The school year looks very different for many teachers this fall. Across the country, educators are conducting classes online, and some are juggling a combination of virtual and in-person lessons.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way education looks in this country. While online schooling has made some things easier, the process has been a learning curve that has also increased stress and confusion. Organization is more important than ever to manage virtual classrooms, communicate with parents and meet student learning outcomes.

Here are five organization hacks that will save teachers hours of time as they manage virtual education.

    1. Color code. Create a color-coded organizational system for your virtual classroom and remain consistent with it throughout the school year. It may take some students time to become accustomed to the visual layout of the virtual classroom, so creating simple structure through color coordination can make it easier for them to find important information.
    2. Auto-grade homework. Creating assignments, quizzes and tests online gives teachers the option to auto-grade homework. By using certain software, teachers can enter the correct information for each assignment answer and choose to auto-grade answers, which means less time checking over each individual assignment. 
    3. Organize your physical space. Even though lessons are taking place largely online, having a clean, quiet, and organized physical space can save time. Encourage your students to do the same, which will also save time during virtual lessons.
    4. Create FAQs. Create written or video answers to frequently asked questions from students. This will save you from answering the same question from multiple students or parents. If one person has a question about something, it is likely that others will as well, so try to anticipate this and proactively answer questions.
    5. Use email organization tools. It is likely that teachers will receive a lot more emails from students and parents because in-person communication is limited. By using plug-ins and tools to organize inboxes, teachers can prevent needless searching and sorting to find important information.

We developed TeachPar as a way for parents and teachers to get on the same page and communicate more effectively. The virtual classroom management platform allows parents to receive notifications about assignments and due dates and see everything teachers create. To learn more about our time-saving features, visit www.teachpar.com.