Work Smarter, NOT Harder

Hey there, teacher friends! We are approaching the end of the semester, a time when many are a bit frazzled and exhausted! It made me think it was the perfect time to put together a post I've been thinking about for awhile. 

We can all agree that teachers work hard. It seems that you can never get ahead. Something always comes up that demands your attention. I can remember my first couple years of teaching and how late I worked each night. My husband, a very patient man, had to encourage me to "get it together" so I could spend more time at home with my family. And he was right. Teaching can consume you to the point that you neglect your own needs and the needs of your family. 

I've now been teaching for ten years, and I continue to look for ideas to help me stay organized and on top of things. Some questions I consider...What do I spend the most time on? Is there anything I do over and over again (day after day, week after week, year after year)? Is there a way to simplify that or prepare for it better? 

Here's a few of my favorite tips:

Daily Checklist

When I was in the classroom (I'm now the Title I Reading Specialist), I used a daily checklist to keep me on track. I had my list of things I needed to do every day slipped inside a page protector. As I accomplish things on the list, I cross it off and when the week is done I can use it all over again. The best thing is that it kept me focused and allowed me to leave on time (without a bunch of things cluttering up the back of my mind). 

My checklist looks a little different now. It is monthly, but still serves the same purpose!

One of my old daily checklists.

New Student Prep

Here's another thing I learned early in my teaching career. Getting ready for a new student can be tough--or it can be simple. After the first year of scrambling to gather all the materials, label them, and be ready for a new student the night before, I stumbled on the "new student bag" idea. Every year after that, I made two new student bags while I prepped at the beginning of the year. It made getting a new student so much easier. 

This year, I'm prepared for new students to my intervention room as well. Folders with assessment forms are ready and waiting for when a new student is referred to me.

Bulletin Boards

Choose bulletin board ideas that can stay up all year, such as one where student work is swapped out frequently or where you are adding character traits all year. Your students will benefit from more time spent on preparing lessons than they will cute bulletin boards or decorations that you are swapping out. Now if decorating is your "jam" then go for it, but don't feel pressured to make your room "pinterest-worthy." 

Special Helper (instead of job chart)

And while we're at it, tie this into your assigned line! 

Skip the job chart. Choose one student to be your special helper of the week. They get to do ALL the jobs that week. No more swapping out names with a job chart that takes up space or  remembering who has which jobs. It's always the special helper. If they're absent, the next person in line fills in for the day. 

Can we talk assigned lines for a minute? Yes, please use an assigned line. It simplifies your life and everyone else's in the building who might be responsible for lining up your students. NOW THIS IS IMPORTANT--ROTATE YOUR LINE! Sorry I had to yell, but no kid wants to be at the back of the line all year. Or last to lunch every day. It's really very simple to rotate the line each week. The student at the front, goes to the back. You have a new line leader (special helper) and the order has not really changed so there is no need to learn a new assigned line.

Parent Teacher Conferences

PT conference prep was a snap once I started using data binders. Put everything in there that you will want to share with parents. Teach your kids how to add things to the binder, track their own data (which can be pretty motivational), and you won't be scrambling to get ready for conferences. 

This year, I wrote personalized letters to the parents of all my kids at conference time and again last week to update them on their child's progress. This was very time consuming, so I will definitely be looking to simplify for next year.

Lesson Planning

My lesson planning system in my classroom took several years to master, but in the end it was the best thing that I did to save myself time. Seriously.

I created an overview for the year with an estimated date to teach each unit.
I made one of these for every subject.

Then I created a page(s) like this for each unit. I would list all available resources that I had in my files (i.e. task cards, games, online videos, etc.) so that I could pull out what I needed
based on the needs of my class that given year. This was even simpler when following a curriculum (i.e. Unit 1, Week 3). I would add key pieces of information to those (i.e. vocabulary, sight words, decodables, leveled readers, etc.). I would also add a section of copies and materials needed to make prep work easier. I used these pages year after year (obviously making some changes as needed), but for the most part my planning was done at the beginning of the year!

If you want to give it a try, I set up a template for you. Feel free to download it and adapt it to fit your needs. 

Well, that's all I can think of for now. Maybe it will give you a few ideas to try. What about you? Do you have any tips for us to work smarter, not harder? If so, leave them in the comments below!