#1 Plan your time wisely

To make effective use of your time and get more organized you need to plan your time wisely.

How?

Before timing your tasks, you need first to consider your students’ prior knowledge, learning needs, and interests.

This is going to SAVE you a lot of time.

Indeed, knowing about your students will help you introduce relevant content and so avoid wasting time doing things they already know.

Besides, this will support you to connect with them and build rapport much easier.

Knowing your students, you can also clarify your goals and prioritize your tasks.

This is key to managing your time as you get more focused to achieve your goals even when the workload seems overwhelming.

So, instead of selecting more tasks to introduce to your class and spending more time working on them, you can do fewer which are more relevant to students’ needs. Then, devote the rest of the time to discussions and feedback.

To set clear goals and prioritize your tasks, you can address the following questions while preparing your lesson plan:
1) What do I want my students to learn?
2) What do I want them to understand and be able to do at the end of class?
3) What are the most important concepts, ideas, or skills I want them to be able to grasp and apply?
4) Why are they important?
5) If I ran out of time, which ones could not be omitted?
6) Which ones could I skip if pressed for time?

After clarifying your goals and prioritizing your tasks, time them appropriately.

Try to be realistic. Consider the tasks’ difficulty, your students’ level and familiarity with the concept in question, and the material used (textbooks, videos, apps, etc.).

Don’t forget also to include your wait time (time to think about questions) and time devoted to students’ interaction.

Yet, timing your tasks doesn’t end here. In class, you should also set a time limit for each task students are involved in. This can be an incentive to make them more focused and complete the assignments.

Because ‘the unexpected’ can occur at any time in your lesson and waste your time, it’s better to plan for potential problems before facing them.

#2 Act immediately

We all know that all the teaching we do depends on students’ interaction in class. But, we should also know that not all types of student interaction contribute to their learning and help us go through teaching smoothly.

There are times when students ask irrelevant questions or raise issues that go beyond the focus of your lesson (about more advanced or complex concepts).

If you tackle those questions you’re not just going to waste your time but also confuse other students and distract them.

We should focus our students’ attention on what is more relevant to their learning and help them build up gradually the necessary skills.

Meanwhile, we shouldn’t ignore them and devalue their contributions and ideas.

Then, what to do in such situations?

You should act immediately to shift their attention to your focused concept without making them feel worthless and ashamed for voicing their ideas.

So, you can say :
“Well, this is an interesting point but it’s not our focus for today. We shall see or you’ll see this next week/month/year (in case they will study it). Please, focus on (the lesson’s concept). This is so important because (state the reason). Thank you (name the student) for your question.

How about those irrelevant questions which are often addressed to challenge teachers?

You also need to act immediately to stop those students from wasting your time.

Respond with a question that relates to your lesson saying: “Let me ask you a more important question”.

Besides those irrelevant and out-of-topic questions, students’ disruptive behaviours, when not managed properly, can waste a great deal of your time. Students being off task, chatting, and playing…..can cause noise and distract your attention and their peers.

Instead of wasting your time and energy yelling at them, act immediately. Change the activity and the seating arrangement when necessary. Resit those talkative, use attention getters, humour or do something that sparks their curiosity.

Also, never let things get out of your control. Handle them before they reach a peak and waste your time.

For instance, if two students are fighting with words stop it immediately before it turns out to be a real fight.

I can’t stress enough the value of your time (and energy). So, never waste it replying to a student who talked back to you, blaming those who came late, who haven’t done their assignment or submitted them late. There are more efficient ways to deal with them.

# 3 Set a system of organization

Getting organized is essential to manage your class time.

Because we teachers have multiple tasks to do, organization can help us save a lot of time and energy. Therefore, it’s important to set up a system of organization that works for you from the beginning of the year.

This needs to be structured (planned for) and adjusted to your needs.

For instance, you can set a system :
• for organizing your classroom supplies, library, students’ assignments, graded work, portfolios, tech devices, and materials.
• for tracking students’ progress, participation, accomplishment of assignments, needs, and ongoing concerns.
• for scheduling meetings with parents and colleagues.

Here are some suggestions that can help you set up this system :

• Establish clear routines and procedures. Teach them and be consistent.
• Use a weekly to-do list (5 items maximum). You can include tasks such as planning, making copies, and grading. Attach it next to your calendar or use sticky notes.
• Use a classroom checklist to track your completion of the tasks included in your to-do list.
• To get your classroom organized, put your lesson plans, activities, projects, and assignments in different folders and label them.
• Prepare a class list ahead of time. You can use it to write complete work, record scores, assignments, and projects, and keep track of students’ progress and accomplishment of assignments.
• Use index cards to keep a record of students’ emails, addresses, needs, preferences, and any learning issues to report to their parents.
• Always try to have materials ready for each lesson or activity.
• Help students get organized by assigning classroom jobs. They can collect and pass out papers, organize portfolios, deliver notes to other teachers or the office, etc.
• Not all your assignments need to be graded. Some may not need grading while others require that. So, make your decision before assigning them.

Setting a system of organization is one of the most effective time management tips. So, it’s worth planning for.

#4 Reduce your TTT

One of the relevant time management tips for teachers is reducing TTT. Teacher excessive talking can lead to wasting your class time.

When I started teaching I used to talk a lot: explaining and reexplaining and doing much of the talk in class.

I intended to explain things well and help my students learn better. But, at the end of my lessons, I got frustrated. I couldn’t complete my plan and do those tasks I saw as more relevant and interesting for my students.

It was not until I reflected on my teaching that I realized I should reduce my talking time to manage my time and allow for students’ interaction.

So, if you find that you are talking too much try to reduce your TTT because this can waste your time.

To learn how to achieve this more successfully read this post: 4 Ways to reduce Teacher Talking Time.

Plan your time wisely, act immediately, set a system of organization, and reduce your TTT are the 4 time management tips that will help you accomplish more and optimize learning opportunities for students.

Using these tips can also lower your stress, help you get more focused, and have time for yourself.

So, these time management tips for teachers will not just boost productivity, but also improve teachers’ well-being.