a classroom, this is no different and providing students jobs and roles provide them a sense of purpose and belonging. The power of jobs and roles in a classroom cannot be underestimated. Students want to feel loved and needed. A job and role can further push that feeling of being needed in the class. Teacherslovelists.com provides 40 classroom jobs that teachers can consider when organizing their classroom jobs and roles. Some roles that I have seen have a huge impact on establishing and maintaining a well oiled, well managed, organized classroom include:

• the line leader and line ender 
• the library helpers
• the paper passer
• the office runner
• the clean up crew
• the recess helper
• the whiteboard manager
• the classroom ambassador
• bathroom monitor

Always consider switching roles and jobs week to week or day to day depending on the group dynamic and keep in mind.  The important thing is that every student gets to experience every role and every job. Experiencing each job and role helps each student see the classroom from a different lense.  Those experiences help our students build together an organized classroom that works together as a community.

A third area that plays an important role in classroom organization are the routines and procedures that are established. From the first day of school to the last day of school, an organized classroom is built upon the habits that students form and maintain through our routines and procedures.

Use of hand signals is one routine that can help minimize distractions from our active teaching and discussions. A chart reminder is crucial to making sure hand signals work consistently. Weareteachers.com provides 8 hand signals that help establish good routines in your class.

Consider transitions when establishing routines and procedures. How should students line up? How should students walk in the hallway? How should students get and put away items? Every movement in class requires an established routine and procedure because without it confusion and disruptions can occur more frequently. Keep in mind, predictably and stability allows for calm and smooth transitions. 

Three other routines and procedures to consider are bell ringers, or morning work, turning in homework and work throughout the day, getting up to get a tissue or sharpen a pencil, and the way students are greeted every morning.

Schedules and calendars play an important role in establishing routines and procedures. Students need to know what is coming next whether it be hour by hour, day by day, week by week, and month by month. Schedules and calendars provide all the information necessary so students know what is next.

When establishing a daily schedule, consider the way that the day starts and ends in the classroom. In my first couple years of teaching, I was asked to attend a Responsive Classroom seminar. One evidence based approach that was discussed during the Responsive Classroom training was in the Morning Meeting format. In Responsive Classroom, the “Morning Meeting is an engaging way to start each day, build a strong sense of community, and set children up for success socially and academically. Each morning, students and teachers gather together in a circle for twenty to thirty minutes and interact with one another during four purposeful components including the greeting, sharing, group activity, and morning message”. In the end, the Morning Meeting helps to set the tone for the day. A closing meeting plays an important role in allowing the students time to reflect on the school day. 

Another area that the Responsive Classroom training discussed were Energizers. When inserted into the daily schedule, Energizers allow for a few minutes of playful moving, laughing, chanting, or singing that promote a more productive learning environment. 

In the end, classroom organization is closely aligned to the routines and procedures that are established. When routines and procedures are maintained, respected, and followed by all, the school day runs more smoothly and effectively for the class and the people within it.

Author and retired educator, Chrisina Scalise, once said, “organization isn’t about perfection. It’s about efficiency, reducing stress and clutter, saving time and money, and improving the overall quality of life.” Classroom organization plays an important function in reducing stress, saving time, and improving the overall quality of education provided. As educators, our classroom is a stage that requires a deliberate focus and attention to detail. The way furniture is set up, the jobs and roles that are in place, and the routines and procedures that are established all play a part in sustaining and maintaining an organized classroom.