Teacher Tips: How to organize a classroom for first-time teachers

Becoming a teacher can be exciting, especially as the first day of school approaches. You’re ready to meet your students, develop lesson plans to further their education and make memories in your classroom. But you may be wondering, what is the best way to organize your classroom? Below are tips and recommendations for classroom organization that will help you be and feel successful as a first time teacher.

Before you begin decorating, it’s important to consider the layout of your classroom. Is there discretion for where your desk goes? If you are a middle school or elementary teacherl, where do you want your reading area to be? Where will your filing cabinet, classroom library and shelves go? These are some important questions to ask yourself. Once you have decided where you want all of your classroom furniture located, you can get to organizing.

Your teacher desk is essentially a mini office within your classroom. This is where you can store things like files, reading materials, your grade book, extra classroom supplies, a pencil sharpener and more. If you have a file drawer, consider color coding your files based on subject or student name. In your desk, also designate a space for storing worksheets and extra school supplies, just in case a student expresses to you that they need assistance in acquiring a specific item.

As your first year progresses, your desk organization will probably evolve and change, but having a good starting point is important. An improved desk will lead to better classroom management.

Utilizing vertical space, especially in a smaller classroom, will not only allow you to organize more but also make your classroom more colorful. This can be accomplished by placing bins, books, organizational jars and more on the bookshelves in your room. If the school management allows, hanging up floating shelves above your desk or along the classroom walls can also provide more space for storing important items. For example, beside your whiteboard you could have a small shelf dedicated to erasers, dry erase markers, magnets and more.

I’m sure you can remember the many bulletin boards you saw in school as a kid. At the beginning of each new school year, the classroom bulletins often had “welcome back” messages on them and a list of student names. Here you may display stickers or cards that indicate how a student’s behavior is doing throughout the week, a reminder of any quizzes that are approaching soon and end of the day reminders that you don’t want your students to forget. This could include clean up, reminding students to maintain the classroom setup and more.

Above all, don’t be afraid to ask veteran teachers or family members for advice. Having an organized classroom at the beginning of the year will lead to less headaches and more positive memories for you and your students as the school year commences. It is more than likely that veteran teachers will have classroom organization tips for you that a first-year teacher may not have thought of. Just remember, the first weeks of school will be just as much a learning experience for you as your students, but always remember to have fun. You are making a huge difference.