Nearing year end

June is upon us and with it comes a plethora of exciting (not) end of year related tasks. The one I am not looking forward to the most is the annual clearing of my classroom. Now, for those of you who know me (and why would you be reading this, realistically, if you didnt?) you will know that I am a notorious paper keeper.

Yes, despite having made thousands of promises to declutter and even having made a purchase of 500 GB (yes, GIGABYTES) of memory for the express purpose of keeping my paper and photo situation at least somewhat under control, my classroom and office areas are still quite awash in school related papers. (Scrapbooking and other miscellaneous clutter in my office area are not to be tampered with--you can mess with school related papers but not with creative juices)

So, I have made a deliberate attempt to try to reorganize the way I keep papers so that there is some method to my madness and since there is no summer school in the building, I am hoping that my classroom will remain in a sort of static zone until the fall whereupon I will discover whether I will be able to keep my furnace room classroom or else be farmed out to some other place, which I am told does not exist. And, awhile I abhor the windowless furnace blasted room, I prefer it infinitely to having no room at all.

Since I am a list maker (more than a list checker, or more specifically a list check-offer, sadly) I have thought about the items of my "to-do" list in no particular order:

1. File all papers into related subject and topical folders in appropriate file drawers (be glad that there is a file system that is at least somewhat in place!)
2. Mark all remaining student work and return as much of it as possible prior to D-Day (Friday the Thirteenth....da dah daaaaahhhh...)
3. Take down all stuff from the classroom walls and organize it in a way that I can find it again in the fall
4. Plan out AP 30 course and send in for course audit before August 1st
5. Decide how to approach students about summer reading
6. Return all materials to the library/resource room
7. Think about coursework for next semester and get some copying ready to send for September printing (use the cherry forms only!)
8. Pray my courses do not change very drastically from now until the start of the year (stop laughing hysterically)
9. Call to find out about summer school teaching placement
10. Plan the course I might teach in summer school during exam period

It is by no means an exhaustive list and there are a gajillion things I am forgetting of course, but on the school front my head is already spinning and I need to get a grip.