Discover how to structure your day like a well-run classroom. Learn 4 ways to improve your productivity at home and work from an ex-teacher.
What do you and an elementary school teacher have in common?
A lack of time.
According to an article titled, “We Know How Much Planning Time Teachers Get on Average. Is It Enough?” from EdSurge, 47% of principals in 2024 indicated that their elementary school teachers get less than three hours a week to plan their lessons for the following week(s). That is, three hours of ‘let me drink this coffee by myself, in a semi-quiet room, while working through my to-do list’ time
What does this actually mean?
Almost half of the teachers from public schools in the U.S. get less than three hours a week to plan five days’ worth of content for up to six subjects for 25-31 students of varying skill levels.
That kind of workload would put any teacher (especially educators under the 5-year experience mark) under pressure to get a lot of things done in the smallest amount of time possible.
Not to mention that they are also responsible for creating a learning-focused and well-managed classroom on top of the actual planning.
Yet there are still teachers who still have well-run classrooms and make fantastic lessons for their students.
How do they do it?
- They make detailed lesson plans
- They utilize Time Blocking
- They make Theme Days
- They maintain classroom rules
- They offer behavior incentives
Some of the best teachers I know have mastered the art of making the most out of their contractual hours. Here are some of their secrets –
They Make Detailed Lesson Plans
Some of the best teachers I know have the most detailed lesson plans I have ever seen. We’re talking color-coded pens, bullet-pointed talking points, page numbers, handwritten diagrams, and a load of other seemingly over-the-top things.
Why go to that much trouble to plan a subject, day, or week?
Because time is limited and unless you want to spend precious minutes flipping through a Teacher’s Manual while also keeping a herd of children from climbing up the walls, teachers have to be prepared.
What does this look like for you?
Schedule your day with purpose. Before starting something, you should have an idea of what you need to do, what materials you will need, who you need to contact, and what your finished product will look like.
Otherwise, you will lose time to your own lack of preparation.
Time is not a renewable resource, so don’t treat it like one.
They Utilize Time Blocking
Most classrooms have a day schedule posted somewhere around the room. The schedule separates the day into 5-6 subject chunks of 30-45 minutes and includes time for lunch, recess, etc.
What casual observers don’t realize is that the daily schedule is Time Blocked for each subject. Why did the school administration make the schedule this way?
Because they found out that if students work on one task and one subject at a time, they are more likely to focus on the activities and less likely to partake in negative behavior. *
If it works for most 25-30 students in a classroom, why not give it a try?
Group similar activities from your To-Do list together and designate a specific time frame to get them all done. Do this repeatedly for maximal results.
They Use Day Theming
I once saw a teacher in the staff lounge, a red pen in each hand, grading two assignments at the same time. She would pause every so often to input the grades into the digital database displayed on the computer in front of her.
When I asked her why she needed to grade at literally two-times the pace, she explained, “Wednesday is grading day, so I need to get through all of the completed work before the day is out.”
Day theming is when you have one task or a group of similar tasks to complete within the workday. Teachers often use theme days for tasks that have a lot of components and a hard weekly deadline (like grading and inputting grades before Friday so any parent emails can come in during the week and not on the weekend).
Outside of school, Day Theming can look like Meal Prep Day or Clean the House Day. Basically, it can be anything that only needs to be done on a weekly basis.
*For more information on Time Blocking and Day Theming, visit this article from todoist.
They Make and Maintain Classroom Rules
On my campus, teachers were required to create 2-5 classroom rules that would be implemented as soon as you explained them to students on day 1. The rules were to be universal enough to facilitate student accountability with moderate teacher reinforcement. The rules also had to be written in a positive manner.
For example, my favorite rule was “I will always do my best work”.
The idea was that if a student were only to scribble on their assignment and not complete it, they would look at the rule and determine for themselves if they were following it or not. If they were not following the rule, (in most circumstances) they would receive a consequence (not getting points, extra activity time, etc.). If they were following the rule, they would be awarded (points, extra activity time, etc.).
Admittedly, the Classroom Rules did not always have the anticipated effect. However, in most cases, students were aware of what was expected of them and what they should expect in return as a result of the Classroom Rules.
Make some general ‘Classroom Rules’ for yourself to keep you on track. You could very well use “I will always do my best work” as a standard for how to complete activities. Or you could do something even simpler such as, “I will arrive on time to work each day”.
The Classroom Rules give you a no-nonsense way of looking at things.
If you are working in a Time Block and your phone goes off with a notification. Because your rule is ‘I will give all my focus to my work during this Time Block’, you don’t pick up the phone.
That’s it. No negotiation with yourself, no quick peak at the screen.
You know what is expected of you and you set out to do it.
They Offer Behavior Incentives
Behavior incentives can be awarded based on an individual, group, or class behavior. Incentives are rewards given because a desired outcome was achieved.
In my classroom, students were awarded flower petals (for our whiteboard flower) for each time they, well, did something amazing.
I once awarded the class a flower petal because I could see that a student, who typically struggled with impulse control, was really trying their hardest to work on a group project. That was amazing to me, and I thought they deserved to be recognized for it. Flower petal.
Five petals equaled one flower. One flower meant that the class had 10 -15 minutes at the end of the day to work on a project they could choose from a predetermined list. The list included activities like playing board games, drawing, doing a puzzle, etc.
The point of the flower behavior incentive (Flower Power) was to acknowledge when students put in the extra effort to be their best selves and encourage their peers to do the same.
Maybe your ‘something amazing’ is you completing all the payroll paperwork before it needs to be processed. Keep track of each time you complete the desired task, then reward yourself when you reach your goal.
Keep enough tallies and earn enough rewards and soon your goal will become your habit.
Conclusion
Teachers don’t have time to scramble and play games they don’t see the end of, neither do you. Make the plans, organize your calendar, create your rules, and reward yourself when you make great things happen. You’ve got this.
Resources
*In a paper digitally dug up from the Research Journal of the American Association of School Librarians, titled “Block Scheduling“, resides a list of beneficial reasons for an hourly schedule.
**The goal of Time Blocking and Day Theming is to reduce task-switching or multitasking. A practice, as written in an article from PubMed Central, can result in a 40% loss of productivity because of the time and cognitive load it takes to switch between tasks. Not only are you losing time, it turns out, but you are also more likely to suffer from mental fatigue as a result of multitasking.
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