Gallman Blog #7

Chapter 12: You Only Have So Much Time

In the world of teaching, you definitely only have so much time!!! I have struggled with time management over the course of my first year of teaching. There are so many things to cover between lesson planning, grading papers, and even just making time to talk to your students to make sure they everything is fine with them. This chapter does a good job of giving suggestions on how to make every moment count such as keeping work simple and meaningful, reducing interruptions, keeping a lively pace, etc. However, these things are not always practical or easy to do. There are always things that are going to throw you off course; whether it is a disruptive student, a parent showing up unannounced for a conference, snow days, etc. it seems nearly impossible to stay on track. You can have the perfect plan that you want to carry out, but it's hard to complete every task. Lesson plans just seem to get pushed back further and further and time just gets lost.

I like how the author says to do less, but more effectively. That is definitely something that I need to work on. Instead of adding in many meaningless and time consuming activities, I can focus on the bigger picture and find deeper and more thoughtful ways to engage students and help them learn. I can also do as the author suggested and look at my schedule more carefully. It is difficult to create a schedule as a first year teacher because you have no idea how long anything takes your first time trying things out. I have learned better throughout the year to pace myself and follow my long range plan more carefully. I have had to force myself not to spend my entire weekend and entire afternoon working on lesson plans and school work. I look forward to the days where I will know how to manage my time more effectively so that I don't stress myself out. As a teacher, there really IS only so much time, and I have to learn to make every moment count!