file all teaching materials and get rid of the ones I don't use

I don’t have a clear plan for how I want to organize this stuff, but I’m going to start by going through it slowly and getting a sense of what is there (and tossing anything that I feel like I wouldn’t use, even if it would be a good idea for someone else).

I’ll keep myself motivated to sift through the stuff by breaking this goal into smaller parts.

New sub-goal will be to get rid of any teaching materials I won’t use. And under that goal I will loosely keep track of the time I spend going through all of the piles of paper, just to keep myself going forward, because there are thousands of random pages to go through!

Well, I got a shelf, and managed to put all my teaching materials on it. I wouldn’t call them organized, not in the way that I had intended when I started this goal, but at least they are no longer in a pile on the floor.

Well, I definitely lost steam on this project.

Today I will try to glean at least 1” of paper for the recycling bin!

... a small start.

I got a new set of shelves, so I have made space to put away my teaching materials.

And I tossed out _{well, recycled} a few of my course readings so far, but most of it I haven’t even looked at yet.

The piles are a teeny, tiny bit smaller. Which is good I guess, because it’s a sign of progress _finally!

many of the materials, course notes, etc. that I got from my year-long teacher training program.

There are several 3-inch binders full of paper that I have acquired during the past year – so much paper that even if I do attempt to find something that I remember being useful, it will be impossible to find amongst all the other junk.

And I need to set up a better organizing system. And I need more storage space. I know I will have to spend some money on shelving/ filing cabinets / organizing containers, but I really don’t know yet what kind of stuff I’ll need.

I have a few magazine files – they are very ugly (well, just plain white cardboard with a company logo on them because I bought the cheap-o ones). _{I think I might papier-mache them with strips of colourful tissue paper I’ve been collecting over the past couple years – FUN PROJECT!}

1. Toss out all course readings, unless they were particularly useful.
2. Purge the course notes that are “theory-only”
3. Keep the practical stuff, attempt to organize it.
4. Organize my practicum binder/ day planner
5. Create a “portfolio” of a few good lessons and unit plans that I could bring to an interview.

This is just the start – and I have a feeling it’s going to take forever.

Buut, this stuff has been sitting in a pile on the floor for nearly 2 months now, and I must admit that I’ve kind of been waiting for it to either magically sort itself, or spontaneously combust – either of which would allow me to NOT deal with it!!! But neither of those seems to be happening :-(