Computer games can gobble up enormous amounts of time. I enjoy sitting and "vegging" in the evenings with Candy Crush or Solitaire. All too frequently, I look up to see that two hours have slipped by. When those precious minutes are gone, I sometimes wonder about the lost opportunities for more productive work, thinking, or playing. Perhaps if I had invited one of my grandkids over and we played together, I could have counted it as worthy - not wasted use of time!
As teachers we need to evaluate our use of time. Reflective teachers also analyze the use of their students' time. If we are to teach our students to be wise stewards of their precious minutes, we must model good time management. Do your students see you read in your still, quiet moments (even though they are very few)? Do they regularly feel that you have assigned busy-work?
We often feel as though there aren't enough minutes in a day to accomplish the many tasks we have on our plates. Here are some tips to help us be mindful of the precious gift of time.
Five Tips to Make Every Moment Count
Prioritize
Schedule your time around your priorities. If you like lists, write them down; if you use sticky-notes, use color coding such as pink for highest, yellow for lowest, etc., and if you a task manager on your phone, be faithful and list those as they come up and give them a specific flag for the level of their priority. When you get a few blessed moments of quietness - reach for one of one of those high priority tasks.
Strategize
If your most productive times are in the morning, schedule the highest priorities for your best times. Be sure to evaluate the time investment that will be required. If the task is demanding and you have only a few minutes, it might be better to put it on hold till later in the day. Starting a task, only to stop it a few minutes later, often takes more time to get started the second time. Keep your "must dos" at the top of your list. Determine what must be done before school and what can wait till later in the day. Reward yourself for finishing your To Do list by not taking any work home!
Routinize
Develop routines. Routines help us be more efficient. Just as we stress basic fact automaticity in mathematics, routines help us get our work completed efficiently. Plan a strategy for taking data - then do it! If you're planning to complete one individualized assessment per day, put a student's name on your calendar for each day of the week (or month), and then find that student during your scheduled assessment time.
Delegate
Find ways to enlist your students in completing some of your tasks. What is on your list that eats up those little snatches of time? Is it something one of your students would love to do for you? What niggling little tasks distract you, annoy you, and keep you from productivity? Could you could scratch that off your list by assigning it to a student?
Use a timer
We all need breaks! Assign specific tasks to a determined number of minutes. Make a realistic estimate of the time it will take to complete the task. Then, divide the task into smaller manageable chunks of time and schedule it. Set a timer! When the timer goes off, stop. Do this with your break time as well. Set a timer for a rest period. Return to focus after the timer goes off and complete your tasks. Break those big, hairy tasks into smaller bites. Work for a specified time limit. Promise yourself that you will call it quits when the timer goes off. Set the timer for a reasonable time limit, but one that also lets you work productively. When your overtired, you're not at your best - your work will show it. Be smart...stop when the timer goes off.
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