The Folder System

I adopted a new way of handling paper flow this semester: the folder system.

After twenty years in the classroom, it's good to try new things. In fact, it's essential. If you don't, if you think you have perfected your ways, you will, more than likely, end up as a "dinosaur", unable to adapt, and over time, bypassed by events.

In contrast, if you are a new teacher, your situation is almost exactly opposite. At least, it was for me. What I found most crucial in early years was to learn consistency--to not continually change, to not invoke new rules, new policies and procedures every week.

Consistency versus constant change, two philosophical poles around which educators hope to find the perfect combination: a stable foundation for learning, with improvisation to meet particular needs in a group of students.

This is roughly the same metaphoric tension in a classroom as thinking versus doing, structure versus freedom, ideals versus action, covering material versus zeroing in on the most relevant issues. A grounding in these two poles is a good basic way of conceptualizing teaching.

In fact, Parker Palmer develops a very good discussion about these two poles as "paradoxes" in teaching. Rather than seeing them as an either/or situation, he posits that teachers must leave both ends of the pair open during instruction in order to create the best classroom atmosphere.

Here is his list of teaching paradoxes around which teachers must remain open:  

• The classroom space should be both bounded and open.
• The space should be both hospitable and charged.
• The space should invite both the voice of the individual and the voice of the group
• The space should honor both little stories of individuals and the big stories of the discipline and academic tradition.
• The space should welcome both solitude and surround itself with resources from the community and larger world.
• The space should welcome both silence and speech.

I refer you to his book The Courage To Teach in order to better understand these paradoxes and their successful resolution. I cannot recommend it highly enough; it really is a life-changer.

But, that's not my purpose in this entry. The "folder system" is.

So, I teach community college to a demographic that has a huge attendance problem. For a variety of reasons, my students miss classes regularly, and then show up, needing all kinds of support and logistical assistance to get back on track.

This has pretty much stymied most everything I do as an instructor: it makes forming regular groups impossible, breaks up instructional continuity class to class, and challenges my personal relationships with individual students.

In addition, when it comes to paper flow, it has been hugely frustrating and distracting. I do not have my own room, meaning, I run three different classes out of a series of briefcases. You can imagine what that is like: finding graded papers, locating previous assignments, coordinating where late-arriving students sit. (I use cooperative groups in every class.)

I can't tell you how many instructional strategies, that I have come to depend upon, this unruly situation has taken out of my repertoire.

So, this semester I created a file system. Here's how it works:

I give each student a manila folder. They put their name on it. I put them out every class. Anytime that they have work to turn in, they put it in the folder. Any work that I grade, I put back in the folder. Essentially, it functions as a kind of envelope to pass assignments back and forth. But, it also functions as a way to organize and select groups.

First advantage, every student is guaranteed privacy in regard to other students seeing their graded assignments. (This is something I have often worried about and dealt with by putting papers face down when I pass them back.)

Second advantage, I put the folders out every day before class and that establishes where students sit. This allows me to pick and manage groups on a daily basis. I used to do this by assigning students to specific groups for up to two weeks (then rotate them), but the absences made this impossible. But, for me, because I use so much group-work, I need to control where students sit in order to maximize the quality and effectiveness of each group.

(Key point: if you let students sit wherever they want in your classroom, you are subject to their worst choices, and the worst possible combinations in terms of generating good discussions, promoting community and capitalizing on diverse skills. That's why I adopted the folder system for this situation: every class, students go right where I want them without any discussion, fuss or bother.)

Third advantage, every assignment or handout, if the student is absent, goes right into their folder, where it will remain until they return. No mess, no fuss, no bother. I have not had to find a single handout all semester. You cannot believe what relief it is to not waste class-time searching for a piece of paper.

Fourth advantage, when I grade an assignment in that class, I pull out the folders. If I open one up and the assignment is not there, I record the date, the name of the assignment and its point value right on the inside folder flap. Voila. No more, "What am I missing?" They know, and it's their responsibility to get it done.

Fifth advantage, at a single glance to the inside folder flap, the student and I both know exactly how responsible and timely their efforts have been over the course of the semester. This is hugely valuable and highly specific information when it comes to the student seeing for themselves how well they have performed. They really get it: either, "Look how many times I was late with my work", or, "Gee, look, no late assignments".

This is important in my class because I insist that students analyze their own efforts and grade themselves, in part, on certain qualities, one of which is how well they followed through on their responsibilities as a student. (This is a separate but worthy topic which I will address elsewhere.)

So, there it is. I no longer have to dig endless through files looking for papers or trying to locate graded assignments. It really makes my life in class cleaner and easier. Sure, there's a bit more work involved in cataloguing all of the missing work, but really, it saves more time than it consumes because there is not as much need to explain things to students before and after class.

By the way, I do also require portfolios. So, every time a graded assignment pops up in their folder, the students take it out and put it in their own folder. This means that each student's folder remains trim and easy to handle.

I'm really happy with the way this is working out and plan to continue using it in this particular situation. But, you know what? If things change or I have a better idea, I won't hesitate to give it a try.

Questions about this? Feedback? I'm listening, and I will respond.