Ask teachers what resource they need more of, and chances are most of them will say, “Time!”
For teachers, managing time effectively is a survival skill that applies to both time in the classroom and time spent before and after class, preparing and planning lessons, grading, assessing and documenting, setting up the classroom, and handling a million other details.
Taking a time management class is a great idea, but many of these classes are generic or focus on the business world.
In this blog, we summarize a wealth of tips and techniques for teachers that will help up your game in both classroom time management and organization of your time outside of class.
Teachers recommend setting your goals and priorities both every week and every day. This involves three important lists.
Check-in with your goals and priorities every day until it becomes a habit. Notice when you have spent time on activities that don’t serve your goals and consider how to decrease the time spent on them.
Some teachers plan the week by doing a different type of activity each day, for example, lesson planning on Mondays and filing and organization on Thursdays.
Others recommend using a weekly teacher planner that includes lesson plans for the week. With all your important papers together, you’ll never be caught flat-footed, and if you have to call in sick, your sub will be grateful to you!
Make sure to think long-term as well as short- and medium-term. If parent-teacher conferences are coming up in four weeks, plan to prepare a little each week. Use a monthly planner as well as a weekly teacher planner.
As you do lesson planning, consider which activities use class time best and what types—often repetitive practice—are better done at home.
Consider the implications for grading, as well: don’t place too much of a grading burden on yourself at any one time. Space out writing assignments, in particular, since they require more attention and feedback.
If you have already thought through how you will respond to specific situations, you will be calmer and more decisive when they occur and can adapt gracefully, even to events you haven’t planned for.
Your lesson planning goals will help guide you if time is compressed by the unexpected. Some examples:
Time management training for business professionals is practically an industry unto itself, and teachers can draw plenty of basic lessons and techniques from that discipline.
Most time management courses will focus on setting goals and prioritizing to-do lists, as we’ve described above.
Here are a few more specific techniques teachers working to effectively manage time have drawn from the time management canon.
Take the time to set up a system where you can put your lesson plans, handouts, and other related materials in order so they are together and grouped by subject or skill for quick retrieval.
Organize it in whatever way works best for you: binders with plastic sleeves and tabs, file folders in a drawer or file box, or digital folders on your computer are some possibilities.
This may seem time-consuming, but the time you put into this in advance will save you time throughout the school year and in years to come.
There are lots of them out there for teachers.
It’s worth taking the time at the beginning of the school year to become competent with the technology you’ll be using, including physical tools like your smartboard or projector.
For example, Google Forms could help with homework (and grading). You could use Jing to make audio files of your feedback so you don’t have to write it on students’ homework.
If your students will be using websites and online tools in the classroom regularly, take the time at the beginning of the year to have all the children bookmark any resources you will be using on their devices.
Have them create a single folder in their browser for all of these bookmarks. This will pay off in time savings throughout the year, as everyone will be able to immediately find the resource without holding up the class as they search or contend with a misspelled URL. You might also create a URL reference bulletin board with all the online resources students will routinely use.
Students and adults alike function better in an orderly setting where they know what to expect. This models a good approach to student time management and gives them a sense of security.
Set aside time—for planning and for yourself
Good time management practice in any setting involves deliberately setting aside sacrosanct time for planning, reflection, and prioritization. This applies to both your professional life and your personal life.
Build the habit of protecting your time by not automatically saying “yes” to every request from administration, the union, other teachers, and student groups. Of course, you must meet your contractual obligations, but beyond that, be clear with yourself and firm with others about your availability and be prepared to say “no” (or a diplomatic “Let me think about it”) when asked.
Virtually every teacher knows the psychological burden and time implications of piles of grading. Veteran teachers who have tackled this time management challenge have several tips for managing the load.
Any task someone else can do frees up your time to do the tasks that only you can do; sharing the work also models responsibility for the children and gives them a sense of ownership of their classroom.
Making good time management a habit is a process; nobody learns it from just one course or book (or blog)!
It’s about trying things out, seeing how they work for you, trying something else, learning, and relearning, until you develop habits and techniques that fit your teaching style.
The goal is to use your time as effectively as you can so that you can focus on what you love—the teaching—and maintain a good sense of balance while you do it.
The hardest part of tackling time management, especially given all the technological distractions and growing expectations of teachers in today’s teaching environment, is maintaining a level of mindfulness about your own use of time.
When you’re faced with a long to-do list, a packed schedule, and a Mount Everest of grading, it’s difficult to take the time to step back and assess whether what you’re doing in the moment is serving your goals and priorities.
Whatever time management skills and techniques you acquire, take the time to regularly step back from the work of the moment and take a broader perspective of your work and how you will approach it.
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