Teacher Tips: Don't Work at Home

How I (almost) never work outside of school hours

All everyone talks about as a teacher, is how we work, work, work and the work is never done. And to be honest, that is fair. My first year teaching, that is exactly what it felt like. But after a while I got into a routine that allowed me to be able to complete all of my work duties to the best of my ability (and even above expectations in many ways), while also reading 50+ books a year, being a graduate student, working out consistently, and getting 7 hours of sleep (that is my preferred number). I know. It sounds WAY too good to be true, and I’ll admit that I do love a busy schedule, but several things that I do in my day to keep busy could be eliminated if you want more time in another area (or to just sit). The point is, you can use this time to juggle what you want to do, not juggle grading, planning and calls home.

First things first….

Make a list:

If you have read anything I have written before, you know I LOVE planning and I am pro list! I like to physically write my lists out (if you want to know why, click here), but you can just as easily use a phone or computer. This needs to be the first thing you do. Make a list of everything you want to complete in your day. What is important to you? Is it watching the newest episode of Stranger Things with your kids? Is it a family dinner? Is it cooking, reading, drawing, doing absolutely nothing? Make a list in order of what is most important to you (hint, don’t put work first!).

Schedule:

Again. We come back to yee-old scheduling habits. You knew it was coming, but at least I have some tips! Choose your favorite way to schedule: on paper, on google calendar, with a template (check out my teacher planner here, I am creating a personal planner templates book that will be released soon). Next, implant what you NEED to do. This would be work, appointments, taking care of the kids- the things that cannot be eliminated from your day. Color this space in (whether physically or with the “event tool” on calendar) and label it. Keep this one color. I like blue and green, so I tend to do everything in shades of those colors for personal, grad school and work items- the lighter the shade the more movable the item. You may want to use red for this or choose shades of another color. Next place in the items you want to make sure are done once a month, week, then every day. This helps you to see how much time one thing is taking up. If it is important to you that you go out with friends once a week, you may see that the day you plan to go out with your friends is the day you are not able to read 100 pages in a book!

With that in mind, let’s discuss how you should plan your school time to ensure that you are not bringing home much (if any) work.

Let’s get down to business

Plan ahead

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. Plan ahead. Know what time you have available to you during the day. The hour before school, the hour after, your planning period etcetera. I suggest making lunch your sacred no work time, as I have worked through many lunches and found that it is beneficial to take a few minutes to yourself or to be with peers, but if you prefer to give up lunch over take work home occasionally, you do you! Make a list of what you need to get done (again, physical lists are great) and find times during the day to work on those items! If you go in with a plan of attack, you never waste time (unintentionally). I am not saying you will have an easy day at work and then no work at home. This will require utilizing all the time you have at work.

The item I found that took the most time was parent contacts. I will grant that I do a lot of very “elementary school” type items for my 150 big kids rather than 24 little ones, but I love personal emails, phone calls and notes. It makes a lot of difference so I make sure to have time for them! I send emails once a week, make kind emails home after each class during the passing period (praise emails) and call home to certain parents once a month. By planning these items, I am able to work around them and have time for everything.

Be mean.

I used to let any student into my room who wanted to be in my room during any of my free moments in the day. I love my students; I love having time with them to build relationships and truly believe that is what makes the difference in school for almost every child; however, you need to remember that you need some time during the day too. Have set rules- for me, it is before school. I get to school early and use that time to lesson plan or prepare for the following week (not day of), answer emails and mentally prepare for the day. I make sure to spend quality time with students at other points of the day. Of course, as a high school teacher this is a little more difficult, but I make it work by planning time and activities in the week that would allow for relationship building while also hitting standards/ learning goals (to see an example click here).

Make a system

I love organizing- always have. When I was a kid, I liked to reorganize my bedroom often, and, as an adult, I find it to be a great way to relieve stress. But it really is true that the better your organization, the more fluidly everything in your life will go. Let’s start with lesson plans. Find a template you love (you can find mine here) and stick with it. Even if you are like me and you like to write things physically over typing them, keep the same format in mind when you write them on paper. This way, you get in the habit and it becomes a smooth process, it is easier to copy over onto the computer if you need to turn in your plans to anyone and you can (hypothetically) start doing them in your head while driving or doing other small tasks and remember them more easily because you have a set format. I say that, but I also remember many times that an idea hit me, and I had to repeat it to myself all the way home so I wouldn’t forget yet still managed to walk through the front door saying "there was something I wanted to remember..." I have the attention span of a gnat. I strongly suggest keeping your system simple so that you can easily work with it, remember it, and build on it (to read Lesson Planning Made Simple, click here).

Use colors, folders, binders, trays- whatever helps your brain break up ideas, do it.

Don’t grade

Ok. I don’t actually mean this, but I discovered my favorite way to grade and I never looked back. I don’t assign homework because I think, especially with Spanish, it can just make things more difficult. I have also found that if I assign work, no one will do it anyway. I do, however, strongly believe in

A) individual work (to show understanding),

B) grades (to balance the overall score, and create responsibility), and

C) helpful and consistent feedback.

So how do I do this and not bring home grading? When creating a lesson I always include some sort of individual class work so that I can see that students understand or can help them if they do not. With this I can

1. give instant feedback so they don’t have to wait for me to return papers (I am notoriously bad at remembering to give things back!),

2. provide help so students don't accidentally go into a quiz or test misunderstanding,

3. see problems at the time of learning rather than after seeing a test score, and most importantly,

4. not take this work home with me.

This also gives me a chance to build relationships with my students and help them feel comfortable asking questions. I circle and check everyone’s work speaking with all students so that no one is singled out and everyone is on task (ok. Exaggeration- students are more encouraged to stay on task as I won’t really let them get off of it). I always give the rest of the class period to work on the assignment and the night just in case they don’t finish. The next morning, to take attendance, students lay their work on the desk and I check it off with a blue pen and make any comments to them that I feel necessary (in case I didn’t get to help them the day before). I have different colors for different times turned in so that I can tell by looking at the paper whether it was on time or late (since students like to claim they turned work in on time that was actually 3 weeks late). Students get

1. an instant grade (yes, even a 0 if they do not turn it in),

2. instant feedback, AND (I like this one)

3. no one can say to me “I turned it in to you- you must have lost it,' because I never collect work.

Students are instructed to glue their assignments into their books- if they choose not to do that, that is on them, but it is never on me since it is never in my possession. I will admit that tests are a little more difficult. I love the motivation and help of having the other students grade tests, but I always end up feeling bad and grade them myself. If you don’t feel bad about this- I think it really does work on a lot of students as a motivation to study. Knowing that the girl or boy the student likes might be grading his/ her work, is a great motivator! But it is also a great source of anxiety, so in my opinion, the best thing to do is to know your students. You can always create tests online that self grade, but personally I prefer to give more difficult exams or at least some that are more difficult to cheat on.

Keep copies

I like to create worksheets, tests and activities. I find joy and stress relief in it- that’s why I switched to curriculum development! But you can always buy these items and often copy them out of textbooks. No matter where you get them- create them, copy them, buy them- have a master copy and key binder. My master binder has been a lifesaver any number of times. Through the years I have done different set ups, covered different material and created varying worksheets, but because I have the master binder, I am able to go through and utilize different worksheets that I may have not used for two years without needing to create a new one or make a new copy! You can do the same thing on the computer if you prefer that route as well- just make lots of folders and lots of tabs so that it is well organized and easy to find! As a visual person, I like skipping to the section that I am covering (divided in my binder) and looking for what I want based on how I remember it looking. I also keep leftovers and, a sticky note on the master copy in my binder, I write how many leftovers I have in storage, so that I don’t have to make more copies the following year.

These are my best tips that you may have not (entirely) considered. If you have more tips, leave them below! It could literally make someone's life far more sane!