TeacherBoss Hacks: Keeping Up with Unfinished Work
I’ve decided to start a new series on my blog called “TeacherBoss Hacks”. The plan is to share a tip from my classroom that will hopefully be helpful to other teachers.
Today’s tip is on keeping track of unfinished work.
Update: 2018
The folders are just unfinished work folders with a sticker on each side that says “now” and “later”. When we run out of time for an activity I tell students what side to put it on. Generally, if I plan on grading it, it will go on the “now” side. When students have free time, they work from their “now” side first.
It’s simple, but it keeps even my messiest students organized!
Original 2014
I’m sure many of you have the same problem I do with desks eating classwork. I finally decided to clear out my mailboxes and use them to hold unfinished work. This way I can see if they are missing something and they can’t sneak off to an activity they shouldn’t be at. Also, there are far fewer “black hole” desk problems. One piece of advice, watch them put the papers on the shelves when it is time to clean up from an activity. If the student can sneak it into their desk, it could be gone forever!
I also issue tickets for missing work that they keep by their number in a pocket chart. They have to finish the work and staple the ticket to it before they can have free time. It’s really easy for both the students and myself to see who has work due.
Talk to you soon,
Adrienne
Where did you purchase your mailbox
I was wondering the same thing! I love them! They look different than anything I've ever seen anyone use for mailboxes!
Did anyone ever get an answer of where these were bought?
I got the mailboxes from a local video store that were discarded them because they were shutting down.
I would also love to know where you got these mailboxes as they are awesome! I’m also curious as to how you distributed the missing work slips. Sometimes I’m so behind on paperwork that I would never even realize they needed the slip.
The mailboxes were being thrown out by a local video store closing, so I scored them for free! I have a million copies of my roster. I have my students turn their work into a Ziploc bag with a roster clipped to the front. They highlight their name as they turn in the paper. I make the missing work slips quickly at the end of the day, before I’ve even graded the other work.