I’m really into efficiency. Cheaper by the Dozen was one of the formative books of my youth. (I am not kidding.) So when I found myself having to teach a history of medicine class with 80 eager pre-meds and one TA, and I wanted to do it as a discussion class rather than as a lecture class, I thought a lot about how to minimize our workload while maximizing student participation and satisfaction.

I came up with this folder system that my TA told me I should patent. I’d rather share it.

The advantages of this system include that it:

1. 1.makes taking attendance quick and painless;
   

2. 2.provides a permanent name-tag for students’ desks (large enough that I and guest lecturers can read them from far away);
   

3. 3.provides a way to rapidly hand out teaching materials for the day;
   

4. 4.ensures that students who miss a class will, at the next class meeting, get the teaching materials they missed;
   

5. 5.provides a way to rapidly and confidentially hand back graded student work.
   
   

Here’s the basic principle: Each student is assigned a manilla folder. Before class, you or the TA will put in that folder whatever you need that student to have for that day (e.g., work you’re handing back, material they will need for today’s class, etc.). Every day, at the start of class, the student’s folder is hanging in a hanging folder assigned specifically to him or her. (The hanging folders are available at the start of each class in big boxes at the front of the room, organized such that students know which box holds their folders.) Each student takes only his or her folder as she or he walks in the door. At the end of class, students pile their folders back into a catch-all box as they leave. (Don’t have them file them back; this is explained below.)

To prepare the folders:

You assign each student a number (1-80 if there are 80 students). Do this alphabetically by last name, so that the numbers go in order of your class roster. Get enough manilla folders so that every student can have one. Then, on the tab of each manilla folder, you write one student’s last and first name. In the corner of the tab, large enough to read easily, you write that student’s class number.

Now get enough portable file boxes to hold the folders. Eighty students typically require two small plastic file boxes. (See picture upper left.) Also get one hanging folder for each student. Using the tabs that come with the hanging folders, number each folder consecutively (1-80) so that there is a hanging folder for every student’s manilla folder.

On the first day of class, put the syllabus and anything else you need students to have in the folders. At an appropriate time in the first class meeting, explain the use of the folders, and have them come get their folders. Hand out a bunch of thick markers, and ask each student to write, as large as possible, the name she or he wishes to be called on a flap of the folder. Now have them hang the folder over the edge of the desk so that the names are showing. If you’re stuck in an auditorium style room with no tables, have students put up their folding desks and prop their names on the desks.

Each day:

Each day, be prepared by having each student’s folder put back in the hanging folder that bears his/her class number. Before class, put in each student’s folder whatever you need that student to have for the day, e.g., work you’re giving back, an article you promised to give a particular student, instructions for today’s small group discussions.

When the students come in, they should know to pick up their folders and only their own folders. They should flip the folder open to hang over the edge of their desks to show you their names, so you’re ready to call them by name during discussion.

Have students put their class number on everything they turn in. It allows you to easily alphabetize, record grades, and turn back work.

At the end of class, to allow them to exit quickly, let them just pile their empty folders in an empty cardboard file box. Then you or the TA can easily re-file them by number back in the hanging folders. Every folder should be empty at the end of every class.

Before you re-file folders, note who is absent simply by noting whose folder was not taken.

Tips:

1. 1.One of those fold-up luggage carrier things with a bungee cord makes it easy to stack two or three boxes and wheel them to and from class.
   

2. 2.Learn the students’ names so you don’t need to use the folders as name tags past the first two weeks (it makes a huge difference in your teaching relationship), but have the students put their names back up when visitors come to class to lecture.
   

3. 3.DO NOT have students turn in work inside their folders. It just slows everything down if you have to pull work from folders. The only folders that should have anything in them at the end of a class period are those for students who were absent that day.
   

4. 4.DO have students put their class number on everything they turn in. It allows you to easily alphabetize, record grades, and turn back work. But emphasize that you know their real names (and do not see them as numbers) by addressing them by name as often as possible.
   

5. 5.When you’re passing out materials in the middle of class, do this “communion style” -- pass down the rows boxes holding the material to be distributed. Have them pass in work (like quizzes) the same way, by passing a box down the rows.
   

6. 6.If a student drops the class, just drop that assigned number by removing the corresponding hanging folder. There is no need to renumber everyone.
   

7. 7.If a student adds the class, give them a number like 12.5. They’ll understand this is necessary to keep the system alphabetical; it will mean the numbers always conform to your roster, which makes recording grades much easier. If you want to avoid assigning decimals to some students, then on the first pass, assign only even numbers, reserving odd numbers in case you need an in-between number for a late add.
   

8. 8.Early in the semester, rarely attempt to start a discussion by simply throwing out a question to the whole group. Rather, ask students to do think, pair, share: Write a question on the board for them to think about. Ask them to think alone for 1-2 minutes. (Time it. Don’t rush.) Ask them to make a few notes as they think about it. Then ask them to pair with a neighbor and share their responses to the question. Then “debrief” by asking representative pairs to tell the class what they discussed. To shake up who students talk to, sometimes ask them to pick someone in a row behind or in front of them, or ask them to speak to someone to whom they’ve never spoken.
   
   

Here’s a syllabus for a class for which I used this system:

Dreger_syllabus_HistMed_2002.pdf

The Folder System (for managing a large class efficiently)