Teacher Tip Tuesday: Block Your Schedule
Do you ever wonder how you can get it all done? Teaching has so many demands - from grading to planning to actually getting everything done. It can easily get overwhelming for even the most energetic person.
One way to manage your work week is to block out your schedule. First of all, you need to mentally separate your main activities.
As an example, if my main teaching tasks are planning, correcting, communication, and organizing, for example, I would choose each day of my work week for each one. I know some teachers who finalize their next week's lesson plans every Friday after school. They also make copies for the next week that day and get them all organized. (That doesn't work for me, personally, but I'm just giving you examples.)
Then, you can make each day have its focus. Let's say Monday is for organizing, when you go through all your mail, email, and paperwork, finding a place for each item. If you have enough time, you may choose an old file to go through and clean it out. Or, you may dust or do some other cleaning. Make a list for yourself of things you want to get done on Mondays.
Tuesday may be for communication. This is the day you make sure you've responded to all your emails, you've written thank you notes, you plan your next parent communication, website article, etc. If the parent note or website article for your school is due on Tuesday, don't make Tuesday the day you focus on communication. Plan a day or two ahead, so you've got time to edit and think of anything else that may need to be included.
Perhaps Wednesday is your correcting day. This doesn't mean you waited all week to correct papers, but it is the day you get caught up. This is the day you might grade all the little bits of late work that drifted in (that are such a pain to keep up with.)
If you focus each day on one specific task, you can feel less stress on other days. Rather than thinking about the parent note all week long, for example, you know that you will tackle it every Tuesday. Your mind will appreciate not having to worry or dwell on every task every single day.
One way to manage your work week is to block out your schedule. First of all, you need to mentally separate your main activities.
As an example, if my main teaching tasks are planning, correcting, communication, and organizing, for example, I would choose each day of my work week for each one. I know some teachers who finalize their next week's lesson plans every Friday after school. They also make copies for the next week that day and get them all organized. (That doesn't work for me, personally, but I'm just giving you examples.)
Then, you can make each day have its focus. Let's say Monday is for organizing, when you go through all your mail, email, and paperwork, finding a place for each item. If you have enough time, you may choose an old file to go through and clean it out. Or, you may dust or do some other cleaning. Make a list for yourself of things you want to get done on Mondays.
Tuesday may be for communication. This is the day you make sure you've responded to all your emails, you've written thank you notes, you plan your next parent communication, website article, etc. If the parent note or website article for your school is due on Tuesday, don't make Tuesday the day you focus on communication. Plan a day or two ahead, so you've got time to edit and think of anything else that may need to be included.
Perhaps Wednesday is your correcting day. This doesn't mean you waited all week to correct papers, but it is the day you get caught up. This is the day you might grade all the little bits of late work that drifted in (that are such a pain to keep up with.)
If you focus each day on one specific task, you can feel less stress on other days. Rather than thinking about the parent note all week long, for example, you know that you will tackle it every Tuesday. Your mind will appreciate not having to worry or dwell on every task every single day.
Posted by Stephenie Hovland at 9/20/2011 9:48 PM 
Categories: Teaching
Tags: teacher tip block schedule prioritize teach classroom
Categories: Teaching
Tags: teacher tip block schedule prioritize teach classroom
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