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Teaching Tips | Week 8: Time Management for Teachers
Spring 2009

Sometimes it feels like there aren't enough hours in the day to plan for classes, gather materials, meet with students, evaluate their work, and keep up with all the other details of life. Efficiently using your time can make you a more effective teacher and make your life more manageable. Here are some ideas to help you make the most of your time before, during, and after class be it onsite or online.

IN CLASS

• Take attendance after getting students started on a project or task.
• Have absent students talk with classmates to find out what they missed.
• Set up group work so you can meet with students one-on-one for feedback and individual questions or concerns during class.
• Write procedural techniques and assignment details on the board or on a handout so you won't need to repeat yourself if students are absent, late, or didn't catch what you said the first time.
• Instead of giving individual feedback to all students every session, allow students to evaluate specific aspects of their own work or a peer's work and provide a general critique to the whole class.

ONLINE

• Set aside a regular time, no more than once a day, to "go into" your class and read or comment on student posts and answer questions.
• Let students know when and how often they can expect to hear from you in discussions and in response to questions.
• Post answers to frequently asked or individual questions in the announcement area to share relevant info with the whole class at once.
• Write instructions clearly and concisely to avoid unnecessary explanations.
  • Use headings.
  • Highlight key words, phrases, and links.
  • Use bullets or numbered lists.

OUTSIDE CLASS

• Get ideas and materials from colleagues--don't reinvent the wheel.
• Use a template to plan for each class.
• Develop files or binders to organize handouts, attendance rosters, comments on student work, so that they are quick to find.
• Jot down ideas, announcements, topics to review, reinforce, or introduce for the next session, immediately after class.
• Use Easy Grade Pro software (available from your department's Administrative Assistant) to easily track attendance and calculate grades.
• Keep anything that would be especially useful if you teach the course again (samples of student work, handouts, materials, etc...).

Resources

Four-Step Lesson Plan Worksheet

Seven Time-Management Sanity Savers

Time Management for Teachers