New Improved Music Teacher Binder

I don't know how it is anywhere else, but here it has been raining since school got out.  Not much pool time for me - but I have been quite productive about getting things ready for the upcoming school year.  Where did I start?  I'm glad you asked!

I started with  my teacher binder.  I experimented with using a teacher binder last school year, but I didn't know how practical it would be for a music teacher.  All of the blogs I have read were really positive about having a place to keep everything together - but when I look at my own situation things are quite different.  I don't have one group of kids to track throughout the year...so having a binder to keep student info and grades and parent contact records was just not practical for me.  I did, however, like the idea of keeping most of my important information all in one place.  So I tried it out.  It worked well for my needs, but there were still a few things missing.  So this year, I have created a new improved version -

 

Mrs. Hagood's Super Awesome Teacher Binder v.2 (2013-2014)

 

I started by making a list of things that I needed to keep track of that I could fit into one single binder.  I kept most of my stuff from last year and added a few things.  Here's what I came up with:

1 - Important information.  I will use this section to keep information the administration hands out throughout the year for quick reference...things like the master schedule, accounting procedures, the phone list, etc.

2 - Professional File - It is always a good idea to keep a record of all your professional activity.  I started this my 1st year of teaching.  It is, of course, a requirement in my district to keep a professional file for your first 4 years.  Mine even got "audited" one year, so to speak.  Now that I am past my "beginning teacher" phase, I still think it is a good idea to keep track of a few things.  In this section, I will keep my teaching evaluations, a record of my professional development for the year, and anything else that comes to me from the district level.

 

 

3 - Calendars.  The school I work at always gives us a calendar, but it is small (and I was bored), so I made my own.  I also included a copy of the district calendar and a countdown calendar...because I start counting down on day 1 :)

 

4 - Standards.  This is were I keep a copy of all our standards for each grade level. 

 

5 - Lesson Plans.  The idea (for now) is to keep my weekly lesson plans for each grade in this section and keep the binder in the front of the room with me while I'm teaching.  At the end of the week I will replace the lessons with the new week and file the others away.  I have also thought about keeping a rough draft of a unit plan calendar or a yearly calendar for each grade so I know when to start preparing for programs, when to start teaching symphony, etc.  I'm not sure yet about this.

 

 

 6 - Meeting notes.  My meeting notes section was so chaotic last year that I have decided to split this section up into 3 different sub-sections this year.  I have a tab for school based staff meetings, one for site-based leadership team, and one for district-wide music teacher meetings.  Hopefully this will help me find what I need to remember more quickly.

 

7 - Miscellaneous.  I added this section for all of the things that don't have a home.  Most likely it will house things like future lesson plan ideas and lists of things that need to be done.

Hopefully this binder will be able to meet all of my needs this year.  Next on my list - A Substitute Information Binder and Student Data Binders.  I guess I better get to work!