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Organizing Corrected Work

Getting graded papers home to parents is simple when you have a filing system so easy your students can be in charge of it. Label a hanging file folder for each student, along with two additional ones that read, “To Be Filed” and “No Name Papers.”

Store the files in a crate or other container that students can easily move around the room. After you’ve graded a set of papers, stick them in the “To Be Filed” folder, and train two student helpers to file the papers in the individual children’s files at set times of the day/week. Any papers that appear not to have a name on them (or which the filers can’t read) go into the “No Name Papers” file for you to check over at a convenient time. When you’re ready for papers to go home, have the filers place the contents of each child’s hanging file into individual folders with a form for parents to initial and return along with the emptied folder. Have students return their emptied folders to the crate and you’re ready to go for next time!

About the Author Angela Powell has been an educator for nine years. She worked for the first five years of her career in Washington, D.C., and currently teaches third grade in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Powell, who holds a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education and Art from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, and a master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Western Maryland College, earned National Board Certification as an Early Childhood Generalist in 2006. She continues to maintain Ms. Powell’s Management Ideas for Teachers, a Web site she created in 2003, to share teaching techniques, behavior management strategies, and organizational tips that can help make teaching more efficient, effective, and enjoyable.

Article by Angela Powell
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