The Story of Efficiency

We don't start as efficient teachers.  When you are first trying something new you will make mistakes.  That is the story of your first year (or five).  Efficiency comes with time and practice...but you have to want it.

If you want to sit at school until 5pm every night I guarantee you will find enough work to do so.  If you get caught up on grading there will always be more lessons to plan and when the lessons are planned there will be activities to create or copies to make and if by some miracle you "finish" planning there will always be a filing cabinet that would benefit from organizing... STOP.  The point is you control your time.  The time you choose to spend at school must be efficient.

My first year I thought I was being a good teacher and a good wife. I would bring my papers home and watch TV with my husband while grading papers.  My husband is very supportive but during that first year we had an incident where he finally explained that even though I was home, it felt like I wasn't home at all.  He pointed out that I was always working and he was right.  From that point forward I became more strategic because I value my marriage.

It is my belief that there are teacher's who wear their extra hours like a badge they've earned.  You'll hear them saying things like, "I normally don't get to leave this early," on the way out of the building or things like, "I was here until 7 working on..."  Don't worry about them.  They are working longer, not smarter.

Here are some philosophies and strategies that I use regularly:

• Looking for more practice?  Google it first. -  There are tons of free resources (and paid ones) available on the internet.  I know you can sit there and make a fancy worksheet... but if it's already available on the internet why re-invent the wheel?
• Beg, borrow and steal, but what I really mean is collaborate with more experienced teachers.  In this time of pay for performance I don't know what type of environment you work in but my first few teaching experiences were extremely collaborative. When you ask a veteran if they have any extra resources on a topic they may be willing share their files.  I then strongly recommend you  reciprocate when you do create your own fancy worksheets.
• Grade homework for completion- Any reasonable math teacher already knows that it is not possible to grade all problems for correctness but the faster you can check homework the sooner you can move on to more important things.  I will plan a later post for different ideas on checking homework.
• Know your content- I understand that when you are teaching a new subject there is a learning curve and you will likely need to brush up your skills on the topic.  But as you move forward in your career keep your mind sharp with content knowledge.  The better you know your subject matter the less time you will need to spend thinking about the nuances of content.
• Put your students to work-  I mean this is more ways than one.  At our school we are fortunate to have TAs available.  They help by making copies and I also have mine do little things around the classroom such as hanging up the next day's activity or cutting out activity cards. I also put my students to work when they are in class.  Of course every math class has moments of direct instruction but during the other moments I use engaging activities and collaborative strategies.  With a collaborative environment students can help each other which demands less teacher energy.  Also if students are engaged in their own practice activity sometimes (although rarely) that can provide the teacher time to work.
• I work through lunch- to be honest I know how much some teachers value this break in their day for social time.  I've found that sometimes the lunch room is more negative than positive.  If you love your lunch I am not advocating that you skip it but for me working during lunch is a strategic use of my time.
• Find engaging lesson ideas and then apply them to your content.  I've found great ideas all over the place, other teacher's lesson plans, the internet, math teacher catalogs etc.  I then take my content and create a version that will work in my classroom.  Once I try a new idea I gauge the level of success and if it went well I add it to my toolbox of lesson ideas.
• If you are going to create something, do it right the first time.  Each year I create and add new activities to my collection.  By adding quality from the beginning and creating a durable product I can ensure that my created product can be re-used for a few years or more before I need to worry about reprinting.
• Organization- I am incredibly unorganized in general.  My desk is a mess and I never remember if my extra copies are in the front of the room or the back.   But... I keep a paper file for each chapter of each textbook that I teach from.  By having paper files I can easily go through the folder and see what I want to use.  For me, that is easier than opening all my electronic files but if you have a system that works for you, use it!  The more organized you are the less time you will waste looking for things.

That's all I've got for tonight.  Do you have a strategy that you use to specifically work smarter not longer?