Hello all! I recently came across this post on the We Are Teachers blog and I thought I would share it with you. It's all about getting your students organized.
We Are Teachers list 27 suggestions of ways to help your students get organized. Two of my favourites are:
#9 Set aside time every month for students to clean out their binders and book bags during class.
and
#21 Have your students write a "to-do list" at the end of each day to take home with them.
I think I like these because they combine responsibility, the teacher makes time, but the students are learning a valuable skill. There a lots of good ideas and I suggest you take a look. It's really short and very worthwhile.
Have a great week, and as always, feel free to comment here and/or email me at organizingteacher@hotmail.com
Valerie
Showing posts with label time management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time management. Show all posts
Friday, March 19, 2010
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Organize Your Students
Well it's the beginning of a new school year and the best foot to start off on is the organized foot! What can you do to help your students be organized that might also make your life easier and could have the effect of enhanced learning? This may seem elementary, but teach your students how to use an agenda!
What? That's easy! I don't need to spend time on this! - Is that what you're thinking? Think again. Very few students are actually taught how to use an agenda. Most students are handed an agenda in September (or whatever month you start school in your corner of the earth) and told to write their homework in there. That may be all they're told.
I've been in classrooms where the teacher checks and signs the agendas everyday and the parents sign the agendas every night. That could be a little overkill, and if you invest some time teaching your students how and agenda works and what it can do for THEM, your hands-on time throughout the year could be reduced. (Plus who does real work the first day anyway?)
Teach your students that agendas are a tool for them to use, not a note home from the teacher to the parents that has nothing to do with them. Show them strategies like listing assignments and test dates on the month pages, and day-to-day homework on the week pages, and teach them that both types of pages represent the SAME days, so they should look to both. Have them input holidays and field trips into their agendas so they know what's coming up. Talk with them about colour coding and prioritising. Show them how to plan ahead when they have a large project or unit test to break the prep work up and do a little each day so they don't pull all-nighters.
Talk to your students about individuality. Let them know that there is no one way to use the agenda, they can use whatever strategy works best for them.
Teach them about routines with the agendas. They should be writing homework, assignment, and test information in their agendas throughout the day as it is discussed, not just copy everything down at the end of the day from the blackboard. They need to check their agendas before the end of school and gather the right materials to take home, not just so they don't forget to bring their novel for English that they have chapters to read, but also so they don't lug home their Science textbook if they finished their questions during class time. Show them that it helps them, not just you. Teach them the routines of checking off each part of their homework as they complete it, so that they won't miss the one question they get called on for the next day.
Agendas have other tools in them other than just a calendar. Go over these tools that your agendas have and talk about what they're for and what they could be used for to help the students.
Try to get the point across that people use agendas in real life. Show them your agenda, ask for a show of hands of students who have seen their parents using agendas, talk about the wall calendars that might be in their kitchens at home as a public family agenda (and while your at it, encourage them to copy down information from there that affects their school days). Talk about how doctors offices have agendas for the appointments a doctor has, use whatever examples you can think of. Discuss what would happen in an office if someone didn't write down assignments and due dates and check them.
Remember that they see the agenda as an annoying book they keep having to pull out that tells them to do their homework. Remind them that they are learning a real-world skill and that employers value promptness and productivity and that neither can be successfully attained long-term without an agenda, planner, or similar system.
Please comment or send your questions to me at organizingteacher@hotmail.com
Have great day!
Valerie :)
<><
What? That's easy! I don't need to spend time on this! - Is that what you're thinking? Think again. Very few students are actually taught how to use an agenda. Most students are handed an agenda in September (or whatever month you start school in your corner of the earth) and told to write their homework in there. That may be all they're told.
I've been in classrooms where the teacher checks and signs the agendas everyday and the parents sign the agendas every night. That could be a little overkill, and if you invest some time teaching your students how and agenda works and what it can do for THEM, your hands-on time throughout the year could be reduced. (Plus who does real work the first day anyway?)
Teach your students that agendas are a tool for them to use, not a note home from the teacher to the parents that has nothing to do with them. Show them strategies like listing assignments and test dates on the month pages, and day-to-day homework on the week pages, and teach them that both types of pages represent the SAME days, so they should look to both. Have them input holidays and field trips into their agendas so they know what's coming up. Talk with them about colour coding and prioritising. Show them how to plan ahead when they have a large project or unit test to break the prep work up and do a little each day so they don't pull all-nighters.
Talk to your students about individuality. Let them know that there is no one way to use the agenda, they can use whatever strategy works best for them.
Teach them about routines with the agendas. They should be writing homework, assignment, and test information in their agendas throughout the day as it is discussed, not just copy everything down at the end of the day from the blackboard. They need to check their agendas before the end of school and gather the right materials to take home, not just so they don't forget to bring their novel for English that they have chapters to read, but also so they don't lug home their Science textbook if they finished their questions during class time. Show them that it helps them, not just you. Teach them the routines of checking off each part of their homework as they complete it, so that they won't miss the one question they get called on for the next day.
Agendas have other tools in them other than just a calendar. Go over these tools that your agendas have and talk about what they're for and what they could be used for to help the students.
Try to get the point across that people use agendas in real life. Show them your agenda, ask for a show of hands of students who have seen their parents using agendas, talk about the wall calendars that might be in their kitchens at home as a public family agenda (and while your at it, encourage them to copy down information from there that affects their school days). Talk about how doctors offices have agendas for the appointments a doctor has, use whatever examples you can think of. Discuss what would happen in an office if someone didn't write down assignments and due dates and check them.
Remember that they see the agenda as an annoying book they keep having to pull out that tells them to do their homework. Remind them that they are learning a real-world skill and that employers value promptness and productivity and that neither can be successfully attained long-term without an agenda, planner, or similar system.
Please comment or send your questions to me at organizingteacher@hotmail.com
Have great day!
Valerie :)
<><
Friday, October 17, 2008
Do your SHARE!
Ever since you were little you have been encouraged to share. If you are a parent you are encouraging your children to share. As a teacher you want your students to share. So... are you sharing?
I have a mission for you: make a team and share your lessons. I know I've talked a little about this before, but this time I want to be a little more specific.
If you share your lessons, you'll have so much more time to do other things. First things first, you need someone to share with. I suggest getting a group together of teachers near you who teach the same grades/subjects as you. If you are in a large school, and there are three grade 7 classes, and you teach one of them, then work with the other two grade 7 teachers. If you are not in a large school look to the other schools in your board/area. Any teacher that works or lives within a reasonable drive from you and has to cover the same curriculum as you is a potential group member.
Also, try and think outside the box. In Ontario, there are public schools and Catholic schools. But they both have to cover the Ontario curriculum. It *should* be relatively easy for a Catholic teacher to take a 'generic' lesson and add some faith ideas into it; especially with all of the extra time they will have from the process.
So do a little research, make contact with some colleagues, and set up a meeting. Try to emphasize that this is a time-saving meeting and not a time-wasting meeting. I suggest that after your initial meeting, most of your lesson sharing be done via email, so that you can easily edit each others work for your own purposes.
Things to consider during your first meeting:
Let me know if you try this, and remember, the more teachers in your group, the less units you will have to prepare yourself. And, don't be afraid to tweak the lessons you receive.
You could even take this one step further and have meetings to reflect on the units after they have been implemented.
Please comment or send your questions to me at organizingteacher@hotmail.com
Have great day!
Valerie :)
<><
I have a mission for you: make a team and share your lessons. I know I've talked a little about this before, but this time I want to be a little more specific.
If you share your lessons, you'll have so much more time to do other things. First things first, you need someone to share with. I suggest getting a group together of teachers near you who teach the same grades/subjects as you. If you are in a large school, and there are three grade 7 classes, and you teach one of them, then work with the other two grade 7 teachers. If you are not in a large school look to the other schools in your board/area. Any teacher that works or lives within a reasonable drive from you and has to cover the same curriculum as you is a potential group member.
Also, try and think outside the box. In Ontario, there are public schools and Catholic schools. But they both have to cover the Ontario curriculum. It *should* be relatively easy for a Catholic teacher to take a 'generic' lesson and add some faith ideas into it; especially with all of the extra time they will have from the process.
So do a little research, make contact with some colleagues, and set up a meeting. Try to emphasize that this is a time-saving meeting and not a time-wasting meeting. I suggest that after your initial meeting, most of your lesson sharing be done via email, so that you can easily edit each others work for your own purposes.
Things to consider during your first meeting:
- Divvy up the lessons (will each teacher take one subject for the year, or one unit of math this month and one unit of science for next month?)
- How often do these lessons need to be exchanged? (plan a lesson at a time, a week at a time, a unit at a time?)
- Are you sharing EVERYTHING or just a few subjects?
- If emailing lessons, what format to use? (old Microsoft office, new Microsoft office (annoyingly not backwards, compatible), wordperfect, within the body of the email, .txt, other)
- What units have already been covered by each teacher (you could share these, or if all teachers have already covered the same unit, you can move on)
Let me know if you try this, and remember, the more teachers in your group, the less units you will have to prepare yourself. And, don't be afraid to tweak the lessons you receive.
You could even take this one step further and have meetings to reflect on the units after they have been implemented.
Please comment or send your questions to me at organizingteacher@hotmail.com
Have great day!
Valerie :)
<><
Friday, September 19, 2008
Prep your Prep!
OK, this should help *everyone*, but it is ESSENTIAL for new teachers and teachers who have just changed grades.
Prep your prep... hunh?!?! Yes! This is a basic outline about how to be more productive during your prep time.
Now, in my neck of the woods, high school teachers get one out of four periods off for prep and elementary teachers get some odd combination of time when their class is in music, French, and/or the library.
No matter how much time you have, whether it is all at one time per day or only three or four days a week, being prepared for your prep time will help you be efficient (which translates into less time spent on work at home).
There are a ton of things to do during prep: photocopy, get the next lesson ready, mark papers, write tests, email, socialize, find resources, unit plans,... the list never really ends. How can we efficiently fit all of these tasks into a small prep period?
The answer is to get ahead. And have a plan.
Let's say, you're a brand new teacher, and you have to 'come up with' every single lesson for the entire year. Right now, you're treading water and have today's lessons done, tomorrow's lessons started, and you haven't even thought about the lessons for the day after. You're completely overwhelmed, and stressed to the max (this is reminding me of my placement days).
If you are that new teacher, how do you get to a place where you can actually relax every once in a while without sacrificing the week after you relax? It's easier than you think.
I say you need to plan two things at a time: plan your week, and plan your year. Start where you are and try to get ahead.
For your lessons, this weekend, you can plan Monday to Wednesday's lessons (yes, I know that's a lot of work, but we'll be able to ease off later). Then, Monday you can plan Thursday's lessons, and Tuesday you can plan Friday's (this part is after-hours, while you are maintaining your classroom life during prep).
Did you notice that it is Tuesday, and you've got the week's lessons done? Now you have time to get even further ahead with less stress. Also, by being ahead by a week, you can now plan your lessons as whole units, instead of individual lessons (more about this later).
Wednesday you're going to make your weekly plan for your prep time. I already mentioned what typically needs to get done during prep. You can more efficiently do your tasks if they are grouped together. For example, you can get your photocopying done in less time if you do all of it at once, instead of one to three times per day.
Your weekly plan could be:
Please note that this is an example, I hope you will glean some ideas from this post that will help you be less stressed in your classroom.
Please comment or send your questions to me at organizingteacher@hotmail.com
Have great day!
Valerie :)
<><
Prep your prep... hunh?!?! Yes! This is a basic outline about how to be more productive during your prep time.
Now, in my neck of the woods, high school teachers get one out of four periods off for prep and elementary teachers get some odd combination of time when their class is in music, French, and/or the library.
No matter how much time you have, whether it is all at one time per day or only three or four days a week, being prepared for your prep time will help you be efficient (which translates into less time spent on work at home).
There are a ton of things to do during prep: photocopy, get the next lesson ready, mark papers, write tests, email, socialize, find resources, unit plans,... the list never really ends. How can we efficiently fit all of these tasks into a small prep period?
The answer is to get ahead. And have a plan.
Let's say, you're a brand new teacher, and you have to 'come up with' every single lesson for the entire year. Right now, you're treading water and have today's lessons done, tomorrow's lessons started, and you haven't even thought about the lessons for the day after. You're completely overwhelmed, and stressed to the max (this is reminding me of my placement days).
If you are that new teacher, how do you get to a place where you can actually relax every once in a while without sacrificing the week after you relax? It's easier than you think.
I say you need to plan two things at a time: plan your week, and plan your year. Start where you are and try to get ahead.
For your lessons, this weekend, you can plan Monday to Wednesday's lessons (yes, I know that's a lot of work, but we'll be able to ease off later). Then, Monday you can plan Thursday's lessons, and Tuesday you can plan Friday's (this part is after-hours, while you are maintaining your classroom life during prep).
Did you notice that it is Tuesday, and you've got the week's lessons done? Now you have time to get even further ahead with less stress. Also, by being ahead by a week, you can now plan your lessons as whole units, instead of individual lessons (more about this later).
Wednesday you're going to make your weekly plan for your prep time. I already mentioned what typically needs to get done during prep. You can more efficiently do your tasks if they are grouped together. For example, you can get your photocopying done in less time if you do all of it at once, instead of one to three times per day.
Your weekly plan could be:
- Monday - Photocopy for the week, unit plan (class projects always due on Mondays)
- Tuesday - Mark projects, unit plan
- Wednesday - *Career related* email, online search for resources, unit plan
- Thursday - Unit plan (entire prep period)
- Friday - Errands (consult with teachers, meet with principal, gather resources from storage), unit plan (class tests and/or quizzes on Fridays, mark over the weekend)
Please note that this is an example, I hope you will glean some ideas from this post that will help you be less stressed in your classroom.
Please comment or send your questions to me at organizingteacher@hotmail.com
Have great day!
Valerie :)
<><
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Make time by being efficient
In my favourite blog today, Monica Ricci talks about being able to take time out for herself and watch some TV with no remorse because she is 'focused and productive'.
Working well/hard, focusing on what needs to be done NOW, can free up your schedule for some downtime to relax and rejuvenate yourself.
Let's try to focus on work during work hours, so that there will be some time left over for us. A social life should not be a foreign idea for teachers.
Working well/hard, focusing on what needs to be done NOW, can free up your schedule for some downtime to relax and rejuvenate yourself.
Let's try to focus on work during work hours, so that there will be some time left over for us. A social life should not be a foreign idea for teachers.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Prevent Stress Now!!
One of the most stressful times for a teacher is right around report cards. Save yourself from a LOT of stress, and start a routine to keep up with your marking and inputting.
Start now. It is never too early. It will get to be too late. And who among us really enjoys spending all of their "spare time" the week before report cards on nothing but report cards? Wouldn't it be nice, when report card time rolls around, if you could still have a social life?
Find a schedule that works for you, but at the minimum, you should be entering your marks into either the report card software or another compatible software every two weeks. Preferably every week. Entering marks in 10 or 15 minute chunks, every week will save you hours in front of that screen with a deadline and a lot of stress.
It all comes back to the old adage: 'How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.'
It may be easy to put off entering your marks for another couple of weeks, but that turns into a month or two, or even three very quickly. Remind yourself that you want to relax during report card season. Try it once. You'll never switch back.
Start now. It is never too early. It will get to be too late. And who among us really enjoys spending all of their "spare time" the week before report cards on nothing but report cards? Wouldn't it be nice, when report card time rolls around, if you could still have a social life?
Find a schedule that works for you, but at the minimum, you should be entering your marks into either the report card software or another compatible software every two weeks. Preferably every week. Entering marks in 10 or 15 minute chunks, every week will save you hours in front of that screen with a deadline and a lot of stress.
It all comes back to the old adage: 'How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.'
It may be easy to put off entering your marks for another couple of weeks, but that turns into a month or two, or even three very quickly. Remind yourself that you want to relax during report card season. Try it once. You'll never switch back.
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