is to give you the opportunity to take a step back and see where you can make a few small (or perhaps large) adjustments to make a significant difference in the amount of time you could be saving—or gaining. We’d like to make it seem like you actually have more minutes in the day.
In this book you will receive the following:
◗ Strategies that have worked over and over again to save time and energy in your classroom
◗ Research from the experts about time management and personal wellness
◗ Real stories about time management from teachers currently in the field
The real value of the book becomes apparent when you get up on the “balcony” and look down at your classroom, taking “snapshots” of the transformation that has happened and noting how the changes in your time management plan have worked.
Some of the most important things to realize about effective time management are that it will improve your confidence and morale, it will energize and engage your students (and their parents), and it will change the climate of your classroom. Most teachers will testify to one important truth: Good classroom and time management makes for a healthy learning environment for both you and the students.
—Serena and Ed
Before we start this book, we ask that you take three deep breaths. It’s important to stop, breathe, and slow down to speed up.
And remember, always make time for relationships, personal growth, and family.
—Serena and Ed
Part I Time Management Mindset
Illustration by Paper Scraps Inc.
There is one way to achieve time management. And that is . . . to get it done. Time management is a tricky thing. We all have our own way, our own system. Something that works for one person may not work for another.
The most powerful advice I have ever received was learned through showing, not telling. According to Jennifer, a second grade teacher in Pennsylvania,
My parents are two of the most incredibly driven and motivated people I know. Both lawyers but with extremely different styles. I can vividly remember visiting them at their office. I walked into my mom’s office and there were papers flying everywhere. Aggressive typing, yellow notepads with scribbles, and phone calls occurring. Next, I walked across the hall to my father’s office. One pad of paper on his desk. A single blue pen perfectly aligned to his pad of paper. And my father, completing a task and checking it off.
They worked in the same law office and are both extremely successful lawyers . . . how could one place have two totally different styles? It’s taken me quite some time to come to the realization . . . but case in point . . . find what works for you, become good at “your way” and make it happen.
Strategy #1 Ask Yourself Questions
If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first fifty-five minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.
—Albert Einstein
As teachers, we are persistent question askers. We ask questions every day in our classroom when we are checking on our students’ behaviors and seeking to discover what they are learning. Questions guide us to understand what our students know and comprehend and help us decide where we need to go from there. They help us unpack what is going on inside the students’ minds.
Let’s apply this art of asking questions to ourselves and take a reflective look at how we are spending our time and what we might need to adjust to be able to do the things we want to do. Think of time as a limited resource, similar to money. You plan now to have more for later.
Ask yourself these questions:
◗ How am I spending my time?
◗ What tasks should I be doing and why? What do I want to accomplish this week/this prep/this hour?
◗ Why is this important?
◗ When is the best time to do these tasks?
◗ Where is the best place to do these tasks?
We’ll address the answers to these questions in the chapters to come.
Let’s take a look at how you are doing with time. Circle the number that corresponds with how you feel right now for each statement.
____________________ Average (Mean) Score
Score:
16–20: If you have a mean score of 16–20, you’re doing well with time management. You probably feel like you have a healthy work–life balance, but you might be looking for strategies to up your game even more.
12–15: After a few years in the classroom, most of us are probably in this range. Most of the time you feel like you have your time management under control, but you’d like to have more control consistently throughout the entire year.
8–11: We’re here to help! You’re thirsty for time management strategies that could greatly improve your classroom, your mental health, and your life. We got you.
7 or below: Let’s take this one step at a time. We’ve all been there.
Take a few minutes to reflect on your score. Use the questions below to guide your thinking or share with a friend or colleague. Taking some time to reflect and ask questions can reveal to ourselves the decisions we are subconsciously making day to day regarding how we spend our time.
Your Turn
1 What was your average score? What would you like it to be?
2 What do you think is the cause of the discrepancy, if there is one?
3 Where did you develop the time management skills you use today?
Strategy #2 Be Tuned in to the Advice Other Teachers Give You About Time Management
Nobody has made it through life without somebody else’s help.
—Heather French Henry, veterans advocate, fashion designer, and former Miss America
Some teachers make teaching seem easy. They float around their classrooms with a smile on their face, making gentle, quick,
