A teacher has a million things to do every day, and getting things accomplished during any small bit of planning time is the key to having your day run smoothly. Here are some suggestions for how to organize your non-teaching time to make the most of the time you have!
Make a List
This might sound obvious, but it is probably the #1 thing that will help you make the most of your planning time. Document the things you need to accomplish and check them off as you go so that you don’t spend this precious planning time scrambling to figure out what you need to do!
You can create your lists using your device – Google Docs is a great way to access your lists from anywhere! I like to use the Notepad app on my iPhone and iPad when I make lists digitally.
I am generally more of a paper and pen lover (ahem, can we say I have a bit of a Flair pen problem?!), so I love to use my Erin Condren Life Planner for my lists. There are so many spaces for lists of any kind here!
If you’re also a pen-and-paper person but aren’t ready to jump on the Erin Condren train, you can grab a free checklist template in the next section!
Prioritize
Hand in hand with making lists is prioritizing the items that must be completed. Think about the things that MUST get done during your planning time on that day, things that can wait until later in the day, and things that can wait until another day.
Click the image below for a FREE copy of my Planning Time Checklist!
Close Your Door
I don’t know about you, but probably the biggest sucker of time from my planning time block is social conversations.
I might pass a colleague in the hall who I haven’t seen for a while, pop into the office for the key to our supply cupboard, chat with our office manager about the weekend, or get caught chatting with someone by the photocopier.
I try to keep to myself during my planning time as much as possible. I close the door and save the social conversations for my break.
Save It
Now, of course, sometimes you NEED to have a conversation with a colleague or make a phone call home to a family member. I recommend saving it for the last ten minutes or so of your planning time. This gives you an out! You have to return to class, so the conversation can’t drag on forever. (We’ve all had those parents who just LOVE to chat, am I right?! 😉)
Mark Less
If you are still one of those teachers who marks every. little. thing. the students hand in… it is time for a change. Marking everything is not a good use of your time and does not benefit your students.
Take homework, for instance. If you’re still assigning it (read THIS POST for my views on that), don’t feel you need to mark every response the child gives you! You can’t be sure that it was done independently, so the work can’t be used for formal grading anyway, so why not just mark it as complete or not complete?!
Another solution is to have your students use an app like Seesaw to document their learning digitally. They can record a video or take a snapshot of their learning that you can assess in moments rather than marking a pages-long test. Learn more about Seesaw by visiting the website or checking out this popular blog post:
Designate Days
Another great strategy for making the most of your planning time is to batch-process tasks by designating a particular task to a particular day.
What does this look like? Well, perhaps you will spend your planning time on Monday answering emails, Tuesday locating or creating activities for your lessons, Wednesday communicating with parents, Thursday preparing newsletters and other paperwork, and Friday doing the photocopying for the following week.
You’ll have to figure out a system that works for you (and doesn’t monopolize the photocopier!), but batching tasks is a great way to make the most of your time!
Have Copies on Hand
You can also make the most of your planning time by always keeping extra copies (or laminated copies) of the checklists and forms that you use regularly on hand.
I like to keep extra class lists, deposit forms, and to-do pages handy.
I also keep digital copies of all of my guest teacher plans for sick days so that I can quickly tweak them for the next day I am out of the classroom. It makes planning absences so much faster and easier!
Great Resources
Finally, you can ensure you’re making the most of your planning time by stocking your classroom with quality, no-prep (or low-prep) resources! Having great resources will give you the time for all those other things instead of having to scrounge from multiple sources to put together a lesson.
I hope you’ll look at some of my favorite time-saving, low-prep resources!
You might also be interested in the tips I’ve shared in these posts:
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