The Inbox
When we last left off our paper journey through my classroom students had placed papers in their pockets. If you missed this leg of the journey you can catch up here.
The next step of the journey is oh so simple. When I collect papers they go into my Inbox. I recently saw some nice, paper-sized bins at Wal-Mart that would be perfect for this.
Side Note: That magnet was a Vista Print freebie from a couple summers ago - gotta love those!
The inbox sits on the corner of my desk and is the catch all for things in my classroom. From the first day of school I tell students that is the only place they are allowed to put things on my desk. This really cuts down on 1) clutter on my desk and 2) losing something in all the stuff that ends up on my desk. (My goal is to empty the papers in my inbox by the end of the day.)
So, collect papers and put them in the basket simple enough. Until the day when I think I'm going to drown in all the papers and I can't think straight because all I want to do is sit down and grade and sort when in reality all I can do is teach the next lesson on the Civil War. What happens then? These are days when the inbox has the potential to run over into the garbage can that sits right under it, but we can't let that happen! My organized self has a plan for those days too.
Enter the Really Good Stuff baskets!
On days when I can't get the papers graded and I can't get even see the bottom of my inbox (and if you know me you know that's a bad day for me!) I use these baskets as backup. These baskets are proof that I have an organizational problem. When your basket has a backup you probably have more problems than a few too many papers to grade, but anyway I did warn you.
I just sort the papers out according to subjects and I can grade them when I get a chance. This is the outta sight, outta mind method. LOL
These baskets were actually my paper collecting method of choice until I discovered the pockets, but I've kept them around because they do still come in handy from time to time. I really like asking a substitute to leave papers in the baskets so coming back to school after a day out isn't so overwhelming.
One last thing, did you know Really Good Stuff offers a payment plan of sorts? Yup, they sure do! You can pay for your purchase over 3 months. When I learned that juicy little tidbit I bought a lot of baskets! Happy Day!
Be sure to follow along next time when we'll discuss how I keep track of all my "teacher" papers.
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