A few weeks back, I was roaming the halls of a school in New Orleans, when I spotted a very Together Teacher bag that wayyyyyyyyy outsized a normal teacher bag or backpack. This thing even knocked the pants off my old school L.L. Bean enormous tote! This had pockets, and lots of them!
Being the friendly stalker that I am, I introduced myself and got the lowdown from Rosie T., a Special Education Inclusion Associate Teacher for grades 3 – 6. She pushes in to general education classes to support kids with special needs, and, get this, Rosie is in SIX CLASSROOMS A DAY.
Rosie told me why she loves being a mobile teacher and how she stays organized. Love her positive attitude!
“I love being a mobile teacher because I get to work with several teachers and students every day. My bag allows me to always be prepared and organized, even when I don’t have a space of my own. I would highly recommend this bag for any traveling teachers or parents on the go!”
Rosie agreed to let us poke around inside her nifty Together Teacher bag, which you can purchase right here. We also have a Pinterest board of other super duper teacher bags for whatever style suits your fancy.
Here’s the play-by-play of Rosie’s contents:
Main section: computer, file folders (per grade level with daily materials/papers to grade), breath mints (teacher coffee breath), Excedrin migraine medicine (teacher headaches), binder rings, planner, note pad, binder with service logs/IEP goals/progress monitoring materials, current unit ELA book, book to read in my “spare time,” envelopes, stickers, thank you notes and my wallet.
Front center: work phone, earphones, Chapstick, paper clips and my glasses cleaning cloth.
Front right: wet wipes, index cards, post it notes, post it tabs, band aids.
Front left: pencils, pens, tape (for student use).
Back left: equivalence cards, playing cards, calculator.
Back right: USB jump drives, teacher writing utensils, anti-bacterial lotion, hole punch, eraser.
If she runs out of something, Rosie restocks in the morning in her first classroom (where she has a desk). Then she is go-go-go to:
- 5th grade home room
- 4th grade math (30 minutes)
- 5th grade math (60 minutes)
- 5th grade ELA (90 minutes)
- Her planning period
- 6th grade math intervention (45 minutes)
- 4th grade content writing/social studies/science (90 minutes)
- 4th grade math intervention (45 minutes)
Good thing she installed a pedometer app on her phone so she can track her exercise!
Rosie, thanks for sharing how you stay Together as a highly mobile teacher!
For more ideas for those of you teaching sans-classroom, you can read our book section on Paula’s art cart or our blog post about Sara and Michelle.
Discussion questions: Mobile teachers, how do you make it work?
