EP 147 Transform Your Planning Period: Time-Saving Tips for Teachers

Welcome educators! Before we get started I want to share with you the amazing resources I have available.. 

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You are an efficient, engaging, and hard-working educator. The work that you are doing for your students is appreciated. Thank you for your dedication and the time you put in to ensure your students succeed.

This week’s podcast goal is to provide you with strategies on how to find the time to support your students.

Analyze your time spending

• Some of you may have heard me mention previously about analyzing how you are spending your time during school. 
• What this looks like is keeping a log of everything you are doing during the school day. I mean EVERYTHING! If you are watching YouTube on your planning…log it. If you spend 10 minutes picking up students…log it. The goal is to give yourself an in-depth look at how you are spending your time. This will be beneficial because it will guide you in making the necessary changes to balance out your schedule. For example, I recently did this and noticed I am spending a lot of time picking up my students when it is supposed to take only 5 minutes. This is allowing me to make adjustments and reflect on how I can make these transitions easier for myself and the students. 
• Analyzing your time helps you realize you have way more time to do what needs to be done. It is always an eye-opening activity, and I want to encourage you to try it out.

Balance your caseload

• One of the most common concerns I get from teachers is their large caseload. Some teachers may have up to 15 groups of students in a day. I can only imagine how overwhelming this must be for teachers. 
• Balancing your caseload can give you some more time in the day to plan and support your students. One way I do this is to combine levels and age-appropriate grades. 
• The second way is to verify which students can have a decreased caseload due to their current language levels. For example, I have students who scored level 4 on their language assessment. This provides me with the flexibility to provide services on certain days and times. Check with your state to confirm if you also have the same flexibility. Doing this has freed up a lot of extra time.

Plan Ahead

• Planning has saved me so much time. One of the biggest reasons is that it helped guide my planning period. I had a clear plan on how to spend my time. This can look like lesson planning a week ahead of time or scheduling out your week. 

Fight Back Against Procrastination

• Procrastination can derail everything. One of the biggest changes I have made is being intentional about my fight against procrastination. 
• I recently did a training about this topic in detail which I will be sure to link to. It is called Prioritizing Planning with Trey. 

If you found value in today’s episode, go to myadventuresinesl.com/store to get the full detailed lesson plan which includes 2 full weeks of lesson plans and activities.