She was drowning in paperwork and overwhelm.
As a 5-year veteran teacher in fourth grade, Jamie wasn’t new to the demands and workload of the job. But a new administrator, coupled with a new grade level move to fifth grade and curriculum, she was faced with writing all new lesson plans, finding manipulatives, prepping the assessments, creating centers, making homework, writing a weekly newsletter to the parents, and benchmarking all 26 students. Her principal had also given her the task of adding and article to the weekly school newspaper for the entire grade level, which needed to showcase students and the standards they were currently working on.
All this, plus a stack of essays, last week’s spelling test, and last night’s homework that still needed to be graded.
That’s when Jamie knew she had to do something different.
Taking work home from school most nights and weekends
A huge percentage of teachers take home work nightly. It is just a given, right? It is what society – and other professionals in the education field – expect. Perhaps you knew that going in to the job. Maybe that was new information. Either way, you are still taking home a stack of grading, lesson planning, or other papers to do in your own time, off the clock, and eating in to your personal and family time.
Get started with a FREE Paperwork Checklist!
This overflow from work to home makes it feel like your job is never finished. You have no balance. No time for those you care about outside of your career. Teacher burnout starts here.
How do I use my time wisely?
The first step is being aware of the dilemma. If you know you are getting behind in grading or other duties, what can you do differently during work hours?
Are you prone to chatting with colleagues after school and don’t realize until an hour later that you have to leave – and now need to grab your bag of papers to play catch up at home? Can you change up your work hours to come in a little earlier when no one else is around, rather than staying late?
Do you loathe grading so much that you wait until the stack is unbearable – and then spend the next week (right before midterms are due), working 18 hours a day between school and home just to get the marking complete? Maybe you can pick one day a week and power through everything just from that week so the stack never truly gets out of hand.
Does daily homework grading create a mountain of papers on your desk that needs to be checked in? Perhaps switch to a weekly homework ritual so you are saving time and allowing for better flexibility for your students and their after school activities.
Jamie’s goal: Walk out of the building only carrying her purse and car keys at contract time.
Can it be done? Yup.
How? Planning and prepping. Just like with your lesson plans. Know your goal and work backward, allowing extra time pockets for the unexpected to happen (as you know it will). The first time, it will not be perfect. The 10th time it will still be a struggle. But once you get a routine that works for you and doesn’t impact your job duties – you will be amazed at how high your job satisfaction soars.
Get started with a FREE Paperwork Checklist!
What tips can you share with other teachers that helps you from drowning in paperwork all year long? Share them in a comment below!
~Charity
You Might Also Enjoy:
I’m looking forward to giving this a try. Thank you in advance for this important resource! Oftentimes, former parents and students come to my classroom after school and minutes of visiting turns into hours. I fill my rolling cart with work, promising to get it done at home, only to pass out on the couch! Thank God for my wonderful husband who sees my struggle and will head into the kitchen to make dinner! The next day, I end up rolling the same work-filled cart back to school, promising to get it done at school! It’s like being on a hamster wheel and I’d like to get off this school year! Thanks again!
I know exactly what you mean Lisa! Glad it was helpful and hopefully this year you won’t feel like that hamster as much anymore. 🙂
I know what you mean, I used to do this every year but now Im doing my masters so I had the need to organize myself and commit to finishing everything at school. Having that little extra pressure made me focus more on what I had to do and finish it in school. The most important thing is to give it a try, Im still not sure how I’m doing it all but it can be done.
Good luck
When my school instituted Macbooks halfway through the year, I had my students complete their work online, especially writing assignments. I was able to read them quickly, make comments on the document, then email it back to the student. It’s still the same work, but I felt less stressed no seeing stacks of paper. And I found that it was easier, for me, to grade and return. We also went to online grammar tests that automatically scored and showed if and when the students benchmarked on a standard.
Nice! I love that idea Pam!
Yes, we teachers always DO go the extra mile and do extra work at home, before and after hours. I find with marking some ideas you could use are: 1. Mark in class as the children finish their work they bring it straight to you, thus saving on extra time after lessons.
2. Also, you could have the children self-mark. Call out the answers and they get immediate feedback and reinforcement to see where they have gone wrong.
3. Alternatively you can give them exercises to take home, complete and ask their parents to check them. When they get back to school the next day, you simply need to address any problems that the children faced.
Happy teaching, and also to having relaxing time with family and friends.
Fantastic Wendy! Thanks so much for sharing!
This IS doable!
My amazing prac teacher took NOTHING home with her. She used her EA wisely and had all activities prepared during DOTT. She was, and is clever about how she works so she isn’t exasperated with planning, assessing and teaching.
When the kids came in from play, she would use mindfulness type activities for the children to engage with whilst she wrote notes. To mark work, she would do this post activity as children were sharing their learning to the class. She also encouraged parent helpers daily and gave them gluing tasks for workbooks, exchanging and listening to children read, and displaying art work. I couldn’t believe she would actually pgt down at recess and lunch to chat to peers rather than prep for lessons.
My prac teacher encouraged me and made me realise that I don’t have to work 12 hour days. I can work 7.5 hour days, be more relaxed yet have the same results.
Love that Jo!
Hi, Stupid question coming…what is EA, DOTT, and pgt?