How to Teach When You Have Limited Time

Are you having a difficult time covering all the material you need or want to each day?  Do you have shortened class periods that present a challenge for your teaching style?  This post gives some of my best solutions to these problems!

Think About What You Absolutely Need to Teach First

Choose Quality Over Quantity

Pick a few things to cover, go deep with those few things, and make connections to as much as you can. Quality over quantity will give you the most bang for your buck. Plus, if you have fun "independent" study projects for them to design and complete, they'll be begging to get to the subject you teach.

Carefully Consider the Learning Activity

Sometimes things like waiting for students to write down notes can take an enormous amount of time.   I'm not saying that note-taking is not important, but think about what they’re writing and why. Can some of it be replaced with videos or printouts?

Teach Students Vocabulary During Activities Instead of in Isolation 

Instead of teaching vocabulary words in seclusion, include/ teach them while you’re doing a hands on activity. This can save a lot of time and you can always take the final moments of class to review vocabulary words each day to reinforce their meaning.

Try Stations

Just keep in mind that you don’t have to complete the rotations in a day. It can carry on for tomorrow or the next day.

Alternate Activities Throughout the Week

This is especially helpful if you teach multiple subjects and some subjects are allotted less time than others.  For example, if you have 90 minutes for math and only 30 for science. 

Try a Weekly Schedule

Once you have chosen the activities that are the most important, come up with a weekly schedule for when you will use them.

A sample weekly schedule might look like this:
Notes/Instructional videos on Monday/Tuesday to prepare students for in-depth things like labs or projects
Labs/Projects/Stations on Wednesdays/Thursdays
Quizzes on Fridays

Start Teaching as Soon as Students Enter the Room

I did another blog post about this recently.  Click here to learn more.

What else do you do to maximize your limited time in class?  This is a subject I always need extra advice in!

How to Find the Time to Lesson Plan

Do you ever find it difficult to find the time to get everything done at school?  Do you have to take work home just to keep up?  This post has some ways you can manage the work each day and make more time for yourself!

Use Your Prep Time As Efficiently As Possible

I know, I know. Planning periods are often taken up by things like meetings and conferences, but when you do get those few unencumbered moments, use them to your advantage. 

Do the Things at School That Can’t be Done at Home: 

Copying 

I try to get all my copies done on Fridays for the upcoming week if I haven't had time during the week to get it done.  The copier is ALWAYS breaking, so I don't want to wait and take the chance the following week that I won't be able to get it done.

Parent phone calls 

Please don't EVER make these from your home or cell phone.  For one thing, it's important to keep those healthy boundaries between work and home.  For another, this is one of those things that really is best done at school for several reasons.


"Batch" the Tasks

What I mean by "batching" is to focus on one thing/subject at a time and finish that before moving on.  For example:

• Make the lesson plans
• Gather the materials
• Make the copies
• Grade the assessments
• Decide if any of these things can or should go home for completion (with the exception of copying)

Plan With Your Grade Level When Possible

Try to collaborate with anyone who teaches the same thing so you can work together on units.


Don't Reinvent the Wheel
If lessons or units don't need to be changed from previous years, don't bother with them. Focus on  making your lessons work smarter, not harder.

• Make sure you have accommodations/modifications written into your lessons for students with special needs. 
• Fluff (worksheets, filler notes) should get tossed aside quickly for learning driven by the students, such as projects where they have to actually find the answers instead of you preparing the information for them.
• Have a set number of assignments that repeat and use the same template. So the form doesn't change, but the content does. That way you don't have to create everything over and over.

Use An Online Planbook

I have the app on my phone, which means I can change or view lessons ANYTIME, ANYWHERE.

• PlanbookEdu :  This website has practically saved my life this year.  Yes, it's not free, but it's worth every penny.  You can input your state standards above your lessons and it keeps track of how many you've covered in your lessons.  You can attach files that you need.  You can print and email the whole plan book or a selection.  In a word, priceless.

When You Can't Get It All Done During Your Planning Period:

Have set “late nights” like Tuesdays and Thursdays (or whatever works with your schedule). 
That way you can get what you need to get done when there aren't so many people around to break your concentration. You're sacrificing a bit of time for work so that your don’t have to be stressed when you’re hanging out with your family. That way you can have the energy you need to give them.

Get To Work Early Instead of Staying Late or Taking Work Home

You will be so much fresher and not have the same interruptions you do by staying later in the afternoon. Of course if you're like me, I'm still groggy in the morning so I actually prefer staying later in the afternoon.

Be Very Selective About The Work You Do Take Home

Whether you have a family or not, your time in the evenings is short and you NEED downtime to recharge your batteries. Sure, you can power through some nights without much sleep, but if you do it too often, you are setting yourself up for teacher burnout.

You can read more about this in my "Avoiding Teacher Burnout" post.

Go to Your "Happy Place" to Grade Papers

Sometimes I have to leave the house to grade so concentrate at a Starbucks and knock out papers that way.

Join An Online Support Network

There are many Facebook and online teacher communities designed to support your effort to get more work done at school and bring less home. 

Many teachers have highly recommended the 40 hour teacher work week club. 

https://40htw.com/join/

How do you balance it all?  I can always use more tips on how to do this!

What to Do With Students Who Finish First

How do you manage the time when some students are done with an assignment and others need to finish before you move on in a lesson?  This post gives you tips and techniques for managing the time with early finishers.

Things to consider before choosing activities for your early finishers: 

• Are these activities for enrichment, review purposes, or just for fun? 
• Will the assignments count for extra credit?
• Will these be assignments to be done individually or in pairs/groups?

First, I’d like to mention that I always have a list of must-do activities to be completed before students are allowed to do any extras:

• Vocabulary
• Organizing notes
• Make up work
• Correcting tests 

Enrichment Activities 

If students complete the list above, they can request one of the following:

Laminated file folders with simple activities that can be completed with dry-erase markers: 

• Crosswords 
• Word searches
• Storyboards
• Acrostics 

Comprehension activities:

• TIME magazine
• Scholastic
• Book reviews

Reading

I love to tell students that when they finish early, they may EAT (enjoy a text). 

I have a classroom library with books and magazines about the subjects I cover in the courses I teach.  When someone finishes early, I often tell them to find something to read.  It gives students additional reading practice and it also lets them learn more about topics that I may not have addressed in my lessons that interest them. 

I have the following available for students to use while reading:

Nonfiction Close Reading Bookmarks

General Close Reading Instructions

Sticky Notes for Reading Comprehension

Review Activities 

Use Quizlett for:

• Vocabulary review
• Use Classtools.net to put in your content, copy, and then go to Quizlet and paste it in there.  

I also have them “quiz” each other on:

• vocabulary 
• turn the headings from their textbook into questions and quiz each other with that
• Old test questions (I have them keep all their old tests in their binder)

Student Tutors

One option is to pair up the kids that are always finishing first with kids that need more time so that they can hopefully encourage each other - one will reinforce their skills by 'teaching' it and the other will get the support they need.

A word of caution with this technique:  Make sure the personalities mesh before pairing up. Not all early-finishers are kind or helpful tutors. 

Activities just for fun:

• Challenge capsules: Little plastic bottles with random questions inside
• Make an enrichment bulletin board with QR codes to make it more interactive. Students watch videos with a tablet/phone

What else would you add to this list?  I always need fresh ideas!

How to Create and Follow a Pacing Guide

Have you been asked to create a pacing guide or felt the need to make one for yourself or your team?  What happens if you make one and can't follow it?  This post will help you navigate through the process of creating a pacing guide and sticking to it!

First and Foremost:  Always Plan With the State Standards

It's really best if each person on the team either has a printed or electronic copy of the standards, depending on what appeals to them.  I personally like printed copies so I can mark them up any way I see fit.  You can usually find the standards on your state's department of education website.  I like to save mine as a PDF AND print it out.

Make Sure Everyone in the Group has a Role  

Assigning roles and due dates will keep everyone on track.  Start with the standards you will need to teach at the beginning of the year.  Then, find out what each person enjoys using to teach those standards.  For example, I often liked to find the activities that involved movement or mentor texts to teach the concepts, so I was often in charge of finding those things and sharing with the group so we could include them on the pacing guide. 

Other roles you may want to add:

• Assessments (multiple-choice, online, vocabulary, etc.).  Make sure they closely match what your state will assess at the end of the year so students have plenty of practice before then.
• Multi-Media Instruction:  Things like online practice games, videos, YouTube, music, computer lab activities, etc.  You want to try to incorporate as many different forms of instruction as possible so that you reach as many different learning styles as possible.
• Vocabulary:  Make sure you do some kind of activities that explicitly teach the words that your state standards use.  My post on No-Tech Ways to Teach and Assess Vocabulary in Core Subjects gives several ways to do this, including a vocabulary review packet.

Use Google Drive to Make Sure the Process is Truly Collaborative

To do this, everyone will need to bring their laptop to each meeting.  You can either create a Doc or a Sheet and add all your team members using their emails.  I'd make a Sheet like the one below.

Don't Let the Conversation Wander

If you start talking about what you did over the weekend or "that student", you will never get the pacing guide done.   

Meet Weekly, If Possible

You'll want to meet regularly so you can talk about the standards you will need to teach in the future and make sure everyone is at the same place (or close) on the previous standards.

Now, Let's Talk About Everyone's Least Favorite Question: How do I Stick to the Pacing Guide????!!!!

Use a “Window” 

Setting a three-day window for when the team should do things like give the unit exam gives a level of freedom as far as the day-to-day lessons.

Build in Extra Days

Create a pacing guide with built in pause days. Don't forget things like holidays, snow/inclement weather, assemblies, state testing, and all the other things that throw the pacing off.  Make sure you sit down with the school/district calendar so you can include important dates as "pause days" on your pacing guide.

Adjust the Pacing Guide

The pacing guide may need to be adjusted as a grade level if everyone is just too far behind what was originally anticipated.  If only one member is behind, brainstorm how the team can best support that person and their students to help get them caught up. 

What else would you add to this?  I'm sure I'll be making more pacing guides in the future, so I can always use more advice!

How to Avoid Teacher Overwhelm

 Do you ever wonder how other teachers deal with feelings of being endlessly behind and never done?  Whether you’re a first-year or a seasoned teacher, this post has some time-tested advice for you!

For the New Teacher:

Most importantly, you need to understand that classroom teaching is different and difficult compared to college, which has set deadlines and a defined“end” with the final project/exam. In classroom teaching, there’s always more you can do or should be doing.

Try to find a seasoned teacher or mentor who is willing to explain what is mandatory and what is “extra”. Always focus on the mandatory first. For example, grading assignments and providing timely feedback, should be top priority since students’ knowledge (or lack thereof) should guide your planning and instruction. 

For All Teachers:

First of all, understand that the to-do list never ends, so you have to make it “end” each day for yourself.  

Make Sure You Differentiate Between Work and Home

If you come home and still work on school things and don't have time to do things with your loved  ones, this sets you up for overwhelm. You have to decide what your "school hours" and "home hours" are. Pick a time for school, say 7:00 am to 4:30 pm. At 4:30, leave school and school work behind so home is home time. Of course, it won't ALWAYS work out that way, but setting personal school hours really helps.

Make Weekly To-Do Lists

Many teachers like to use stick notes to do this so they can either throw the note away when it's done or move the sticky to the next week if they don't get to it. This helps them to prioritize and have a healthy work/life balance.

When setting up your to-do list, think of the daily tasks you need to get done.

Set Up Daily Tasks

For example, Mondays you could have students pass out portfolios and graded papers and then collect portfolios.  Tuesdays, are for grading. Wednesday is for inputting grades. Thursday is for planning your next week’s lessons. Fridays might be for getting your copying done and collecting materials for the following week.

After Your Daily Tasks, Write a Secondary List:

• You need a clear "do today", "do sometime this week/month", and "do one day whenever the world slows down" list. 
• Accomplish the “today” list and when you have a slower day or extra time, jump on the “this week/month list”. 
• Plan out your day each evening/morning and if you have a short today list, add something from your week/month list to "today" 
• Don't worry about the other two lists. Focus on today. Eventually you will get enough done. And eventually that future list will fix itself on some things and will get shorter.

Assign Class Jobs

If your school allows it, here are some common tasks that students can do to save you time:

• Take attendance  
• Pass back papers
• Help absent students catch up
• Tutor other students

Just Do Your Best, Always

Don't try to over do it. If you don't get to that one lesson, it will be okay. Some years you will be behind and it's not the end of the world.  If you stick to showing students that you care about them, they will likely learn and retain more anyway.

Spend Some Time Each Day Organizing Your Classroom

I don't like to leave each day until I've at least:

• Tidied up my desk 
• Put the to-do list for the next day in a visible area of my desk
• Put all stacks of papers to be graded in a neat stack in a central location

I have students help me out with the "clean up" portion of organizing the classroom during homeroom.  This includes:

• Putting back classroom supplies such as scissors, markers, and glue sticks
• Wiping down counters, tables, and desks
• Straightening up book shelves

How do you avoid teacher overwhelm?  What would you add to this post?  I'd love to hear your ideas because I still feel overwhelmed sometimes too!