Under the Pile

I did a lesson on pattern with the middle school art classes. (The art teacher who is not new, Mr. S, gave me some lessons to do with the classes while I'm there.) They were to "collect" ten different patterns. 

I had graded their papers, and I returned them. But, several students had not even turned the paper in. I know that they had done it, as I watched them do it. 

After returning all their papers, I announced to the class that if they did not get a paper back, I had never received theirs. If they had it, they could still turn it in. 

(I mean, I called for it on the day it was due. A couple times. But middle schoolers.)

Oscar: "I did it." 

Me: "But you didn't turn it in." 

So, he went to look for it. He opened his backpack... 

This is the third week of school. Right? And he already... 

Oscar's backpack was filled with papers. In a wad. Just shoved in the backpack willy-nilly. No notebooks. No folders. No organization whatsoever. 

On the first day of school, I told the class to get a pocket folder for the class. That way they could keep their papers organized. I know the other teachers give similar instructions. (Math classes ask for spiral notebooks. English classes ask for three ring binders. But there's guidance on what they'll use.) 

I asked him about a folder. He said he didn't have one. I said he might want to consider getting folders for each of his classes, so he could find what he's looking for more easily. 

He had handouts from English and history. Eventually, under that stack, he found the patterns assignment. Yup, it was done. And correctly. 

Will Oscar take my advice and get a folder? Probably not. Even though a nearby boy piped up with, "This folder only cost 25 cents." And the folder? Completely appropriate for the class. 

Rearranging the Books

It was Thursday (or day four) of my week in the 11th grade English class. Period 4 was the creative writing group.

Like many English teachers do, Ms. E has a bookcase filled with various novels. Students are allowed to borrow these novels on reading days (Mondays) or after quizzes (when they're supposed to be doing something silently). Ms. E's bookcase looked like it got many borrows, with various books stacked haphazardly when students returned a book without fitting it back into the shelves as neatly as it had been when they took one.

I didn't think much of it. But, apparently, someone couldn't stand the look of it.

London walked in, took a look at the shelves, and decided that she could stand it no longer. She was going to fix them. The period hadn't yet started, but she did. She pulled books off the shelves and onto her table. Her tablemate arrived, and she pulled her into the task as well.

They did have an assignment. (Of two short stories we had read, they were to figure out how to adapt one into a movie.) London promised she'd get it done.

(I could have stepped in and said no. But I didn't see the harm in letting her straighten the books.)

They'd barely started their task when I noticed something. I mentioned that when one alphabetizes books (as the girls decided to do), they're generally alphabetized by author's last name. But they had started alphabetizing by title, so they kept on doing it that way.

Well, it wasn't like there was any rhyme or reason to it before...

It took them about half the period. (If I had known the bookcase was going to get a makeover, I totally would have taken a picture of it before. Ah well...) At least it turned out neat...

This is a vast improvement over how it was before.

The girls hope that Ms. E is going to notice, but they think she might not. She should. Things like this get mentioned in my note.

Have you ever been so annoyed by someone else's clutter that you took it upon yourself to straighten up? How are your bookshelves organized (or are they)? 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

Reorganizing Old School

You know I'm a little strange, right?

My iPhone has been driving me crazy. I've needed to reorganize my apps into a coherent configuration for a while. But there's something about those jittery boxes and having to go back and forth between screens that disorients me, making it impossible to get the phone set up just right.

So, I set out to fix it.

I wrote down (in pen, on paper) every app I had. Then I cut out a bunch of little slips of paper, and on each I wrote one app. I spread these out...

...and then I grouped them into similar types (an organization that made sense to me, but only me I expect). 

There's something about having those little slips of paper. It's why writers organize using index cards (something I really should try as it clearly is how my brain works). It made it easy for me to see what should go where. 

Soon enough, I had a configuration that seems to be working out for me. For the moment.

And it only took me two hours.  

(Okay, it was more like two periods. With time off for starting class, taking roll, and collecting work. And writing restroom passes. But what else did I have to do? These were a period of US history and a period of government where the class worked silently--yes, in absolute quiet--all period.)