I am improving in this area and, as a result, feeling more at peace with my work. In addition to my teaching I chair the building tech committee and realizing I cannot initiate every idea that pops into my head for this role. There simply isn’t time and it isn’t my chief responsibility, so I need to have some restraint.

Another thing that is helping is that I am carrying on the momentum from my “do” goal and not overthink. I’m just going for it more and more at work. This is really good because earlier in my career I would think things through in SO MUCH detail that I would be paralyzed and had to tread water/punt in the meanwhile. 2 years ago

The time I took over the weekend to go the coffee shop and plan has helped me have a smooth start to back-to-school. That, coupled with my developing habit to just do – especially small things a la GTD – has helped me feel my workload is manageable after all. 2 years ago

to sit at the coffee shop and decide on upcoming units and the first few lessons of the year, which are always housekeeping type lessons. Feeling a lot better about the year starting up. 2 years ago

Because I am already off track. It was a super-packed inservice week and I am glad it’s done. Kids come on Tuesday, but I’m not really ready.

Positives:
1) Brought home stuff to GET ready. In the past I might just have winged it.
2) We had one entire work day and I did take total advantage of it (didn’t let myself get distracted like I so easily can do). Completed several housekeeping tasks that typically would have weighed on me once the year starts. I have 17 different groups and so having my organizational system set up from the beginning is nearly as important as knowing what I’m going to teach. For example, I need to have my class lists organized so I know who’s there! So that’s good news. That means once the year is underway here, I won’t be stressing about finishing off that stuff and can focus on what to teach.
3) This is my seventh year and nothing much changes for what to present on the first day of classes, so it’s not like I have to invent anything new right off the bat.

I do, however, want to push myself to present higher quality units particularly for my intermediate grade students. Will start brainstorming soon! 2 years ago

This is going MUUUUUUUUCH better this year!!

I decided to throw myself headlong into a huge choice project for my 4-5-6 grade students (we have mixed-age groups). They are loving it so far. It has taken a lot of planning on my part, but their enthusiasm has been worth it. Kids who normally take zero interest in Spanish are so excited because they are choosing the topic and words they need to describe it. 3 years ago

until the end of the school year. I have improved, but could do so even more. Next year will be so much easier. We will all be on one schedule in the building rather than the two we’re on now. Only start up at the beginning of the year and at semester switch. Whew. It will be a huge relief. 3 years ago

Will be important for this. The term is wrapping up, and most kids are done with their final projects and reflections. So while they are having choice sessions this week, I will be planning for my new term. Need to decide the units, some of which will be the same as the fall, but some of which will be different. Need to prep all the materials and organize their folders. Need to map their activities so they go from teacher-directed to student-directed. And, need to integrate cultural activities and elements all along the way (my stated professional goal for this year). Whew! 3 years ago

During my recent ESL practicum, I really experienced (or re-experienced) the benefits of being fully planned and focusing on instruction rather than letting the rest of school life pull me in a million directions.

Once I’m back to work next week, this will be a renewed focus. 3 years ago

today and willed myself not to be distracted by the millions of other tasks sitting around me. Planned the next few days and into next week for some groups. It comes down to prioritizing planning instruction to number one. If you are not a teacher you might be reading this and judging this goal, thinking, “If she’s a teacher, what else is there to do but plan instruction?” No that I’m not busy all day and with things related to teaching, believe it or not! But to be honest I wasn’t sure if I should put it up because basically it feels hard to get someone who isn’t in the classroom to understand how it could happen. But I’m not going to worry about justifying that to the world. I know that I have set a goal to revisit how I spend my time at work and to shift more of it to more thorough planning. And that I will work on. 3 years ago

I’m in my sixth year at my school and I think this year is about as hard as my first! I have taken on some extra responsibilities and thinking maybe too much? At any rate, I am having a hard time planning both the day-to-day and the long-term activities we need to be undertaking. But this morning I forced myself to focus and got a lot of planning done, so that was good. I felt better about some stuff but should still plan some more. 3 years ago