Time Management Tips for ESL Students

Hey! Welcome back to this amazing school year. Let’s start off this blog with a reflection question. Take a moment to reflect on this question. Think about this question and answer to yourself honestly where you stand. How are you doing with your time management at school?

One thing that most of us wish for is more time during the day. Our school days are usually packed with testing, teaching, meetings, professional development, and tons of other activities. 

Then to top it off you might have random meetings thrown in throughout the school day. 

This is so many of us throughout the school year. Last school year, I felt that all the time that I had was going out the window. I was feeling scattered-brained and unorganized. The nonstop meetings and extra expectations were not helping me with my time management. It was like I was on a hamster wheel, and I was trying my best to get off to get a handle on everything. 

My eyes were really opened when I realized that I had not planned my lessons like I normally do, and I was planning day by day. That was not like me at all, and I knew that I needed to make a change. 

I knew that I needed a mental health day to gather my thoughts and figure out my next steps. So, I took a day off of work. Thinking back on the events, I am so happy I took a day off to gather myself. During this day off, I relaxed and planned out my next few weeks of school. 

The most important step I took was to take a time audit of where I was spending my time during the school day. This brought me to the realization that a lot of my time was going towards me aimlessly scrolling the internet, making last minute copies, and searching for resources. Before I completed this time audit, I would have said all my time was going to unplanned meetings. This time audit really opened my eyes to where I was spending my time. 

On that day off, I scheduled all my class times in my planner. Then, I scheduled time to make copies and what I will be doing during the planning period. I also left unscheduled time to allow for some flexibility. Once I returned to school, I noticed a huge difference in how the flow of my

day went compared to before. Let me share with you some tips that will help you with your time management. 

Tip #1: Complete a time audit of your school day. This will require you to commit to writing down everything you are doing in a school day. For example, if you spent 15 minutes just casually looking at your phone, you will need to write that down. If it takes you 5 minutes to pick-up a student, you will write that down. Write down every single thing that you do that day. It is important that you try not to be hard on yourself. This activity is eye-opening and will also help you determine how you are spending the time in your day. I would suggest that you commit to a time audit for a week. After the week, analyze where you are spending the most of your time. You might be really surprised at the results. 

Tip #2: Be intentional when it comes to planning your planning period. You might casually think this time is my planning period, so I can just use this time to “plan”. However when that planning period rolls around you might be confused on what to do because there is so much to do. That is why I like to have set activities for my planning period. Here is an example of what I mean. Monday can be the day where you search for resources. Tuesday can be the day for meetings. Wednesday can be set aside for making copies. Thursday can be a day dedicated to grading. You might want to leave Friday open to allow some flexibility. This will help give you a guide on what to do during your planning period. 

Tip #3: Be firm with meeting times. I am going into this tip knowing that you will have some popup meetings. Most of the time we are asked when we will be available for meetings. You can set up two potential times during the week when you are available for meetings. When co-workers and/or parents ask you when you are available to meet, offer those times first. I am finding that by doing this I am creating boundaries and making my times available more predictable. 

What are your favorite time management tips? I would love to hear what you are doing to manage time in your classroom. Share them below!

You can download the transcript here.