Does this sound like your teacher planning time…RING! DING! KNOCK KNOCK! SIGH!
These are just a few of the sounds that teachers are bombarded with throughout the school day. It is especially frustrating to hear them during teacher planning time! You are given that time to do all the things you can’t do when the students are in the classroom. Yet, it feels as that time continues to dwindle every year. Is it due to the additional demands on teachers? Yep! Could it also be because you need a better system for your planning time? Absolutely!
Let me tell you a little story about my teacher planning time when I first started teaching. We were given 30 minutes per day for our prep period. That’s it! When you think about it, that’s a very minimal amount of time to plan and prepare everything you need to do as a teacher. It was so frustrating to always come in early or stay late so I could get all of the things done.
I knew there had to be a better way to save myself time and stress when it came to planning. So, I had to come up with a system to effectively maximize my teacher planning time. I still continuously work to improve my process and make the most out of my planning time. Of course, life changes and so does teaching, so it’s never perfect. I am sharing five tips below to effectively maximize your teacher planning time!
Tip #1
Create a Consistent Schedule for Your Teacher Planning Time
Raise your hand if you go back after dropping your kids off to specials and you think what should I do first? This is an easy trap to fall into! The best thing you can do is create a consistent schedule for how you want to maximize your teacher planning time each day.
It’s going to take some time to tweak and find what works best for you. I recommend taking 5 minutes to come up with a schedule of when you want to focus on specific tasks. For example, I have staff meetings on Monday afternoons. So I know that I’m not going to be able to use any time after school to get things done. I use my planning time on tasks that I may not need to necessarily do every week, such as grading writing essays.
Another example is on Fridays I know I’m going to be drained and exhausted. I keep my tasks minimal. I choose things that do not take a lot of brainpower, like making copies for the following week. Choose the system that works best for you and write it down! I like to print it out and post it behind my computer so I have it right there to look at each day.
Tip #2
Batch Plan Your Lessons in Your Teacher Planning Time
If you’ve heard of meal prep, the idea of batching your planning is similar. I love to batch plan because it saves me a lot of time as well as a lot of energy and stress! It can seem overwhelming at first for people, but if you start small and work your way up to larger planning chunks then you will be much more successful.
It also creates a better-streamlined unit for teaching. When I was planning my first unit for reading this school year, I mapped out all the lessons that I needed to teach using my standards. When I was ready to work on my lesson plans for the next two weeks, I already had everything mapped out and it made it so much easier to create those weekly lesson plans and I was able to accomplish more in less time. That’s a win-win!
Tip #3
Eliminate Distractions During Your Teacher Planning Time
It’s so easy to get bogged down with all of the things that we need to do as teachers. There’s so much communication between colleagues, administrators, parents, and students. Set a specific time during your planning period to read and answer emails, return phone calls, etc. I like to do this at the end of my teacher planning time so that I don’t become distracted by emails and messages at the beginning.
You also want to turn off notifications on your devices to be more focused. This could be on a personal that device or school device or both. Eliminate the sounds and the pop-up notifications so you can stay on task.
It’s okay to also close your door and set boundaries with your colleagues so that you are not distracted. It may seem standoffish or rude, but to get things done, it’s important to set those boundaries for yourself. You can do it every day or maybe only a couple of days a week. Do what works best for you.
Tip #4
Take a Mental Break During Your Teacher Planning Time
Maybe you had a morning with your class and it has been stressful. Maybe you got to work late and you’re feeling very rushed and overwhelmed. Or maybe you’re just exhausted from all the things that you need to do! These are all things that happen to every teacher and sometimes we just need a break.
If you’re allowed to go off campus, I encourage you to take some time for yourself and do so. If that’s not an option for you or you don’t feel comfortable doing that, then close your door and spend a few minutes taking some deep breaths and calming your mind. Or maybe you like to listen to music to get yourself in and get in the zone. You can even spend a few minutes playing a game. Just make sure to set a timer so you don’t waste too much time. Whatever it is that you need to do, do it. It’s okay to take a break for yourself so that you can feel refreshed and rejuvenated to finish out your teacher planning time with focus and energy.
Tip #5
Remember You Can’t Get It All Done
Yep, I said it! So many teachers say that they need more time. But let’s be honest here. No matter how much time we’re given, it’s never enough. The struggle comes from all of the things that we are required to do and the things that we want to do for our students. It’s so frustrating to feel like there’s never enough time but that’s the nature of life. The best thing we can do is remind ourselves that if it doesn’t get done that’s okay.
As long as you are there for your students and you have your lesson ready to go, then that’s all they need. The emails and messages from other people can wait. The lesson plans and ideas for next month’s units can wait. Give yourself some grace and remember that no matter what you are making a difference and an impact on the world. The to-do list will still be there tomorrow and you can work on crossing those things off then.
I hope these five tips for how to effectively maximize your teacher planning time helps you even just a little bit. The most important thing to remember is that you are doing your best and you have people who care about you and support you. Start small and work your way up until you find the most efficient process for you. We’re all different and unique. We have to figure out what works best for each of us.
Love this journey for you,
April
2 Responses
Thanks!