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Time Management
For me, I try to fix classroom times in which I am teaching and incorporating one to three hours a day to have outside of class for which I maintain routine daily teacher tasks, cover what I went well and what I could work on with my mentor teacher as well as prepare lesson plans.
One important part of a teacher's job I found is to prepare materials for the next day (cutting x amount of paper for the next day the night before) and to be available for students and staff outside of classroom hours.
To balance the tasks needed to get done, I take work home (projects examples that last well into the night) as well as giving up my weekends to prepare for the next week's class.
For me, I find it best that I:
-Plan my workday
-Focus on my important and urgent activities
-Organize me and my workspace
-Prepare physically and mentally (the materials needed and what steps need to be taken into account for misbehaving students)
Plan my workday
Planning saves time and gives me a greater sense of control over what I have to do.
Even if things don't stick to plan, I can always come back to my plan when things have settle.
A plan enables you to become more effective, organized, and reduce your stress.
I usually take 45 minutes a day to plan your day (which I know is a lot and I'm working at becoming efficient with this).
Over the past 8 weeks, I've realized that I've not only need to be organized with the structure of my class but also my life. What works best for me is to have a planner that includes the daily tasks I need to get done as well as what I am teaching for the day. Each day, I look over my planner in the morning and at the end of the day to see what is needed for the next day to help me stay organized and focused.
Student teaching has brought a lot about myself to the surface. I found that I tend to get distracted. To help this, I keep a pad of sticky notes and a pen in my pocket at all times so that whenever something comes up, I can write it down. At the end of the day, I empty my pocket to see what I wrote which helps me remember little things throughout the day I found important and wrote down.
By having a plan, I find that I give myself a greater sense of control which allows me to decide how I am going to spend my time most effectively.