By Teachers, for Teachers: Quick Tips and Tricks
As most veteran educators can attest, teachers wear many hats — there are a thousand facets to the job, and learning how to balance them all takes time and practice. We’re compiling some quick tips from the experts and will be sharing them below for easy reference. Sometimes small adjustments can make a big difference in helping strategize, prioritize, and feel good about how the day went. Watch this space for ideas (and submit your own!) to be featured in a future post.
Make your to-do list at the end of the day. By making your list at the close of the day, you will have a clear plan of what needs to get done the next morning and save precious time (time you might need to grab that morning coffee!) Already knowing what you need to do when you walk in the door will give you a sense of purpose and can help keep you focused on what truly needs to be accomplished from the start of the day.
Feeling a little cluttered? In need of a spring clean? Remember your classroom is a community with over 30 individuals who own the space! Set expectations of your students for how the space should be kept, and continue to leverage everyone to keep it clean and decluttered.
- List all the responsibilities of “housekeeping” for the space
- Set aside 5 minutes at the start and end of class or the day for quick hits to tidy; this will help avoid buildup!
- Assign rolling “roles” for each member of the community; everyone can do their part! Just remember to switch them up so the responsibility is on the group — not one individual!
Keep a “thought catcher” as part of your planner or clipboard. There are many times throughout the day when an idea, a thought, or a task might pop into your mind. If you don’t have somewhere to keep it all organized it’s easy to forget until it’s too late! Create a template to input reminders for common topics or categorize by people you talk to consistently;
- Parents
- AP/SL
- Grade Team
- Operations Team
- To Do
Each time something comes up, jot it down so that when you do interact with that group, you’ll remember all the things you were thinking about!
Get ahead! The end of the year is always full of events and wrap-up activities, but what better way to prepare for the following school year than while you’re still in this one? You are in the moment knowing what worked for you this year, and what you’d like to do differently next year. Take the time now before you head off to summer break to make a running list of all the things you want to do differently next year, and then tackle a handful of them!
- Classroom Setup; what layout worked for you this year? Is there a more efficient way you’ve been meaning to try?
- Routines; how can you make these even more effective to help keep your classroom running efficiently?
- Organizational Systems; what worked this year? Do you have the materials you need for next year to optimize storage? How can classroom storage be even more accessible for scholars?
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