There is not nearly enough time in the school day, or let alone in each period, for a teacher to get everything accomplished that he or she intends. Organizing time is one of the most important aspects of teaching. New teachers need to get as much of a grasp on the concept of time management as they can before the school year starts, but it isn’t always learned immediately. Even veteran teachers can improve their time management skills. Thomas’ article, “Organize for More Time,” gives strategies for students and teachers to manage time more effectively.
Strategies for Students
Getting your students to be able to function without your monitoring them during instruction can be a huge time-saver. If they can sit quietly and work on something such as bell-work, you can quickly get attendance taken and beginning-of-the-class tasks accomplished (Thompson 2006).
To make this system the most effective, train students to find the induction activity in the same place each day. If it is a worksheet, establish a tray where students know to find it each day. If there are questions to answer, create a special place on the board for these questions, write them on a transparency that is already projected when they walk in, or use PowerPoint with an LCD projector to display the questions. (Thompson 2006).
As Thompson stated, students need to know the procedures to everyday tasks in the classroom. Teachers also need to establish set places for students to turn in and pick up assignments. One idea for this would be to use plastic crates or individual folders for each student (Thompson 2006). Another issue in all classrooms is absences. Instead of having students come to you in the middle of the class to ask what they missed, have a place in the classroom that either lists the previous day’s events, holds assignments, or both. This will save you time when it comes to pulling together the assignments, because it will probably happen at least once a day.
Strategies for Teachers
Not only can students help manage your teaching time, but you can adapt strategies to effectively manage your time as well. One of the most time-consuming tasks for teachers is lesson planning. Because all the lesson plan books out there are not conducive to real-life situations, the best way to compile your lessons is by creating your own lesson book using a three-ring binder.
A lesson plan template can be created on the computer using Microsoft Word or Excel. From there, the teacher can either type lesson plans and print them out on the computer, or print out the template to handwrite the lesson plans. Behind each lesson or set of lessons in the binder, the teacher can include one copy of the notes, worksheets and activities that were used to teach the lesson (Thompson 2006).
One of the best parts of this binder idea is that you can use it for years to come, but adapt it as you see fit. Along with lesson planning, another area of teaching that sucks up a lot of time is organization. One idea for better organization techniques would be to use as many file folders as necessary, even if you are using one folder for only one thing. If you minimize the amount of folders used, you end up with a mass of unorganized paperwork. Another idea is to color code according to class. As a secondary teacher, you will have more than one class to teach within the day. Using a different color for each class can ease your students’ confusion.
Thompson provides ample suggestions for better time management within the classroom. If we begin with ourselves managing time more effectively, we can then transfer the skill to our students in order to aid us in our time management.
Thomas, V. (2006). Organize for more time. In Association for career and technical education. Retrieved from http://acteonline.org/uploadedFiles/Publications_and_E-Media/files/files-techniques-2006/Organize-for-More-Time.pdf
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