Maia sets up the so common scenario that we have all experienced. It is Friday afternoon and the bell has rung and we are staring at our desks determining what we will bring home to accomplish for the weekend. It reminds me of those tv shows from the 90s with the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other.
“Take it all home, you can get it done, you will feel better.”
“It’s the weekend, are you really going to even look at it? It will be here on Monday.”
You all have been there.
Maybe you take it home and it sits in your bag until Sunday night, or Monday morning. The best is when it doesn’t even make it out of your car.
This mostly happens because the Work. Does. Not. End. There is always more. I used to tell my husband that no matter what, tomorrow morning at 8:00am 150 students would need something to learn and I HAD to be ready. Again, the Work. Does. Not. End.
But, that is why The Together Teacher is so awesome, she is going to give us some ideas.
“Weekly or Daily Worksheet: The tool to help you look at a single point in time and balance your time against your to-dos. It is prepared in advance of the week it illustrates, and it ist he sheet of paper you look at as you move around your school day. It maps out an hour-by-hour view of how you intend to use your time.”
She mentions 5 different things that should be a part of your daily or weekly worksheet.
- Priorities: Important things for both work and home
- Schedule: Appointments and meetings for the week (check your Comprehensive Calendar)
- Deadlines: Things that must be completed on a certain day or submitted by a particular time (i.e. lesson plans due at 4:30pm on Friday)
- Upcoming To-Dos: Do you have anytime for those Upcoming To-Dos that aren’t urgent but would be nice to get checked off.
- Other To-Dos: Personal stuff, working out, plans with friends
It should be noted that while I love Maia’s approach to counting every minute valuable. I do not map out the hour-by-hour thing. It just doesn’t work for me. I set this up daily, but keep it all in one location so that I can write on different days of the week. My days look more like this:
- Before School: prepping for the day, working answer keys, responding to emails (staying away from the copy room)
- Conference/Planning: planning for upcoming week/unit, writing lessons (copies)
- After School: parent phone calls, meetings, gathering resources, lesson planning
- Home/Personal: grocery store, small group, running
Then, I go through my list and put a number beside it to prioritize what order I should go in. So, when little Billy had a really rough day, I know that is number 1 on my list of things to do after school.
This has been a great book study thus far, I know I have learned a lot from Maia and appreciated her great suggestions. Be sure to check out her site, The Together Teacher.
Look for more from my Together Teacher book study each Wednesday or follow my Pinterest board. Join us next for Chapter 7: Automate, where we will look at routines for planning.
Happy Teaching!
