The Folder Experiment

I'm trying something novel alongside my Year 11s this year.

I ended upward inwards a chip of a mess alongside this degree final year. Their practise books overflowed alongside worksheets, inwards fact it got as well as therefore bad that at 1 betoken I was emailed yesteryear a bring upward complaining almost the amount of unloose newspaper her boy was carrying around. Some of my students tried difficult to proceed things tidy, merely my worksheet habit overwhelmed them as well as fifty-fifty the tidiest books buckled nether the pressure.

I know I'm non the alone instructor alongside this problem. Here are around of the causes:
1. I don't convey access to textbooks. I purpose printed resources (often Don Steward as well as MathsPad) inwards every lesson... I dear resources, inwards illustration you lot hadn't noticed.
2. I produce endeavor to display equally much equally I tin flaming on the board instead of printing it out (to salvage printing budget), merely most of my activities don't run equally good if non printed out.
3. I used to learn girls - most would crease as well as stick their worksheets beautifully (see motion painting below). I similar a shot learn boys... most aren't as well as therefore bothered almost keeping things neat.
4. I'm non especially skillful at reminding students to stick sheets inwards during the lesson.

I don't yell upward that messy books are the worst affair inwards the world, merely I felt that at that spot was room for improvement.

Good sticking!

My solution is to hand a telephone binder to each student. I've ever had my H5N1 flat students purpose telephone binders merely I've never done it at Key Stage iv before.

So far, it's awesome. It's working actually well. I volition explicate hither what I'm doing, as well as written report dorsum after inwards the twelvemonth on whether it's all the same working well.

Worksheets
For each lesson I ready 1 double sided A4 sheet which includes a starter, infinite for notes, the principal classwork practise as well as an extension activity. If they request to a greater extent than infinite for notes or classwork, they convey a stack of newspaper at the dorsum of their folder.

The worksheets are similar a shot a good established routine. They hand my lessons a actually clear construction - this fits good alongside my pedagogy style. With a dedicated infinite for notes as well as examples, I'm seeing an improvement inwards their Federal Reserve notation taking (which was almost non-existent final year).

Revisiting Year 10 topics
My Year 11s convey ix hours of maths a fortnight (last twelvemonth Year eleven alone had six, as well as therefore this is a big improvement). Because I convey immature children I alone run iv days a week, important that 1 of their ix lessons is taught by around other teacher. In her lessons my students are given a 1 lx minutes Edexcel topic examine to run through (these tin flaming live downloaded from the Emporium) - these are kept inwards a separate department inwards their folder. So in 1 trial a fortnight my students are spending an lx minutes doing examination fashion questions on previously taught topics. This is skillful grooming for their upcoming mocks as well as allows me to larn on alongside pedagogy novel content.

Multiple choice quizzes
I wrote here almost the multiple choice opened upward mass quizzes that my Year 11s produce every week. I dear these! There's a department inwards their folder to proceed their marked quizzes. When they larn a quiz dorsum they tape their score on a tracking canvas as well as therefore they tin flaming easily encounter topics that request to a greater extent than work.

Marking
There's also a department inwards their folders for marked homeworks. This agency that when my Head of Faculty does a mass scrutiny she'll easily encounter the feedback I've given. In previous years my marked run oftentimes ended upward lost inwards a stack of unloose sheets, as well as therefore it looked similar I never did whatsoever marking.

I laid 1 assessed homework per fortnight that I grade as well as hand feedback on. This gives me a skillful feel of how each educatee is getting on and, along alongside the quizzes, ensures they larn regular feedback. Every other calendar week I laid a self-marking homework. My workload is far likewise heavy to grade homework every calendar week for every class.

Admin
My Year 11s convey an 'information' department inwards their folder which includes a topic checklist, topic timeline, progress information as well as examination information.

Considerations
So far I'm loving the switch to telephone binders. It's working actually well. My students' maths notes as well as classwork are good structured as well as organised. This volition live beneficial when they revise for their GCSEs. Although a few folders are getting a picayune chip messy (eg file dividers falling out), the bulk are inwards actually skillful shape. I produce worry that the folders mightiness overflow yesteryear May - maybe lever arch files would convey worked improve given the mass of run nosotros larn through.

This was a fairly pricey experiment for me (I'm reluctant to pass whatsoever of my ain family's coin on equipment for schoolhouse merely this cost me £40 for folders, file dividers as well as paper). One modest setback is that I learn this degree inwards 3 dissimilar classrooms as well as most conduct to larn out their folders alongside me, which agency I convey to bear folders betwixt rooms at the halt of the day. Life would live easier (in many respects) if I were based inwards 1 classroom.

Overall my folder experiment is going actually well. I volition written report dorsum at the halt of the twelvemonth on whether I'll produce it in 1 trial again adjacent year!