5 Ways to Stay Organized as a Teacher ·

When teachers struggle with classroom organization, most of the time that person is struggling with how to stay organized as a teacher. Teachers will spend a lot of time in the middle of the year trying to get “reorganized” for the new calendar year, only to see that their efforts are wasted, yet again. In this post, I share five steps you can take to ensure all that hard work of getting organized is not in vain!

Stay organized as a teacher by implementing these 5 steps. Use these strategies to help organize routines and papers in your elementary classroom.

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There are so many different ways to ensure organization in your classroom.

These ideas are things that I have been using in my classroom since, almost, day one. The tips I share here are not the “end all be alls” for staying organized, but it’s a start.

In fact, I’d love to hear some of your suggestions! Comment below and let me know what you do to keep your classroom organized.

5 Ways to Stay Organized as a Teacher

You can check out the video version below or keep on reading if you are more of a quick scan reader kinda person.

(I’ve started making videos because everyone in the blogging world is talking about how popular videos are, but if I am being completely honest… I hate watching videos, I’d much rather read what you have to say! So I offer both!)

1.Give Everything a Home

If all of your things have a home to reside in and you know where that home is, you have no need for piles to pile up or for stuff to sit around waiting for you to get to it later.

If you tend to get stuff and set it to the side to deal with later, then get a box/bin and label it “deal with later.” Now that stuff has a home.

Stay organized as a teacher by implementing these 5 steps. A "deal with later" box helps teachers manage papers in the classroom.

2. Bins, Bins, Bins and More Bins!

Go ahead and invest in bins. In a lot of bins! (Here is a list of my favorite bins and organizing resources.)

When they match, that’s great. But for inside your cabinets, don’t worry about them matching.

The bins, boxes, crates, storage containers are what make the homes for all of your things.

Stay organized as a teacher by implementing these 5 steps. Use bins in your classroom to organize student materials and teacher materials.

Once you get your bins, be sure to label them. Again, they do not have to be cutesy labels from TPT. Sure, cute labels make things more cohesive but if that’s not your thing, don’t stress about it! Seriously! Not worth it!

3. Organize Your Cabinets

I cannot stress this one enough. I have written about this on my blog in three different posts and created two videos about cabinet organization.

(Get all the cabinet organization blogs + videos here.)

Two photos of the inside of a classroom cabinet organized by bins and boxes.

It really is so so important. If your cabinets are organized then that likely means everything in them has a home (see #1).

There are five pages dedicated to all the ways you can (and should!) organize your classroom cabinets in the Classroom Organization Guidebook.

Four chapters inside the Classroom Organization Guidebook. Classroom Set Up Teaching ResourcesStaying Organized Student Materials

You can get all the cabinet organization details in the Classroom Organization Guidebook.

And…this also means File Cabinets should be organized as well!!! In this day in age, I don’t really use my filing cabinet much because everything is digital. But I do break down how I organize my file cabinet and maintain it in this video!

4. Establish Routines for Papers

Organize classroom papers with the Classroom Paper Organization Course. Button: "Enroll Now"

You are going to need routines for all kinds of papers in your classroom:

routines for student papers
routines for teacher papers
routines for graded papers
routines for lesson plan materials
routines for those “I thought you might like to have this” papers

Giving all of these papers a home is key to establishing routines and not misplacing things!

Inside the Classroom Paper Organization Course, I teach you exactly how to clean out and organize all those papers lying around your classroom.

Plus, we develop classroom paper routines for all of those routines I listed above.

Mock up of computer screen with Classroom Paper Organization Course, iPad with workbook and two sample workbook pages. Text overlay "Create Systems to Keep your Papers Organized. Enroll Now."

5. Keep a List Nearby

When you are teaching it is likely that you will have a million and one things pop into your mind at any given time.

Keep a brain dump list in a central location, mine was always right by my computer.

Then, anytime something popped into my mind, I could write it down and forget about it. At the end of the day or during my conference I could look at my list and prioritize what needed to be done and what could wait.

Stay organized as a teacher using these 5 steps. Keep a master to do list near by so you can always write down things that pop into your mind.

Try to keep that list confined to one place you store it. The more places you are taking notes and listing to-dos, the more hectic it will be to ensure those things get done.

To-Do Lists should be intentional and not just everything written down on a piece of paper (that’s called a brain dump!).

In this free training, I teach you how to create intentional to-do lists + give you lots of to-do list templates! Sign up now!

And because I am feeling extra generous, I’ll give you tip number 6.

6. Create a Planning Routine

Lesson planning is a long stressful process, especially if you are planning each day the day before.

Come up with a planning routine and stick to it. Decide what day you are going to stay late and work on lesson plans and then hold true to that every single week.

A planning routine is really important, but really routines across the board are critical. Tune into this episode with my friends Kailey and Josieanne where I shared ways to simplify classroom organization. (Hint: it all comes down to routines.)

Most of you know how to GET organized. Take the time to do that now and find homes for everything, then you can reap the benefits of an organized classroom for the year to come! Your initial time investment will be worth it, I promise!!!

Want to read more about getting organized? Check out the Classroom Organization Guidebook– a resource full of ideas, strategies, and practical things you can do to get your classroom organized!

4 chapters inside the Classroom Organization Guidebook:1. Classroom Setup 2. Teaching Resources3. Staying Organized4. Student Materials

In Conclusion,

Ensure all the hard work you put into getting your classroom organized doesn’t go to waste by making sure you follow these six tips:

Give everything a home
Invest in bins (matching for bins seen, doesn’t matter for hidden bins)
Organize your cabinets (learn more here)
Establish paper routines (enroll in the Classroom Paper Organization Course)
Keep an Intentional To-Do List (get the free to-do list training)
Establish a lesson planning routine (watch or listen to mine here)

Quick Links

Here is a quick recap of all the links shared in this post:

Word wall and listening center Text overlay: \"Simply Teach Podcast. Episode 28- 5 Ways You Might be Failing at Classroom Organization\"

Screenshot of resources inside the Classroom Organization Guidebook Resource

Until next time,

If you found this post useful, simply click the “Pin It” button and pin it to one of your boards so you have it and other teachers can find it!

5 Ways to Stay Organized as a Teacher