Being organised in your teacher training year is absolutely vital! It's easy to feel overwhelmed at times with the workload and how to manage it all, but I think if you keep yourself organised and have the right stationery, it will all feel a lot more manageable! So this post is about the stationery I recommend you will need, as well as some advice on how to keep organised!
Folders will be your new best friend! Ring-binders are best as you are going to have a LOT of work to file away. I went overboard before starting my PGCE and got every pretty folder I saw haha! I haven't used all of them, however I know they will come in handy in my NQT year too! Plastic wallets are a must to keep your work neat and tidy in your folders! File dividers are needed too! I also bought these expanding box files to keep resources in which have been handy too.
You'll be doing lots of observations and note taking throughout the year, so I advise getting a clipboard of some kind to take notes on and keep everything in one place. My clipboard here opens up and has space for a notepad and a pocket to keep notes in too.
Obviously, a pencil case is a must! I'd advise not to overload your pencil case because you've got to lug it round with you, and realistically day to day at uni and on placement, you won't need much more than pens and highlighters! This is the pencil case I used and the few basic bits that I kept in it. Post it notes are also a must have, as well as a good to do list pad!
Have a think about how you want to take notes in lectures and seminars. I had these notebooks which had dividers in. I had four different notebooks - one for English, one for Maths, one for Science and one for Foundation subjects. Having the dividers in them, meant that I could write notes on different areas of each subject. For example, with English I split it up into: Reading, Writing, Phonics and SPAG.
You may however prefer to type your notes on a laptop or iPad. I used my iPad a lot on placement to do my planning on. This was because it was easy to carry around with it being small! I bought a wireless keyboard from Amazon as welll which was ideal. Some schools may give you a laptop to use on placement, but definitely be prepared to use your own!
Make yourself a nice desk space at home! You will be doing a lot of work at home across the year, so you need to have a desk space that you like and that can motivate you to work. Having a good de-clutter is best, which is something I seriously needed to do before my PGC year, and I'm so glad I did because it made my desk and room a much nicer place to be! Also get a comfy chair! I used to have one of those standard 'office' chairs which was so uncomfortable. So I decided I needed to invest in a comfy chair that I'd actually be able to sit on for hours on end! This chair was from Argos - definitely recommend it.
When you're on placement, it's easy to lose track of what you're teaching and where all your resources and lesson plans are for each day. To make your life a bit easier, I would recommend getting some folders like these and labelling them with the days of the week! This way, when you print lesson plans and resources off, you can put them in the folder ready for that day of the week!
When you're on placement, you will need several bags some days! I had one main bag which was from Primark and was really sturdy and BIG! I could fit a lever arch file in it, my lunch, water bottle, pencil case, diary, planner, purse and iPad. However, believe it or not, this wasn't enough! So I also had these two bags shown above which I was given as gifts! These bags often had my other folders, resources, books and lesson plans in.
Hope this helps you if you're preparing for your teacher training year, or are even half way through it! I have done a separate post on the diary and planner I used during my PGCE, so take a look at that if you're interested in that side of organisation!
Good luck and message me if you need anything!
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