As teachers, we don’t expect to have a completely checked to-do list. It’s a nice idea. But we all know that if we dare to get close to achieving everything that needs to be done that week, ta-da a crisis appears. Before we know it, we’re stepping in for a sick teacher or filling in a class trip. Or maybe a whole load of reports and stats need to be prepared for management today. So, there it is in a nutshell; the work of a teacher is never done.
Now, we all know that overtime for teachers is not happening. So, the best we can do is find a way to make sure you are doing as little overtime as possible. And all while still doing your job well and giving your students what they need.
I don’t have a magic wand for the never-ending to-do list I’m sorry to say. But what I do have is a few time management tricks! They just might come in handy when you are seeing the hours in the day march on, and the tasks that need doing piling up.
So here we go:
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Time Management Trick: To-Do Lists THAT Get Things Done
First things first, not all to-do lists are created equal. Let’s get everything down on paper that needs to be done. The big things, the little things, the easy ones, and the hard ones. Write down every single task you need to do so it’s all in one place.
Next, I personally apply the 2-minute rule, if I have two minutes that is. The 2-minute rule is this – if it can be done, completed, and ticked off your list in just two minutes, do it! There is something hugely satisfying and motivating about ticking off or scoring out the task… I’m a scorer, a big thick line of accomplishment straight through it, but whatever works for you.
Once I’ve removed the 2-minute tasks, I look at prioritizing my list from 1 to 100 (not quite, but occasionally the to-do list has got that long). I prioritize by looking at three things.
1. Deadline
2. Importance
3. Someone else needing my task completed to do their task (I hate being the person that is holding things up)I suggest writing your list at the beginning of the end of the day. I tend to write the full list at the end of the day and in the morning give myself a minimum achievement for the day based on the above three things. So, I’ll create a mini ‘to do’ list for the day from my very long to-do list.
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Time Management Trick: Get to Know Your Techy Tools
More than ever, we have been honing our virtual learning and technology skills to support delivery outside the classroom. So, now it’s time to take technology one step further. It’s time to make use of some other tools.
There are loads of apps and programs out there. You can use them to make assignments and to grade assignments. Spend some time creating high-quality multiple-choice questions for your students. Then let the programs do the marking work for you. It gives you more time to attack your to-do list. Or spend the evening reflecting on your lesson and how well it went. Or maybe you need to revise the next day’s lesson. Maybe even having a little bit of downtime instead of marking, marking, marking! It’s the bane of a teacher’s life!
The technology will do much more than just marking for you. It can give you reports on trends in learning patterns. Concepts the students are not grasping. Topics they are doing well in. Even where there are mixed abilities requiring both repetition and stretching exercises.
We all want to be the best teacher we can be, and sometimes that means working smart, embracing technology, and taking advantage of the technology that is available.
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Time Management Trick: Get HELP
Don’t be an island. There’s nothing more frustrating than feeling swamped with work, overloaded with marking, and three steps behind everything you meant to be doing while your peers are calmly going about their day.
Well, first of all, most of them are not – it’s the swan approach – some people are very good at gliding along the water’s surface while manically paddling away underneath in secret. Yet, there are others that just seem to have it down. They are generally the veterans, the ‘been there, seen it and got the t-shirt’ teachers.
Now, I have a suggestion for you, rather than seethe internally at the easy ride they seem to be having while you are slowly sinking, take advantage of their knowledge. Every one of those teachers has actually ‘been there’, it’s probably taken them years of trial and error to work out the best and most efficient way of doing things. They have vast amounts of expertise, knowledge, and no doubt some tricky little systems that would be of great use to you, so ask them.
People are flattered when told that they are doing something well, and more often than not very willing to share their techniques, in fact, they just don’t like to wax lyrical about their way of doing things in case they are stepping on toes.
There are also some people who are just super organized in this world, so it may not be the veteran, it could be a brand new teacher or someone else in your life – whoever it is, ask… not everyone’s way is going to work for you, so the more ideas you get from different people, the more likely you are to find your quick fixes.
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Time Management Trick: Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
While it’s admirable to be creating customized assignments, practice sessions, and resources for each and every lesson and session, it’s not always the best use of time. There are literally hundreds of websites available with resources for every curriculum topic going. Not all created equal I must say, so if you’re going to use an online resource or assignment, make sure you do it yourself first to ensure it’s correct, accurate, and works (I’ve had one embarrassing classroom moment with this, but only one – I’ve never used an unchecked resource again). But seriously, time is tight and time management is important, so explore the resources available and you’ll get to know what sites suit you, your subject, and your students.
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Time Management Trick: Flip your class
If marking in the evenings is becoming too much for you, you may wish to consider flipping some of your classes so that the assignment-based work is completed in class. Now, I’m not going to say this is a ‘quick-win’ in terms of time management, because the investment needed to get the resources in place for delivering the instructional element as homework is hugely time-consuming in terms of recording lessons, building resources, and getting a system that works for your particular students and set up. But this is a long-term time management approach, so perhaps if you can face spending some of your weekend or vacation time flipping some lessons, you may just reap the rewards with a few hours less work on the school nights. You need to see if this approach works for your class, but hey, sounds like it’s worth a try to me?
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Time Management Trick: Avoid Wasting Time
Ok, we all do this, so I’m not going to suggest we can eliminate this completely. But work out what your own personal time-wasters are – Facebook? Amazon? Celebrity gossip? Chatting at the coffee machine? You know where I’m going with this. We all say we are SOOO busy, yet we waste time here or there throughout the day on little bits of a guilty pleasure. Personally, mine is looking at home furnishings, particularly pineapple lamps right now. I can’t get enough of them. And a coffee chat is just building good working relationships with colleagues, isn’t it?!?
So, whatever your vice is, your time waster, I am not saying don’t do it…but I am saying think about how long you do it for. If you total it up, it’s been an hour spent on this and that. It might mean not putting your marking books down until 9 pm, instead of 8 pm. Now, wouldn’t you rather spend that extra hour relaxing on the sofa, guilt-free looking at pineapple lamps knowing you’ve completed your work for the day? Yeah, me too!
We know that the life of a teacher is always going to be one of juggling priorities. We are trying to get the balance right to give the students what they need. Give management what they want. And finding some time in the middle to not burn yourself out.
So think of the ways you can save time without cutting corners for the students. Look at what elements you can control. Who can help you do things better? And using the technology that is available to you.
And when in doubt, shout. Don’t struggle in silence, shout for help!! Chances are someone will be happy to help. Or everyone will be in the same boat, and you can paddle your way through the murky waters together.
