How Teachers can Work ONLY Their Contracted Hours
Have you ever seat at your desk at the end of the school day and wondered how you were going to be able to spend time with your family, cook dinner, help with homework, plow through those piles of papers, and still have some time for yourself? Then, you are not alone. I have done it countless times, and no doubt, so have countless other teachers. I have give up weekends, holidays, and “me time” to try to get all of the things done that I thought were required by my job. Have you ever taken phone calls from parents and/or your boss after-hours? Have you responded to work emails sent during family time? Again, me too! But, this has to stop. Teachers have a right to have a life outside of school. So, if you want to know how to stop working beyond those contracted hours, then, here are 20 ways for teachers to only work contracted hours.
Begin by Setting a Goal
Before you do anything, start with a goal. Have a set goal that you want to accomplish in mind before you begin writing your lesson plans. This will help to keep you focused while you are designing your lessons for the upcoming week. It will also ensure that you don’t distracted by other “fluff” or “fun yet meaningless” activities.
Create a Strategic Plan for Reaching Your Goal
Now that you have identified your goal, it’s time to come up with a plan or strategy on getting that goal accomplished. This is the time to do some serious brainstorming. Think about your students. Think about your resources. And, be sure to think about the amount of time you have to work with as far as accomplishing your goal.
Be Proactive
Don’t wait for disaster to strike. Take a military approach to your planning. They consider every possible scenario before they execute a mission. You should do the same. Try to think of all the things that can happen to ruin your lessons. Formulate a “Plan B”. This plan will come into play if “Plan A” falls through.
I can remember how upset I used to be when I had carefully and excitedly planned a lesson only to have it ruined by a fire drill or unexpected assemble.
Assign Your Students Jobs
Don’t try to do all of it yourself. Instead, give your students jobs in your classroom that are simple, but that will help save you time. They can help with things such as handing out papers and keeping up with attendance.
Know Your Best Time
“Know Thy Self”. Basically, know when you are the most productive. If you can control your workflow, then be sure to plan your most difficult tasks for when you are the most productive. For some teachers, they are the most productive in the mornings. For others, it’s after lunch. Whenever you are at your best, do you hardest tasks.
Chunk It…Time Blocking
When teaching spelling, many times, we’ll tell students to “chunk” words or break them into smaller pieces. Well, a strategy to help you stop working beyond contracted hours is “Time Blocking”. In short, work in small, predetermined blocks of time to get task done. This will help you stay focused on the task at hand. And, this method will help you to work faster and more efficiently.
Create Writing Assignments
Writing assignments are all lifesavers when it comes to helping you stop working beyond contracted hours. How? Because these writing assignments allow you to get housekeeping things done while your students are busy writing. Just make sure that the writing assignment that you give doesn’t require YOU to constantly check on your students.
Complete Paperwork on Test Days
On the days that your students are testing, you can be completing paperwork. Unless your school district requires you to be walking around and monitoring your students the entire time that they are testing, you can spend a few of those minutes grading papers and completing any needed paperwork.
Batch Lesson Plans
It used to take me days to write my lesson plans! I would start on the weekends and keep going for another day or two. It was all senseless. Instead, I have learned to put the work in on the front end, and then, relax on the tail end. The trick is to do as many of your lesson plans as possible at one time. If you have to break your lesson planning up into chunks, that is fine. You can do all the bellringers one day or you can do all the anticipatory sets at one time, it doesn’t matter. If you prefer to do the whole lesson plan in one lump before starting on the next one, that’s okay too. Just get as many lesson plans done in one seating as you can.
Batch Grade
Just like your lesson plans, batch grade your students’ papers. It will save you time and energy. Plus, it keeps you focused on the task. I like to pick out one day a week to grade those major assignments. How? Simple. I only give one major assessment per week. I use homework and other assignments for quick assessments. You may even want to only grade one or two of the questions on the homework assignments instead of grading the whole thing. It’s all up to you.
Organize
Get organized. Be sure that you have a place for everything. This will save you so much time, and it will help you get home on time. Once you know where everything is, you can quickly find it. To make this work even better, label everything!
Have Consistent Routine
Create a schedule that you and your students can easily follow. This way, they know what to expect, and you do too. This consistent routine will help decrease wasted time.
Use a Timer
It maybe just me, but I have a problem staying on task. I need a way to keep myself on track. And, one of the best things for me is a timer. A good old fashion timer helps to keep me on schedule. I set the timer for each task. This can be for 15 minutes or 20 minutes. It all depends on the task and the amount of time I have to complete it. If my bellringer is only supposed to be 5 minutes, then I set the timer for 5 minutes. If the anticipatory set is only supposed to be 10 minutes, I set the timer for 10 minutes. This ensures that I don’t “head down the rabbit hole”.
Set Boundaries
Set boundaries from the start. Have a designated time when you can host parent meetings. Don’t allow parents to just “drop by” to talk. Don’t get started answering work related calls after work hours. Remember, what you start, you will have to keep up. This includes calls from your boss as well as from parents. I know it can be hard not to take those calls from your supervisor, but you are entitled to a life away from work.
Pro Tips: Don’t allow yourself to get pulled into meetings or “quick conferences” right before time for you to go home. These never end on time.
Stop Teaching Bell to Bell
Bell to Bell Teaching seems to be the “catch phrase” in education, but if you want to stop working beyond your contracted hours, then you WILL have to stop literally working from bell to bell. I’m not telling you to neglect your job. However, there are ways to provide educational instruction and value without YOU actually standing up in front of your class and teaching from the start of one class period to the start of the next. Let’s be honest, this isn’t realistic. So, what should you do instead:
- Let your students work independently. Our students need to become independent learners anyway. Toward the end of your class, have assignments that your students can work on that don’t require you to be completely involved.
- Quick writes, 3-2-1 strategies, and other short writing assignments can help provide you with those extra minutes you need to allow you to set up your room for the next class, and they can give you a few minutes to tidy up your room for dismissal. Overall, another strategy to help you leave work on time.
Leave It on the Desk
It’s hard. I know. However, leave those papers on your desk. Don’t drag that stuff home with you. Many times, those papers end up just riding in your car home with you and riding back to work again. Stop providing them with a free ride.
And, if that paperwork does make it out of your car, don’t allow it to monopolize your family time. Your family deserves your attention too. Draw the line. Leave that work on your desk until you return to work the next day. And, definitely, don’t allow paperwork to take up your weekend time.
Give Up One Day
Instead of spending your weekends grading papers or doing lesson plans, pick one day per week to complete any tasks or other school related activities. You can come earlier on that day, or you can stay late. You can decide to give up one hour or two. You decide what works best for you. But, only give work that one extra day.
Stop Grading Everything
Not every assignment has to be graded. Some assignments and other classwork should make their way to “file 13” also known as the trash can. This will save you a lot of headaches and even more time.
Exit Tickets & Bellringers
Like writing assignments, exit tickets and bellringers can provide a way for you to quickly assess your students’ knowledge, and they can help to make it easier for you to leave work on time. While students are completing bellringers and/or exit tickets, you can quickly check attendance, update data, and do any of those other housekeeping items. Housekeeping can seem simple, but it can cost you precious time. The 20 or 30 minutes that you spend sweeping and picking up paper could be spent packing for dismissal or grading papers.
Pack Up before Time
Don’t wait until the last minute. Pack for dismissal early. This may make you feel like a “bad teacher”. However, the exact opposite is true. Good teachers plan ahead. Plan to go home on time.
I can remember watching those teachers who left work on time and thinking that they were “bad teachers” or that they “weren’t working hard enough”. It took me a few years, but I have learned better. Smart teachers take care of themselves and their families. They go home on time, and they don’t work beyond contracted hours.
Happy Teaching!!!
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