As a teacher, even though I only teach A-levels, I am constantly having to help my students (and myself) get organised. In particular I find it difficult to keep homework assignments organised.
It's very easy to end up in a state of confusion once, inevitably, homework deadlines start to be missed and you end up with a pile of this weeks homework, plus a few from last week, plus a few from the week before, in addition to the pile you have already marked to give back. Then you have the pile of nameless assignments and the students who insist they gave in their homework to you but you must have lost it.
Collecting homework in can also be an issue - tell them to leave it in your pigeon hole and some will inevitably forget meaning you have extra work chasing them down. Collect it in in class and you waste valuable lesson time and have to deal with a big pile of loose sheets of paper, almost never stapled together with only the front sheet named, that is the last thing you need when your desk is already full with 3 or 4 other piles of paperwork that you prepared for the lesson.
Then you have the issue of keeping track of who's handed in their homework on time, who handed it in late and who hasn't handed it in at all, so that you can dish out the appropriate rewards or punishments. All in all it's all to easy to end up with yet more work to do (as if you didn't have enough already!).
Until recently I've been lucky (in some ways) to teach only small classes of no more than 10 students and hence have got by with no real system of organisation. However, when I found out I would have 20 this year I realised I'd better come with something to make things easier - it took a bit of setting up but I can now present to you my HOMEWORK ORGANISATION STATION!
