How to Streamline Your Secondary Classroom and Get Ready for Next Year

 I think it’s pretty safe to say that we are hitting, at least in the States, we are hitting that final stretch to get us to the summer. So as we are going to really finish out the school year strong, I’m going to be putting together a podcast series, the Secondary Systems first summer series that will be guiding you and giving you tips and tricks using my forest system to.

Get the most done and prepared now before the school year is out so that you can enjoy a guilt free summer. Welcome to The Secondary Teacher Podcast, the podcast for middle and high school teachers juggling multiple preps to get the strategies to reduce. Overwhelm so that you don’t have to choose between being an effective teacher and prioritizing important relationships.

I’m your host, Khristen Masek, a 10-year high school engineering teacher, former middle school assistant principal and teacher coach. Every week we will discuss strategies, systems, and time-saving tips to help you not only survive but thrive as a multiple prep teacher. So if you haven’t heard about. Four s system.

It is a system that I use in actually all of my classes, but specifically in the multiple prep Teacher Academy, and it follows the Manufacturing 5s system, which is lean, but I kind of tweaked something so that it fits within the classroom setting and not in manufacturing. The first S is set in order, so the idea behind set in order is going to.

Decluttering or just like seeing what you have available. So it’s looking at everything that you have and deciding what are you going to keep and what can you toss. And this is crucial to being a successful and productive multiple prep teacher. Because you have a lot of stuff. You’re going to have a lot of different lesson plans, a lot of different resources, a lot of equipment.

Based on the number of preps you teach. And so going through this process and decluttering, and you’re decluttering your mind, you’re decluttering our classroom, you’re decluttering any of your digital files, you’re just getting rid of things so that you have less. On your plate. So it doesn’t really make sense to continue to have things that you can see on a regular basis that would distract you from your current classes.

So even if you taught a class a few years ago, or even if you taught it this year and you won’t be teaching it again for another four or five years, keeping that. Those things in your view will actually distract you, and then the clutter can make it so that you are less productive because you get distracted.

So clutter leads to distractions. So we’re trying to remove that from your live so that you can be more productive when we’re also talking about this clutter, however you’re seeing it, whether it’s digital. We’re actually there. If you are seeing those things over the summer or they’re always on your mind, it’s going to be harder for you to really relax and step back from the classroom.

But if you can get all of this decluttering or this organizing done before the school year is out, you’ll be able to come back to your c. Feeling refreshed because all of this work is already done and you can do it with a few simple steps. And that’s what we’re going to be talking about today. So the first step you are going to be thinking about is what are you going to be teaching next year?

And hopefully you, you’ll know this, but I know sometimes you don’t because the master schedules may not be created yet, but you might have a good idea of what you are going to be teaching if you are not sure what you’re going to be teaching. Let’s see if you can compartmentalize or kind of organize or separate things by your classes so that when you are informed about what you will be teaching next year, you can know what you can declutter because that’s what we’re going to look at.

That first step is we’re looking at. What you’re going to be teaching next year, and we’re getting rid of anything that no longer applies. So that can be any master copies, that can be any digital files, that can be any equipment that needs to be surplus or things that you just know you are not going to be using.

In the near future, which would be the next school year. Now, when it comes to the equipment, I know sometimes you can’t really get rid of that, and maybe you will need to surplus it if you can’t. If there’s anything that you really can’t declutter, still see if there’s a way to get it out of your classroom, so out of your lab space, out of your classroom so that you don’t have to deal with it so you can clear out.

Cupboards, those filing cabinets, whatever, you’re really wanting to just get rid of things that you are no longer going to be needing anymore. This is also a good time to do inventory. So that is number two. So you’re going to do a quick inventory of what you have. And what you need. We are talking about anything from equipment all the way to supplies.

So school supplies, what, how many markers you have, are things working, are they not working? And tossing what isn’t. It doesn’t make sense to keep things that are no longer useful to you or your students, and having that. That inventory, no matter how large or how small it is, just knowing what you do have so that when you’re starting the next school year, you can have that ready to go.

I know at the schools that I worked at, a lot of times when we check out at the end of the school year, they ask us to request our supplies for the summer, so any of like our basic school supplies, any markers. Crayons, colored pencils, tape, whatever we need it. That way we would get that list to the secretary.

And the first few years that I was teaching, I was like, who knows what they want next year? Nobody knows this. And really there is a value in doing this inventory. Prior to the end of the school year so that you can give that list and then everything’s just ready for you. So they can order things over the summer.

If there are delays in shipping or anything like that, it can be coming. You won’t really have to worry about that. It’s much better to have them do that over the summer than you worry about it when you come back to school those weeks before. Students are. And the third thing that you can do within this set in order part is going to be to come up with a designated area to drop things or file things.

So when I’m talking about filing, I’m not talking traditional file folders, but you just need a drawer. And it’s kind of the, I’m not sure if I’m gonna need this drawer, or it could be a tub or something. This is the time if you don’t have one already. Make one, because as you’re going through this decluttering, you’re going to wonder, am I going to actually need this?

And then the other thing is, is if you do have a system like that, this is the time to go through it because now you can look back and you can see, okay, I did not use that at all this school year. I don’t need it anymore. Or I do need that. So I’m going to make a digital copy of it so that I can have it in my files and keep it for the next school year.

So the idea is you wanna have one of those spaces, but before the school year ends, you want the space cleared. So whatever that drop area is, whether it’s the cabinet or the drawer in your desk where you’re just not sure that something doesn’t need a home, does it not need a home? Am I going to be really be using and I feel like I’m going to, but I’m not really sure this is the time to start going through that as you are working through this process.

Now I’m going to also let you know we are doing the secondary systems for success, and it will be starting pretty soon if you’re listening to this in real time. It is going to be starting on April 17th, and we are going to be. Looking into this specific topic about getting ready for summer in more depth and give you some challenges, and each day it’s a four day workshop, but each day there’s just going to be a very quick training and some action steps and some mistakes that.

Other teachers have made so that you can prevent those mistakes and a small challenge. So there are very going to be very doable to get you prepared for the summer and get you ready for setting up your classroom. So if you found this. Podcast episode valuable or interesting? Please share it with a teacher friend, and if you feel like there is a teacher friend who would like to join you in the secondary systems for success, please give them that information as well.

You can sign up for the wait list if this is not in real-time or the actual event at khristenmassic.com/systems. Until next time.