Time Management in the Classroom

Here’s a fun fact about me - I love time management! I enjoy reading books about how best to manage my time. Laura Vanderkam and Oliver Burkeman are two of my favorite authors who write about time management. I think I enjoy this topic because it is not easy for me to figure out how I want to spend my time. Time is fleeting. We only have 24 hours in a day and 168 hours in a week. We can’t get any additional time - no matter how hard we try!

When planning my classes, I am always weighing what to cover with the students so that they will get the most out of our class sessions. I have to make decisions and choose wisely - it’s not always easy. The same goes for my time outside of the classroom - how will I use my time so that I am happy with the choices I am making.

Next week I am speaking with a group of preservice teachers about time management. I have been thinking about the focus of this workshop, and after hearing an interview with Kate Bowler, the New York Times Bestselling Author of Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved and an Associate Professor at Duke University, who said the phrase “not everything is possible, not nothing is possible, but what is possible today?” I’m going with this idea. How do we manage our time in the classroom? As teachers we can’t address everything in one day, but I believe that it’s important to think about what we can work up to and take steps each day to work up to that goal.

I’ll give an example of this - in the Literacy Clinic, one of my students is working with an ENL (English as a New Language) third grader. The 3rd grader is very motivated to read and write in English, so my student has put together a plan for the remainder of the semester. Her lessons are very strategic and targeted so that the student is learning something each week that will help her learn to read and write in English. She has really had to streamline her instruction so that she targets what the student really needs in order to be a more confident reader. So far her planning is paying off. Each week there is improvement and the student is able to do more of the work on her own. My student does not waste any time either - which helps! She gets right to work with the 3rd grader and sets the tone that they will work through the lessons.

So, I think it’s worth considering what is possible today that will get your students to reach a particular goal. Because something is possible every day!

How do you manage your instructional time in the classroom? I’d love to hear! Send me an email or leave a message @theliteracyteacherslife.