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Top Ten Time Management Tips for Teachers

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Top Ten Time Management Tips for Teachers

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I often hear teachers in staffrooms complaining about students who are late for lessons and claim they have no time to complete their homework tasks, and yet spend their waking hours on social media and binge-watching series after series on Netflix. Then there are teachers who sneer at me when I talk about CPD (Continuing Professional Development) and categorically tell me that they have time for no such thing. There is no doubt that time-management is a skill that we are not born with and like any other skill, takes time (ironic, I know!) to hone.

In the recent issue of English Teaching professional (114), I took a brief look at how we could (and should) include the teaching of time management in our classes, and suggested that many teachers could do with some help in this area. As a teacher/teacher-trainer, a writer, and a mother of two very young children, I find myself in a constant act of juggling my responsibilities and regularly feel overwhelmed with the amount of work I have to get done in the few hours of the day available to me. Ever since my older child started school, I've found my working hours cut shorter, but my working responsibilities have been on a steady increase (through my own volition). In an attempt to gain better control of my life, I've had to go right back to the basics of time management and re-learn and re-apply some of those skills again.

And so, for the teachers out there (and this includes all teachers, not just English teachers), here are my top ten time-management tips that I've found incredibly helpful.

1. It's easy to go from day to day ploughing through your workload, putting out constant fires and feeling like there's never an end to all this. But what are you doing this for? Where are you going with it? What is the ultimate objective?

Consider the things that you have to do and the things you want to achieve. Think short-term as well as long-term. And using the SMART model, set yourself some clear goals.

Your goals should be:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time-bound

Now consider the activities and tasks you spend your time on everyday. How do they go towards helping you achieve those goals. Which ones are time-wasters? What can you do to reduce the amount of time you spend on activities that don't go towards helping you achieve your goals?

2. With clear goals, you can now go about planning how you spend your time and organising your days. For longer-term goals, consider a longer-term plan. Download a monthly planner or use a planner app to help you get a better overview of the steps you need to take to achieve those goals.

It also helps to be able to look ahead each day and know how you will spend your day achieving your goals. Plan your day either the night before or the first thing that morning. Know what is important and what isn't, and be conscious of what contributes to helping you achieve your goals as you prioritize your tasks for the day.

Have a to-do list and enjoy the satisfaction of ticking each item off the list. You'll feel more productive, and consequently, more confident when you have a clearer overview of what you have accomplished.

3. Don't feel like you need to take on everything that is given to you. Consider your priorities and how a task might or might not contribute towards your goals. How would this new task or activity fit into your plans? If you are unsure, ask for time to decide by saying, "Can I think about it and get back to you on that?" It's good to be helpful, but not to the detriment of your own health and sanity.

4. A lot of the teachers I meet complain about the amount of time they spend planning their lessons. While it's good to plan your lessons, spending hours upon hours planning a 30-minute lesson, and then doing that day after day can really sap the life out of any teacher. Be smart about lesson planning

The fancy PowerPoint presentation that took you three hours to make might be really impressive and that Cluedo-esque card game that took you two hours to create and another hour to print, cut and laminate might be great fun, but how much learning is really taking place as a result of those activities?

Ultimately, our students are in class to learn and although it may be difficult to actually measure learning, it is nevertheless important that we consider the time-to-learning ratio: is the time we put into preparing an activity actually going to result in learning that is worthy of that input? Would an impressive PowerPoint actually result in more learning than if that lesson were to be delivered on the whiteboard?

While I will not hesitate to applaud the creativity and originality of creating the Cluedo-esque card game, for the overwhelmed teacher, those two hours might be better spent elsewhere. There are plenty of lesson materials freely available online for the busy teacher to print out and use, so keep an eye on relevant Facebook groups and Twitter accounts that regularly post links to downloadable teaching materials. Bookmark useful websites and keep an organised folder of printouts/handouts that you've used so that you can re-use them again in the future.

5. The other time-consuming activity that I often hear teachers complain about is the marking of homework and assignments. Unfortunately, there isn't much about marking that is enjoyable, and the best thing to do is to be smart about it.

- If the marking is objective (e.g. there is a right or wrong answer), then have your students do the marking. You can have them exchange papers with each other to ensure fairness. The added benefit is that our students will probably learn more from marking their own papers as it forces them to consider possible mistakes and the reasons behind the right answers.

- Don't give out lots of homework at a go. Plan and spread out the deadlines for homework/assignments you give out so that you're not left with multiple piles of work to tackle all at once.

- Plan to mark a small load at a time, rather than leaving them all till the last minute. Having the psychological burden of knowing you have a large pile of marking to do is not only soul-destroying but will more than likely make you procrastinate further.

- You don't have to mark everything. Consider only focusing on certain points when marking an essay and let students know beforehand. Say things like, "For this assignment, I'll be specifically looking at how you organise your paragraphs."

6. Be smart with technology tools
There are plenty of tech tools out there that can lighten your burden. Look into using Google Forms and their add-ons to help with homework and marking. Look into Jing to audio-record your feedback to their assignments, instead of having to write everything out. Nicky Hockly's regular feature in each issue of ETp recommends some of the best ways to use technology tools in teaching while Russell Stannard's Webwatcher on the ETp website gives detailed tutorials on some of the most useful teaching tools online.

7. What do you waste time on each day? Is it browsing on eBay for things you don't need? Is it checking Facebook updates, looking at Instagram photos, or watching cute YouTube videos of cats? Or is it getting involved in unproductive chats and email chains that cause nothing but frustration? Do you find yourself splitting your attention between trying to watch something on television and playing a game on your phone, and then feeling deeply unsettled by the stress levels caused by dissatisfying multi-tasking? Eliminate time-wasters

It's important to (a) know what it is you're wasting your time on each time. Remember that if you're truly getting rest and relaxation from doing that activity, then it isn't a time-waster and can be categorized as having 'me-time'. However, if the activity isn't really relaxing you, then it's time to cut it out of your day.

Then, (b) proceed to set certain rules that will help you eliminate these distractions. For instance, decide that you will remain off-line when you are marking. Or have a no-multi-tasking rule when you're meant to be relaxing.

8. In David Allen's book 'Getting Things Done', he proposes applying the two-minute rule to everything we do, i.e. Apply the Two-Minute Rule
if it takes less than two minutes to complete, then get it done now. It would take more than two minutes if you were to come back to do it later.

I apply this rule to answering questions in emails and online groups (e.g. WhatsApp, Ning, Google groups), dealing with admin requests, photocopying/printing out handouts, and even daily household chores (e.g. taking the bin out, washing up).

In addition to the traditional two-minute rule, I also apply a variation of it to tasks that take a lot more than two minutes. When there is a bigger task ahead of me (e.g. marking a pile of papers, writing a blogpost) and I'm lacking in motivation to do it, I tell myself that I would start the task and do it for only two minutes. I often end up doing it for more than two minutes, and when I am confronted with the task the next day, I'm pleased to see that some of it has already been done and am more motivated to finish the job, thus solving the problem of inertia.

So my addition to the two-minute rule is: If you have a task that would take more than two-minutes, start it before the end of the day and do it for two minutes.

9. When you are trundling along from one task to the next, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and lose sight of what it is you're actually doing. Pay attention to what you are doing and how you are feeling. Focus on the parts of the tasks that you enjoy and remind yourself of why you're doing it and how it relates to your goals. Remember that the journey is often more important than the destination.Practise being mindful of what you do and enjoy what you're doing

(I've written more about mindfulness in teaching here.)

10. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Allow yourself time to relax, time to exercise and time to sleep. Keep a check on your work-life balance and engage in activities that nourish your body, your mind and your soul. And remember that a happy teacher will inspire happy students. Allocate time for yourself

And if after reading those top ten tips, you are still overcome by panic as you think about the mountain of work ahead of you, allow me to share with you this fantastic piece of advice my friend and colleague Emma once gave me: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Related article:

Chia Suan Chonglooks at how you can teach time-management to your students.

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Top ten time-management tips for teachers | ETp

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I often hear teachers in staffrooms complaining about students who are late for lessons and claim they have no time to complete their homework tasks, and yet spend their waking hours on social media and binge-watching series after series on Netflix.

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Don't take yourself too seriously!

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Prepare as much as you can for the next day before you leave.

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Label big bins and put them up

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Put things where you are going to use them. For example, clipboards by the carpet.

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Add apps on Clever!

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Notes and To Do List created in Notes so it can be accessed on your hone, iPad, and MacBook.

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Organize your Google Drive by lessons/ subjects. It takes some time - but so worth it.

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The work will still be there the next day, just let it be!

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Have more jobs for the students that include pencil helper, paper helper, desk manager, partner quick check for module writing and math workbook practices.

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The Snip It tool can be a lifesaver (windows/ shift/ s key)

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Working as a teacher requires excellent time management skills. Teachers need to balance the long-term goals of the classroom, the immediate educational needs of the students and the large volume of paperwork that comes with every assignment. Between writing lesson plans, grading exams and actually teaching, teachers often feel that it is impossible to fit everything into the allotted time frame.

Although the career path seems to have too much work for the number of hours in a day, it is possible to manage the situation and clear extra time in the classroom and outside of class. With effective time management skills, teachers can increase their productivity and provide a better education for their students.

Here are five effective time management tips teachers can use every day.

1. Organize the day by priorities

Teacher time management must start with setting priorities and organizing the day around the most important tasks. Setting priorities can help keep teachers on track throughout the day, even when the unexpected occurs and the workload can seem overwhelming.

Effective prioritizing is about arranging workload based on both the importance of the tasks as well the resulting impact of the completed tasks. Teachers must be able to assess whether projects can be put on hold if the outcomes are not as impactful as others.

Priorities are not as black and white as "putting math and English first and getting to arts projects if time avails." This kind of thinking can lead to class burnout-for both teachers and students. Within certain contexts, an impactful art or outdoor activity can be just as stimulating as academic lesson plans.

2. Strategically plan homework assignments

Both teachers and students may find that assignments that require repetitive practice is better suited for the home environment. Although in-class practice helps when framing and structuring problems, repetitive practice during class may not be the best use of time. Assignments that simply ask students to complete a set number of problems for practice unnecessarily consume valuable class time.

3. Avoid "loaded" procrastination

According to Pinell, teachers find it more efficient to break up grading materials into small groups that are graded each day than to work on grading the work of the entire class on the same day. Avoid piling on loads of grading assignments, and try to knock out batches at a time. A small pile each day is easier to manage and allows a teacher to properly evaluate the assignment and offer feedback to students. Teachers can experience a sense of accomplishment from each completed batch.

4. Plan for potential crises

It is better to plan ahead for potential problems before facing them in the classroom, as urgent crises can distract teachers from their goals within the classroom. Although some problems have limited options, such as natural disasters, teachers can plan around the needs of students. A crisis that relates to student behavior is better to avoid or handle before it reaches the peak to avoid wasting class time. By learning about students before they enter the classroom, teachers can create a plan of action to avoid triggers and stop distractions early.

5. Set aside personal time

A teacher has many tasks that require attention and often focuses on the needs of students and their parents. Although it is tempting to put more time into grading, feedback and managing student needs, it is also important to set aside personal time to keep the priorities in proper perspective.

Prioritizing time for personal needs is necessary to effectively implement and execute the plans for educating students. When teachers are exhausted due to lack of personal care and time, it is possible that the classroom becomes less effective and efficient. Implementing time-saving plans only works when a teacher is energetic, healthy and refreshed.

Teachers need to take measures to properly manage time for an effective classroom environment. By working through teacher time management strategies, it is possible to keep up with the educational needs of every student, manage urgent situations immediately and avoid falling behind when unexpected events occur. Time management is an important part of providing quality education and meeting the needs of every student. If you are interested in using software to plan and organize your time, you can read our suggested list of the best time management tools for teachers.

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5 Time Management Tips for Teachers | Resilient Educator

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Teachers must develop good classroom time management strategies in order to meet the educational needs of every student.

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Delegate only what you are sure you can let go of.

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Making copies or prepping activities ahead of time to save time later one.

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Organize your planner

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Give jobs to improve responsibility especially for students with behavior challenges.

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Group/Team Leaders to help and double check things

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When you have tasks/assignments to complete make a schedule to complete them in phrases (chunk it).

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Focus on one task at a time and priortize them in order of importance.

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Use a planner

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I use an alarm EVERY DAY ALL DAY!! It keeps me on track!!!

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Set Alarms on your phone

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Focus on what is important