Is There a "Best Way" to Organize??

At the beginning of August, I will be moving to another city, the one in which I will student teach for the upcoming school year. I am soooooo excited about living in a new city, but now I am navigating through possibly the most dreaded aspect of moving- PACKING!!! I know I do not move until August, but I do not want to be a last-minute packer. I want to have time to sift through everything I own and make sure that I’m only bringing what I need (even though it seems like I need EVERYTHING in my apartment!!). The first stage of packing has been to organize all of my books, notebooks, and folders and handouts that I have saved from my instruction courses. After beginning this daunting task, I have realized that I saved basically everything!! This, of course, is a double-edged sword! I have an unbelievable amount of material to sort through, but I also know that there is quite a bit of useful information in there somewhere.




So, to make a long story a little shorter, I am now faced with a dilemma: now that I have weeded out all of the unnecessary material, what is the best method of organizing what I decided to keep? I have lesson plans, graphic organizers, test writing tips, information on classroom management, handouts on the Big 5, and other classroom-related materials. I think my organization will go in one of two directions:

1. Organize based on the course in which I received the info (ex: C&I 232- Urban Education, C&I 222- Reading Assessment, etc)

2. Organize based on topic/theme (ex: Comprehension, Fluency, Classroom Management Strategies, Writing)


I definitely think I’m leaning more toward option #2 or organizing based on topic/theme. Although this seems like it will take the most time to organize, I think it will best serve me in the end. If I organize based on the course, I will still have to sift through that specific course material to find the graphic organizer that dealt with Comprehension. I’m sure these are not the only two ways to organize material, but they are about all I can come up with!