Desk Organization for Teachers

January 26, 2019

Now that we are just about a quarter of the way through the school year, teachers have settled into their routines and with that, teachers’ desks are no longer the neatly organized images we were inspired to replicate from Pinterest. Instead, they have taken their true form with piles of paperwork and cluttered with gadgets, paperclips, and random colored pens and pencils. With this disorganization comes a large island of chaos and an eyesore in the classroom. Here are some tips on how teachers can organize their desks.

DO YOU EVEN NEED A BIG L-SHAPED DESK?

Teachers’ desks tend to take up a considerable amount of floor space in a classroom and with growing classroom sizes, teachers may want to consider a stand up desk (better for the health of your back and shoulders) or removing the teacher’s desk completely. Most of your time is spent standing in front of the classroom, teaching. Rarely are you sitting at your desk (aside from test taking time) and let’s be honest, a teacher’s desk is used more for storage than anything else. A stand up desk gives you space for your computer and you can use the extra space that would normally be for your teachers desk to have a table that can be used for small groups, parent-teacher conferences, classroom parties, and display projects on Back To School Night. To store your paperwork, binders, reference guides, etc. floor to ceiling wall shelves with bookends and storage containers will keep your supplies organized thus saving you time and avoid the distraction of clutter.

If removing your desk is not an option, here are some tips to keeping your desk as organized as possible:

1. Remove your clutter from your desktop and each drawer, one at a time. Have a trash bin, a donation bin, and a keep bin and sort accordingly. You are setting an example to your students on how their desk should look so keeping a neat desk is imperative.
2. Re-sort your keep bin. You do not need multiple sets of scissors and 20 yellow highlighters. Offer your multiples to the front office or put them in the faculty supply closet.
3. Put your smaller items like paper clips, staples, thumb tacks in smaller containers or a desk drawer organizer. Pens and pencils in a container on your desk. Label all of your containers to help you easily find your supplies.
4. Desk calendars are a thing of the past so throw yours away. Google calendar, iCal, and other apps will keep your work and personal appointments, reminders, and goals in one place that you can take wherever you are. Desk calendars become doodle pads, stuff gets spilled on them, corners wrinkle, and they are just not needed anymore.
5. Store seasonal items in larger, labeled boxes and put them in storage or on the bottom of your shelves.
6. Frequently clean your desk top. Take a wipe and give it the once over at the end of every day to remove dirt, dust, and germs. Suggest your students do the same.

Not only with an organized desk help you save time, maintain a professional appearance, and influence your students to do the same, it also helps substitute teachers, should you ever need one, tremendously. Odds are, if your desk is neat and organized, they will keep it that way and you won’t have to return to a disheveled island of chaos as well.