What’s in my teacher’s bag

Most of my teaching is done off-site, in various places from state schools to companies and offices. This means that the learning environments I find myself in vary enormously, and so does the equipment available.

Which is why I bring with me what I call my “on-the-go classroom” in a laptop bag. This way I know that I can rely on my own equipment to listen to audio files or watch videos, to play last-minute games or improvise a practice activity.

The bag measures approximately 40 cm by 30 cm by 20 cm, and it contains:

• My laptop and its charger plus other bits and pieces I need to connect it to various projectors or screens
• A Bluetooth speaker
• An external CD unit (my laptop does not have one)
• My planning bullet journal (which I’ll talk more about in a future post)
• My diary
• A set of dice and counters
• Post-it notes
• Red and green laminated cards that I often use for feedback
• Whiteboard pens
• Glue stick, scissors and other stationery
• A cute ‘well done’ stamp that I use as reward with children as well as gold star stickers
• A deck of cards with conversation topics that I can use as last-minute activity or as extra speaking practice
• Scrap paper
• Blu Tack
• My water bottle

After a few years of trial and error, this feels like a nice balance between carrying around too much and being unprepared. The bag isn’t light, but I can carry it around quite easily, knowing that I have all I need for my lessons and that I don’t have to worry about getting all the bits together every time

Do you have an ideal teacher’s bag setup?