- Supplies
You need to have it all.
Pencils and pens.
Paper clips and staplers.
Scratch and lined paper.
Markers,crayons, and colored pencils.
Poster board and construction paper.
Your lesson plans are vibrant and exciting, just like the energy of your classes, so you need to be ready to supply your students with the tools they need to succeed. While students will hopefully have their own supplies, every teacher knows to anticipate students’ needs when they don’t.
- Storage
Crates for class folders.
Cabinets for supplies.
Drawers for organization.
Shelves for books.
Any functioning classroom can benefit from ample places to store extra supplies (see above), books, teaching materials, and student work. Students like to know their work has a home, and it will make any teacher’s life run smoother when they know where to look in the classroom for any past assignment.
- Substitute Teacher Packs
In one of your drawers, it’s savvy planning to have Substitute Teacher materials ready to go. Emergencies and sudden fevers happen, but by knowing there are special plans in place, any teacher who has to suddenly be absent can know their students are on task.
- New Student Packs
Another reality for all teachers is changes in their class roster. In one of your storage crates or class folders, keep a running collection of current work. This, along with an introductory syllabus and class guidelines list, can be used as a pack to help situate any brand new student.
- Current Work Folders
Much like the new student packs, but only covering the last week or two of work, this is a place where students know to look for any handouts or assignments they may have missed when they were absent. Train your students to know exactly where to go and you’ll save valuable classroom time.
- Displayed Awards, Certificates, and Degrees
You’ve worked so hard to get where you are today, so show it off. This isn’t a place to boast, but rather a reminder to yourself and any visitors that you’re a successful professional and have the training and recognition you deserve. It also displays goals for your students to strive towards. It’s inspirational.
- Past Student Work Museum
When it comes to inspiring your current students, a way to motivate and model the exceptional work you expect from them is by maintaining a classroom museum of past students’ work. This is a place where the best examples of projects can live and be celebrated. Students will see this as a “Hall of Fame” and push themselves to one day be able to see their own work on display for future students.
- Current Student Work Display
Of course, students shouldn’t have to wait until they are no longer in your class to have their work on display. There should also be a place to exhibit the work of your current students. This can pay off as instant pride and, by using a rotating plan of what’s on display, students can continue to push themselves to the excellence you strive to see in them.
- Mini-Fridge
This is one just for you. Teaching days are so busy; sometimes you need to grab a cold drink, or a fresh snack, but just don’t have time to leave the room. Have a mini-fridge in the room to keep yourself well nourished all day.
- Computer and Printer
In this day and age it’s almost impossible to run your classroom and create your materials and handouts without a computer. Having your own in the classroom will allow you to work whenever you have the chance. A printer will always come in handy when you don’t have time to make copies or need to come up with a quick assignment when circumstances change. And we all know, they always change.
Bonus Item — The Teachers Themselves
The truth is, all of the above items are helpful to have in any classroom. But the one item every successful classroom absolutely needs is the teacher. All the wisdom, craft, and heart that teachers bring to their students is the key to obtaining excellence.