Real Talk About Time Management - Serena Pariser Corwin Teaching Essentials

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included the following:

       Use to-do lists

       Plan. Plan. Plan for the month, the week, and the day; prioritize

       Don’t grade everything

       Let students assist with class routines and tasks

      During my career as an educator, I have tried to be an Alice and Andy to others. Their greatest contribution was in training and inspiring educators like me to be mentors to new generations of educators.

      Pick and choose what works for you, but most importantly, listen to model teachers. Ask them what strategies they use for grading, for keeping their classroom clean, for dealing with tardy students, or even for managing student bathroom use during class. Perhaps these strategies can save you some time and energy. Let’s all share our knowledge with others.

      Your Turn

      1 Describe one time-saving technique you use in your classroom management, planning, or grading that works for you. Where did you learn this strategy?

      2 What is one aspect of classroom management on which you would like some advice for how to save time?

      Strategy #3 You Have So Much to Do—Why?

       When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.

       —Henry Ford

      We will be up front with you by giving you a direct answer to the question above. You have so much to do because you are a teacher. There will never be enough time. That’s the nature of our profession. We have worked with teachers who handled their workload effectively, we’ve worked with teachers who got stressed daily, and we’ve sadly worked with teachers who “burned out” and started cutting corners (e.g., giving students worksheets so the teacher could take a break, taking sick days, leaving school at the sound of the bell).

      According to the 2017 Educator Quality of Work Life Survey, which captured the data of nearly 5,000 teachers and staff, “Educators and school staff find their work ‘always’ or ‘often stressful’ 61 percent of the time, significantly higher than workers in the general population, who report that work is ‘always’ or ‘often’ stressful only 30 percent of the time” (Badass Teachers Association, 2017). In a short piece titled “Why Teachers Quit,” Elizabeth Mulvahill quoted a teacher who succinctly described the stress teachers are under: “We get bombarded with paperwork, ridiculous curriculum, and lack of time along with unrealistic expectations” (Mulvahill, 2019).

      But remember, 95 percent of you love your jobs. Hold on to that love.

      So what can you do about all that you have to do? We have seven suggestions that work for us. We hope they work for you too.

      1 Be prepared. You are in a very busy profession: Admit it, deal with it, and prepare yourself for it. Prioritize what you plan to do each day based on what you can realistically accomplish.

      2 Be in control. This means take charge of what you and others want you to do and be realistic about your limits. Set manageable objectives and develop a plan to implement them. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback on how you are doing. Catch yourself when you get distracted and get back on track.

      3 Be collaborative. Teaching can be a lonely profession. Do not let it be so for you. Engage in meaningful exchanges with colleagues, administrators, parents, and educators in your community. Join education organizations. Teach a unit with your grade-level team. Collaborators can be a valuable resource for managing time, enriching instruction, and expanding your network of support. Two minds are often better than one. And three minds are often better than two . . . you get the idea.

      4 Be positive. You will experience ups and downs in this profession. Research suggests that positive emotions are contagious. Your students will remember some of what you say but a great deal of how you made them feel. Our advice: Celebrate all positive events in and out of school with people you care for.

      5 Be purposeful. You had a reason, a purpose for becoming a teacher. You had an interest in working with children and young people. Your purpose was captured in your commitments, your objectives, and your motivations to do what you love to do. Your teaching purpose is fueled by your desire to teach the young, to collaborate with others, to become a member of the team and maybe its leader. Your purpose is your sense of developing the “whyness” of things and finding out what works and what doesn’t.

      6 Be a problem-solver. To solve a problem you have to know that you have one and what its complexities are. In general, we suggest this problem-solving framework:Step 1—Identify the problem.Step 2—Examine potential solutions.Step 3—Develop and implement one or more of the solutions.Step 4—Assess whether or not your solutions solved the problem.Step 5—Decide whether the problem is solved or if you should repeat steps 1–4.

      7 Know the difference between busy and productive. We need to constantly ask ourselves: Am I just staying busy or am I being productive?

      Your Turn

      1 In past month or so, would you say you were more busy or productive? Why is that and do you need to change something?

      2 What part of your job do you absolutely love? As you start taking things off your plate, be sure not to discard your favorite activities.

      3 How many of the seven tips are you already doing? Which of them work for you? Is there one you’d like to start doing in the future? Is there something we may have left out? Please share your ideas.

      Strategy #4 Be a Hunter—Track Down Controllable Factors That Add to Your Workload

       If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had forty people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn’t want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher’s job.

       —Donald D. Quinn

      [Ed] It is interesting that my conversations with Serena about strategies meant to help teachers in the classroom invariably take us outside the classroom.

      We have different points of view about “workload”—Serena’s comes from her years as a classroom teacher, and mine comes from my years as an administrator. Our discussions lead to one observation: Addressing matters of workload in the classroom inevitably brings up workload issues outside the classroom.

      So, we look for a balance—focusing here on classroom workload and appreciating the fact that workload issues also occur in other contexts (home, community, church). One of my favorite pieces of advice about how to get control of our workload is to actually understand where to surrender control.

       Life is a balance between what we can control and what we cannot. I am learning to live between effort and surrender.

       —Danielle Orner

      When we talk about workload here we are going to narrow it only to school work as best we can. We all know how difficult it can be for teachers to manage a teaching workload, committee work, and parent conferences, as well as also manage their workload outside of school.

      Workload can vary dramatically depending on the grade level you teach, the number of students in your class(es), and your students’ needs and interests. For the most part, elementary teachers teach all subjects to classrooms of approximately thirty students. Middle and high school teachers teach in a departmental format, perhaps teaching three to five subjects and 100 or more students each day.

      Unfortunately, much of your workload is likely dictated by factors outside your control. Below are examples of factors that are in your control and factors that are often not in your control

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