I thought I had it all together, it was my third year teaching math, and I knew the ins and outs of the math curriculum and could teach 6th and 7th grade math in my sleep. Then, my principal asked me how often I contacted a parent of a child with known behavior issues. I had that post-it somewhere on my messy desk filled with post-its for everything, I just had to find it. It was so embarrassing when I couldn’t give him the information immediately. There were no digital teacher systems in place to keep track of the paperwork that went hand-in-hand with teaching.
You see, at the time, I didn’t know I had ADHD, and I didn’t have any systems in place to keep my ducks in a row, so to speak. I went home that day so mad at myself for not being as organized as my other teacher friends and knew I had to find a solution.
Since then, I have created digital teacher systems that I can access at my fingertips at any time, and today I am sharing them with you. Here are five teacher systems you need in place before the school year starts so you won’t be embarrassed like I was.
You can make these digital teacher systems however you want, I personally LOVE Airtable, but if you’re a Google fan, then you can definitely create these using Google Apps or Microsoft apps!
What’s cool about Airtable is that it’s like all the Google Apps rolled into one. There is a calendar, a grid, a form, and a Kanban view which I like for completing tasks. If you want to learn more about Airtable, you can check out this short post with a YouTube video that you can check out here.
Let’s get into the digital teacher systems you need for a stress-free school year!
1: Teacher Plan Book & Pacing Calendar
If you’re like me, you probably already planned your first month of school during the last month of school last year, but having everything digitally makes life so much easier. I no longer lug home heavy binders and planners back and forth every day, I have everything on my Airtable base.
To set up this system, I created a spreadsheet that included columns for all the information I needed for a lesson. In Airtable, you can link records within other spreadsheets, so I have two spreadsheets, one for the lesson plans and one for the pacing calendar with each of my classes. The lesson plans are linked to the calendar so that I can rearrange and pace them as I need!
Don’t want to DIY this system? Snag my done-for-you teacher plan book & pacing calendar here!
2: Parent Communication Information Survey & Tracker
This is a MUST-have. As I shared, it was so embarrassing not having the information my principal needed on hand, so this has been a game changer for my classroom!
What I do is I create a spreadsheet that includes all the information that I want to remember about a parent call or email. Then I turn the spreadsheet on Airtable into a form and bookmark it right on my bookmarks bar. This makes the form readily available, and I can fill it out as I’m on the call.
The information goes back onto your neat little spreadsheet, and voila! You have all the information from every parent’s phone call. Sort it by the student and have it all right there!
You can do this with Google and Microsoft Forms as well. This is especially helpful if you have a co-teacher or grade level team and need to keep track of who is calling which parents.
Don’t want to DIY this system? Snag my done-for-you parent communication tracker here!
3: Student Information At a Glance
Back in the day (before I became your trusty Tech System Guru!), I would send home these cute little forms for the parent to fill out about their child. They were frilly and had cute pictures on them, and asked them to fill me in on everything there was to know about their kid. I would take so much time hole punching them, alphabetizing them, and throwing them in a binder to be read seldomly throughout the school year.
I no longer have that bulky binder for every kid I teach. Instead, I have a neat little spreadsheet with all the information I need to know.
Like the last system, I created a form to send home to parents. You can even get fancy and create a QR code for them to scan and complete at Meet the Teacher Night. All that same information, minus the bulky binder and extra legwork of putting the binder together.
Don’t want to DIY this form? Snag my student information at a glance form here!
4: Small Group Planning & Conferencing Tracker
I know you are using small groups to bridge those gaps. You also probably have another binder for that. Not anymore! Now you can create a tracker to keep tabs on who you conference with and what it’s about. Yet another form! You can actually just use the spreadsheet feature or the form feature of Airtable (same for Google & Microsoft apps!).
Some things that I include in this form are:
- Student Name
- Class
- Date
- Topic
- How the skill was addressed
- Did the child obtain the skill?
I have my forms pre-filled, so there isn’t a lot of typing, more like multiple choice.
Don’t want to DIY this form? Snag my small group conferencing planner & tracker here!
5: Student Goal Setting & Tracking
This is one of my favorite digital teacher systems because the students are involved! I make two versions of this teacher system, one for my eyes only and one for my students. With Airtable, you can link the records, but with Google & Microsoft, you have to copy and paste.
For my teacher spreadsheet, I create a class spreadsheet with each student’s goals for the year. I also put a spot for me to schedule goal check-ins for the goals. I also leave a blank column for notes.
The student one looks a bit different because it’s individualized. Students write three goals for each marking period. This could be done all at once or once per marking period. They then have to create action steps to reach that goal. Another section I like is where they reflect on our goal check-ins together. They get to have ownership of their goals and document when I help support them in those goals.
I like to use Google Sheets for this because it’s more familiar to the students than Airtable.
Don’t want to DIY this teacher system? Snag my Student Goal Setting & Tracking system here!
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There you have it, my friend, don’t feel embarrassed like I did when my principal asked for something I couldn’t find. Have these systems in your back pocket and ready to go so that you know where everything is and don’t have a bookshelf specifically for teacher binders!
TL;DR
Use these five digital teacher systems to keep track of everything that you need for this school year. I love using Airtable for these systems, and you can learn about Airtable from this blog post and YouTube video.
Here is a list of the five systems you need:
1: Teacher Plan Book & Pacing Calendar
2: Parent Communication Information Survey & Tracker
3: Student Information At a Glance
4: Small Group Planning & Conferencing Tracker
5: Student Goal Setting & Tracking
If you don’t want to DIY them, head to my TpT store to snag the growing bundle of teacher systems!
There are two versions – one for Google Apps and one for Airtable. Choose the best one for you!
As always, if you use any of these systems, head over to Instagram and tag me so I can see it in action!
alexandra
