The teaching career is one overly formal career. To stay in control of everything that goes on around you, you have to have certain documents. Here’s what the documents will add to you;
- Organization
- Efficiency
- Quick reference
- Memorization
Memorization is almost not that important, since you have pretty much to worry about and handle on a day to day basis. For the benefits mentioned above, the following are some of the documents that you as a teacher always have to keep;
1. Scheme of work
This simply means the structure and content of an academic course. The scheme of work usually divides the entire content over the course of the designated study period into small chunks that will be covered throughout every lesson.
The scheme of work usually helps teachers as it acts as a future reference
2. Lesson plan
A lesson plan is a detailed description of the course of instruction for a lesson. This, to some people, is also known as the learning trajectory.
The main advantage of a detailed plan is the way it creates order and sets the pace for how the lesson will be conducted throughout.
3. Class profile
A class profile is a collection of documents that contain the crucial details of every student in a given class. The class profile can be useful in helping teachers do the following;
- Finding out social status of every learner
- Discovering their background
- Finding out about their health
If you know all you need to know about your students, it enables you to find the appropriate ways to teach and shape their character.
4. Record of work
Every serious teacher has to possess a record of work – that contains how much they’ve been doing over a given period of time. The record of work helps teachers to;
- Check the teaching progress
- Determine the continuity of teaching
It’s really hard to find teachers that don’t possess the record of work, because it’s a crucial part of the professional teaching process.
5. Record of marks
One of the things that you never have to lose is the record of marks, usually in form of the carbon papers of your students’ report cards and assessment sheets. These will help you by;
- Acting as a basis for promotion
- Checking the ability of learners
- Monitoring the improvement/ decline rate
- Basis for guidance and counseling
Usually, those records of marks will act as a yardstick when it’s time for you to write your students’ recommendations – if they seek to move to another school.
6. Record of attendance
Whenever you roll call your students, it’s important you get to summarize and review the attendance rate of your students. This will help you by;
- Gauging the students interest in learning based on attendance
- Providing an impression regarding the discipline of the student
Sometimes, some students will miss class for genuine reasons while others will do it deliberately – and it’s your job to find the truth.
7. Time table
The time table is the bread and butter of all school activity – because if possessed, it’s the only way that every teacher can be able to achieve the following;
- Being Punctual for every lesson
- Attending every lesson without missing
- Preparing adequately before every lesson
- Finding time for other things besides the classroom
As a good teacher, it’s always wise for you to have your personal copy of the timetable even when you feel like you’ve crammed it pretty well. This is because you can’t rely on your head at all times.
8. Record of notes
Every teacher has to have a record of the notes that they give students in an orderly fashion. This can mean numerous advantages including;
- Enabling the teacher to track the teaching progress
- Allowing for proper teaching
- Helping in setting examinations based on coverage
- Allowing for reviewing in case of a mistake
Teachers without a clear record of notes usually have organizational problems that usually affect the efficiency of their classes.
9. Discipline record of students
All students have different behavior, and sometimes some things they do will go unnoticed. However, the things that you officially notice like huge punishments, suspensions and being summoned to the disciplinary committee shouldn’t go unnoticed. Here are the advantages of a discipline record;
- Acts as a basis for guidance and counseling students
- Determines which students have to be punished and how
- To determine which students have to be eliminated
Without proper knowledge of the previous disciplinary profile, you can always make a mistake in judgment without even noticing it.
Conclusion;
Simplicity is key, and that’s why all those documents are recommended in order to make your work easier. However, simple possession of these documents without constantly updating them is useless – because very soon, you’ll feel too lazy to update them and start keeping your records on things that you can easily lose.