Author: TCR Staff

Classroom Management

Time Management Tips for Teachers: A Four-Part Series

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Time management is by far one of the most important aspects of being a teacher. You must realize that your time is valuable and work hard to use your time wisely in the classroom, as well as outside of the classroom as it pertains to your job. In the following posts, you will find a four-part series on time management tips for teachers. Take note of the seconds and minutes of your day that could be used more wisely and you may find that time well-spent organizing and planning will allow for more quality time spent with friends and family.

Part I: Seconds and Minutes Count
When you arrive at school, realize that your job and day have begun. You need to get down to business immediately. Don’t be unsocial, but do be disciplined. Look at your goals and priorities. If your goals are to be an outstanding teacher, to be organized, and to have time left over for your family, then work toward those goals in everything you do. Get your work, at least most of it, done during the day. The following steps will help you learn how to use every minute, indeed every second, to its full capacity. Taking these steps will enable you to use the often-wasted time for something productive.

Always remember, however, that your first priority is the students. Be skilled enough at doing little tasks while still being fully available to the students at all times. Don’t get so engrossed with a task such as correcting spelling tests, for example: that you miss the opportunity to observe or interact with the students. If you are using the time during recess to correct tests, yet you have a student who is worried about an assignment, make sure you make time for the student. Students are your first priority!

  • Use the few minutes it takes the students to wash their hands before lunch to correct something (such as the spelling tests) or to go through your mail.
  • Use the few minutes it takes for kids to move from one class to the next to jot down notes about a student.
  • Use the time before a meeting begins to update your task list, write notes, review lesson plans, or correct papers. (Be organized enough before a meeting to gather the work to bring to the meeting.)
  • Use the time you are supervising children (if it is appropriate, such as during a video or TV program) to correct papers or review work.
  • Use the time after school when the children have left to follow up on business.
  • Use the time during recess to get something substantial completed.

Each of these moments adds up to a substantial amount of time that can be spent completing various important tasks throughout the day. Learn to recognize the importance of each second. Soon you will be using your time well, and you will find that at least sometimes at the end of the day you can go home with an empty school bag. Whether you are spending these little moments interacting with students, observing them, or accomplishing tasks, you will begin to appreciate the value of time.

Classroom Management, Teacher Resources

Tips for Returning Work and Distributing Classroom Materials

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After checking student independent practice (see previous post, “Tips for Checking Student Work“), you’re ready to return graded papers, assignments, and/or distribute additional learning materials, but how do you do so in the most efficient and least cumbersome way?

Returning Work
There are several ways that work can be returned to students without making it a time of turmoil in the classroom. One way is to use student mailboxes. Corrected work, notes to parents, and other kinds of communications are sorted into the student mailboxes much the same as the post office does to post boxes. Student helpers can distribute the papers. Organizing the mailboxes in a way that makes it simple to find a particular student is the key to success here.

If you prefer, student work can be returned during sharing time. If the class meets on a rug for sharing, the students returning work can then easily put the work out on the desks. This reduces a lot of the confusion that might otherwise occur during the time when work is returned. After sharing, students simply go to their desks to put their returned papers into their notebooks or backpacks to take home.

An added bonus for having students pass out corrected work is that students have a reason to learn how to read each other’s names. At the beginning of a new class, it becomes an honor to be the first to be able to read all the names in the class. The students who need help merely show the paper to someone who reads it for them.

 

Distributing Materials
One thing that helps the class run more smoothly is to have a plan for passing out papers, books, or other materials that are needed to complete assignments. Without a plan in mind, passing out learning materials can take up precious learning and teaching time. A lesson can really be sidetracked as the students become restless while waiting to get started between instruction and guided practice. Save yourself the hassle and have a plan or set-up prepared.

Here are several ways to get materials to students quickly, efficiently, and with the least amount of disruption:

  • If students sit in teams, rows, or table groups, one student can be the paper or supply monitor and be responsible for getting the materials and then distributing them to the others at his or her assigned area.
  • Teachers can have materials ready in folders for each row, table etc. The folders can be distributed before the lesson or as they are needed. (Parent volunteers or a classroom aide can prepare the folders.)
  • Paint pails with handles (supply tubs) are especially useful when there are materials or supplies that students need in addition to paper. Before the lesson, the teacher or student helper can put the necessary equipment inside a pail for students in a row, table, or team. Then, the teacher can locate the supply tub for easy access when needed. This method is especially helpful when using manipulative materials. For example, supply tubs will work well for a science lesson in which hand lenses, rocks, and recording sheets are needed. When it is time to use the manipulatives, it will only take seconds to distribute them.

Got a method you use to distribute materials that wasn’t mentioned? Share it in our comment roll!

Classroom Management, Teaching Tips

Tips for Checking Student Work

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As a teacher, you probably spend a good deal of your time checking student work. If you’re not, you may be neglecting a crucial follow-up to independent practice (see previous post, “Tips for Independent Practice in the Classroom“). Here are some things to consider when checking student practice work.

First of all, ask yourself why is the work being checked? The main reasons to check practice work are to give the students feedback on how they are doing, to stop them from practicing something incorrectly, and to promote whatever is being taught. Therefore, the checking needs to be done either right after students finish the work or while they are doing the work. Spending valuable time checking a set of class papers will do little to assist learning if students do not get them back for several days. Students need immediate feedback on how they are doing. If the work is at the correct level of difficulty, students will naturally make a few errors during guided practice. This is not the time to grade for accuracy because it is practice and not mastery. You might have students check their own practice, check each other’s work, or have peer tutors or parent volunteers help with checking the work so that you as the teacher can be free to teach.

However, the most crucial times for teachers to check student work themselves are
(1) when students are being tested or checked for mastery of something they have been taught
(2) after students have been given opportunities to practice and to correct errors

In other words, teachers should evaluate tests while students can often check daily work.

For more tips on checking student work, check out the Jumbo Book of Teacher Tips and Timesavers.

Next Post: Tips for Returning Work and Distributing Classroom Materials

Classroom Management, Teacher Resources, Teaching Tips

Classroom Center Time

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Center time can be provided every day for independent student practice. During this time, everyone is engaged in learning by interacting with an activity.

It is important to allow students to choose which activity they’d like to investigate further. Some will choose the same activity for several days if their curiosity is stimulated or if they’re becoming expert at the task, which in turn builds their self-esteem. Students tend to choose activities appropriate to their ability levels because activities which are too easy or too difficult will not hold their interest. If a child is not able to choose an activity which is appropriate or productive, you may have to provide guidance.

This block of practice time is quite useful in assessing students. Teachers can hear and see what students are choosing, what they are capable of doing, what they are interested in, and how well they get along with others.

The teacher needs to provide many types of activities. He or she must also give instructions, model them, and set specific parameters for the use of each. Teachers must also be able to explain the various skills and purposes to each activity to visitors and/or parents who experience this time with the class.

Once the classroom is conducive to productive, enjoyable learning, the teacher’s job is simply to monitor behavior. When students are involved and active, take the opportunity to listen and watch all of the excitement that learning brings to the classroom. If desired, keep anecdotal records of your observations.

There are many areas or activities that can be made available to the class during open work time. Remember to provide activities done previously in formal instruction. Repeating lessons and activities is a useful learning tool for students. Lower achieving students benefit from the repetition while higher achieving students will improvise and extend the learning.

The labels provided in the following pdf can be duplicated and used during center time to mark each area or activity.

Center Labels

Duplicate each twice—use one to label the area or activities and one to display as either open or closed. Using a pocket chart or double-sided masking tape, put up the labels of the areas that are open. Hang these in a place that is easily seen. The second label can be hung or placed at the area that is open for work. Children can match words or pictures to find out which areas are available. Labeling the centers open or closed gives the option of closing an activity that is being used inappropriately or needs some update or adjustment.

Next post: Tips for Checking Student Work