My Plan to Declutter My Classroom

With a new year around the corner, it is natural to be reflective about my teaching practices.

In my personal life, I’ve decided to focus on the word “simplify” for 2015. I wanted to extend this thinking into my classroom setup and routine.

I’m first focusing on my physical classroom setup.

I have set a goal to finish majorly decluttering my classroom by the end of June.  If you have ever inherited an already packed classroom or accumulated 8 years worth of teaching materials (or both like me), you know how much can become stored in one room. I am going to take small steps now to prepare for a more thorough purge after school ends. Each month I have a different focus planned.

• January – Files
• February – Bookshelves
• March – Classroom Drawers
• April – Home (Rounding up all classroom materials in my home to bring to my classroom.)
• May – Closets
• June – Lab Space

If anything doesn’t get finished before June, that means I will have to spend more time after school ends finishing it, so there is incentive to stay on track. I am also going to reward myself anytime something gets finished by or before the scheduled month.

Staying true to my keep it simple focus, I am going to recycle, give away, or trash anything that I don’t need in my classroom space. In the past I’ve sold (or tried to sell) items on sites like craigslist and ebay.  Instead, I am going to be generous with my possessions and stingy with my time.

I’ve even create a desktop wallpaper to remind me daily of my goal. If you are interested, you can download it for free.

It feels good to have a plan. What’s yours?