Do you struggle with finding time to get things done in the virtual classroom?
Oh, honey, I know you are because I’ve been right where you are. As a virtual teacher, just making my to-do list makes me exhausted! It seems like there isn’t enough time in the day to get everything completed. Virtual teaching adds a whole new level to teacher tired because now you are doing everything you used to do as a brick and mortar teacher, BUT let’s make it all digital now. WHAT?!
I know you are probably headed home with your laptop each night (or down the hall if you are working from home like me) to do even more work after your contract time. Are you even close to finished when it is time for bed? Nope. I’m here to tell you today, with a few steps and changes, you can start checking out of work earlier in the day and give yourself back to your family, pets, and (most importantly) yourself.
Tip #1 Set (and use) a weekly schedule
Trust me, it might sound way too simple to work, but this personally opened up so much time for me during the day. It is so important to me that I wrote a blog post dedicated just to creating block schedules as a virtual teacher. You can check it out HERE.
In short, I created a list of tasks I complete daily and weekly and sorted them throughout my empty time slots throughout the day. Then, I dedicated each day of the week to a set of specific tasks. This allowed me to take the guesswork out of what I would be doing next and gave me more focus throughout the week.
Here are some examples of how you can break up your week:
- Pick 1-2 days a week to grade assignments (make sure to use a rubric to make grading even easier).
- Choose one subject per day to focus on planning and creating assignments. This will keep you from jumping around on as many virtual learning platforms.
- Place your less important/quicker tasks together to prevent them from distracting you later when you are working on more time-consuming tasks.
Tip #2 Make a daily list and stick to it
SERIOUSLY. You are a teacher, not a superhero… Okay, I mean, we are superheroes, but that still doesn’t mean we can finish 20 tasks in one day. I keep a running list of things I need to do, whether they fall under my normal tasks or not, in a Google Keep list. Each morning I choose 3 tasks on my list based on what I’ve agreed to focus on for the day. I don’t do anything else on the list until those three things I have chosen are done.
If, and only if, I get those three things finished, I can grab my running list and pick another thing to complete if I have time. This keeps you from stressing out and worrying about that huge to-do list and instead allows you to just do what you can for the day.
Tip #3 Use your office hours while virtual teaching
I set up office hours for my students and parents throughout the week. Of course, students can reach out to me at any time during the week when they are working on their work or have questions. Secretly, my office hours are pretty much to keep parents at bay while I’m working on school work and making students a priority. Office hours during the week has saved me loads of time during the week!
Our school has a communication policy that states I must respond to parents within 24 hours of receiving a message. So, I stick to that policy, but I use my office hours each week to set up conferences, contact parents, and address any issues that arise. Use this time to finish mundane work (I call it mindless work) and do most of your parent contact. This will cut down communication time throughout the rest of the week.
Common Sense Education shares some amazing tips on how to ‘Power Up’ your parent communication HERE. The better your communication is upfront, the less you will have to discuss later!
Tip #4 Create processes that help you use your time more efficiently
Do you find yourself working non-stop only to feel like you have accomplished nothing at the end of the day? You do all the little things needed but don’t seem to be getting anywhere OR you get stuck in the wheel of creating and recreating things for your classroom. STOP!!
There are things you are recreating or redoing each week that you don’t have to do. Ask yourself – Are there assignments I’m creating each week? Are there things I can create in bulk to be on autopilot for a while? Am I doing things that could be done less frequently?
Here are some processes I set up that helped me get more done during the week:
- I schedule repeat lessons in bulk like fluency recordings, weekly reflections, math fact practices, etc. This allows me to do it once and leave it for the quarter.
- On other websites like Prodigy, Freckle, MobyMax, etc. I schedule lessons in advance through a whole quarter. Now those sites all run on autopilot.
- I made unit tests through the quarter to be *mostly* auto-graded through the LMS to cut down on grading throughout the year.
Tip #5 Stop striving for perfection while virtual teaching
Y’all… This one is the hardest for me. I’ve learned that done is better than perfect. Did your assignment have a tiny mistake on it? Oh well, you can go back and fix it. Did you get everything finished for the day? No? Oh well, you’ll be back at it tomorrow. Stop trying to be perfect. As a virtual teacher, we are paving the road as we travel on it. It’s not going to be perfect, but you are setting yourself and students up for guaranteed failure if you are expecting it to be. Take this time to learn to be present and learn during this time. You are making a difference, and your students need you… but your students need you to take care of yourself too.
