Bright Ideas Blog Hop: The Teacher’s Desk

How does your teacher desk look?  Are you organized?  Scattered?  A little of both?  There has been a trend lately to decrease teacher space to make more room for student space.  Debbie Diller speaks about this in her workshops.

For me, my desk area is my sanctuary.  I don’t often get too much time to sit but when I do, I like to have some space of my own to just “be”.  That’s a tall order for a primary teacher!

Thanks for joining me for this month’s April Bright Ideas Blogpost.

I’d like to show you my teacher’s desk.  When I posted about my classroom last fall I had lots of emails and questions about some of the things on my desk so this post is all about my desk!  I hope it gives you some ideas for your own teacher space. Here is my desk in full view.  I have it in a corner with my teacher resources and my little mini fridge that houses my coffee milk and my lunch just in case I need to stay in at lunch and work instead of going to the staffroom (which almost never happens because I believe everyone needs a break!)

I love being prepared and so I have my “magazine” holders right on my desk so that everything I need is right at my fingertips. I have Monday-Friday files and one for regular weekly work/next week/photocopying. The bins have to be large enough to hold books and supplies. I got these ones at Ikea.

They even hold craft supplies for our Easter Egg crafts that we did this week.

On my desk is my plan book and my TOC (teacher on call) Survival Kit – complete with schedules, class lists, overviews and plans, and any special instructions or allergies. I get asked a lot about the stand that my daybook is on and the little burgundy wrist support that is in front.  It is AWESOME!  Unfortunately, I can’t tell you where I got it because it was given to me as part of a rehab program when I was in a car accident several years ago.  I was told by the OT that teachers often have sore necks/backs because they are always leaning over kids and when they write their plans their neck is in the wrong position.  So this little baby keeps my posture just right and the wrist support helps too. *Great idea!*

I had an extra Lazy Susan at home so I brought it in and placed it on my desk.  It’s so fantastic!  I twirl it around when I need something and it’s so convenient.  Here, you will see some teacher supplies, my Kleenex and hand sanitizer, an emergency snack and my little jelly bean treats that I might share with the kids once in a while. 😉

Here’s a view from the top down and a shot of my “fair and square jar”  If you don’t have one, you should give it a try. All the student names are on popsicle sticks. Whenever I want to pick a random person for something I pull a name out of the jar. It’s fair and it’s easy peasy!

I hope you check out the other Bright Ideas blog posts for other great ideas to make your teaching world just a little simpler. There’s also a Pinterest board called Bright Ideas for the Classroom where you can go and find even more ideas!

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For more bright ideas from 150 different bloggers, please browse through the link-up
below and choose a topic/grade level that interests you. Thanks for visiting!

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