Managing Oneself. Happy Effective Teacher.

In his highly successful book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ Steve Covey introduces the Important/Urgent model to help categorize tasks. This is one way you can apply it to teaching.

I’ve filled out the boxes with some typical jobs. I’ve judged the importance in this case by tasks that directly affect your teaching practice. For instance, preparing lunch is important but doesn’t directly affect your practice. Still, it is much better to get it out of quadrant 3 (rushing into the supermarket just before you get the train) and into quadrant 4 (meal prepping beforehand).
The same goes for planning and printing resources. It is best to be out of quadrant 1 (printing and planning the same day you teach it) and in quadrant 2 (having your photocopying for the week and planning for next week).
You will also notice that many tasks in quadrant two are always the first to be shelved for another day when the week is not organized correctly. Something like observing other teachers, developing new skills, working through the questions you will set students, and making display boards is important, but it never gets done because it’s not urgent.
With this model and a well-thought-out timetable, you will make time for the important, not only the urgent. Being in a constant state of urgency is being in a constant state of stress, which in the long term, is not sustainable. The sad story is many teachers live in a constant state of urgency, which is not an appropriate state for effective happy teaching.

In which quadrants would the tasks on your to-do list end up?

Many unhappy teachers will swing between quadrant 1 (urgent/important) and quadrant 4 (watching T.V., chilling with co-workers) and now and worse, will be doing tasks in quadrant 3. Quadrant 3 is where you want to avoid being, although you will get thrown in there occasionally. But the home of the effective, happy teacher is quadrant 2, working on the important things that are not urgent. You think clearer when it’s not urgent, which produces better outcomes for you and better lessons for the students. Unsurprisingly, the quadrant conducive to the effective, happy teacher is where many ‘burned out’ teachers will spend the least amount of time.
The more time you spend in quadrant two, the happier/more effective you will be.

Timetables

We all have timetables for when our lessons and meetings are, but strangely for nothing else. This is a new teacher’s first mistake. A schedule is necessary for ALL your weekly tasks. It stops you from spending too much time on one task and not enough on another. It ensures you consistently complete the recurring items on your to-do list. It tells you precisely what you should be doing and for how long. It also simplifies decision-making and helps you avoid falling into time-wasting activities.

With nothing to keep you in check, it’s easy to veer off and spend half your time perfecting a lesson to the nth degree and neglecting everything else. It is crucial you follow the timetable to the letter and take it as seriously as you would arriving to lessons on time. Having that attitude will stop you from being pulled and pushed by the forces trying to distract you.

Here is an example of my timetable

I come in early and leave late, but I never take work home with me, and the weekends are mine to do as I please. Work is work, and home is for rest and enjoyment. You have to be able to turn it off. It is crucial to make time for things outside of work and give them the attention they deserve.

Suppose you aren’t organized, and unfinished work is always stewing in the back of your mind. In that case, you will never be able to fully enjoy your time off (without intoxicating those thoughts out of existence) or give your full attention to your other commitments. You will spend your days fantasizing about the next vacation.

In my free periods, I plan out when to plan for specific lessons, mark books, print homework, etc. I even plan a little downtime after heavy 6-period days. A time to sit and chat with my colleagues, share some war stories, get ideas and resources for lessons, get feedback on what worked and didn’t, and even get them to share some resources. It’s good to be social in your team, and I have always been lucky to work in departments that are sociable, friendly, and have a great atmosphere. It makes a difference to your happiness as a teacher. These are the people you will probably see a lot. But eventually, downtime descends into low-grade chat. As harsh as that sounds, you need to timetable a limit for that also, or before you know it, it’s 5.30 pm, and you’ve done nothing.

If time runs out for an allotted task, then it’s tough — time to move on to the next one. At first, this isn’t easy, but like most things in this book, the more you do it, the better you get. Efficiency happens when you have to work within certain limits. If you don’t create those limits, you will spend more time on tasks than you need to. If you feel the task is incomplete, go back to it at the end of the day (the time for that will also be in your timetable).

It is much better to end the day with three ‘half’ prepared lessons than one overly ready and two not even started. You will be surprised how, with a good script (more on scripts in lesson planning), your half prepared is actually 90% there. As explained more in the lesson planning chapter, you plan by copying scripts of other teachers, saving you from reinventing the wheel every time and spending time searching for presentations on the internet.

When you start teaching new classes, as part of your behavior management, you will use some parts of your break/lunch/end of the day to have learning conversations with students. Over time this will become less and less (if done consistently), but with lunch already prepared, you should be able to use your lunchtime effectively. As you can see, I prepare my lunches for the week on a Monday night and make sure I go to bed a time to get at least 7 hours of sleep. You may do lunchtime clubs, something I wouldn’t recommend when new to teaching. Again you will have to move those learning conversations until the end of the day.

At 3 pm, most teachers will get the urge to go home. That crash that happens when the relief of the teaching part of the day/week is over kicks in. That crash doesn’t last. Once you’ve had a little break, you can get back to it. The urge to leave is the toughest on a Friday at 3 pm, but just by starting your weekend at 6 pm instead of 3 pm, you get a better quality weekend (and the English department will still be at the pub waiting for you). It’s good to socialize with your colleagues and especially from other departments, so I count that as optional on my timetable, the only optional thing. Your school usually has extracurricular activities if you are not the pub-going type. I’ve played football, done yoga, and partook in several cookery competitions, all help with building good relationships among my colleagues in school. Again I will adjust my timetable to fit in these sorts of activities.

The out-of-school activities are part of the schedule as well. I find exercise a great way to re-energize during the week, and I’m much happier working when I do. So like everything else, it goes into the timetable. Also, reading books on teaching (which I assume you are aware of as you bought this book) is one of the best ways to improve your practice. Luckily, I have a long train commute, allowing me to do my reading in that time. If you can’t read on your commute, schedule time for reading (or have audiobooks playing in the car).

Your timetable will be different from mine. Your school’s policy on marking and homework will differ from mine. We all have various commitments and different lengths of commute also. That’s not the important point here. The critical point is that you have a schedule for each task you routinely have to attend. You can see how jam-packed this routine is. This is a constant reminder that I have no time to veer off my schedule unless I want to take work home and ruin my work-life balance.

Your timetable will not be perfect as you will initially estimate timings and the best time to do different tasks (some people like planning in the morning) but make sure you stick within certain limits. If your timetable looks like a 70-hour week, you either schedule less time for specific tasks or seek employment at another school. My timetable is around 55 hours a week. Teaching is a time-consuming trade; you may have to work a little longer at first, but not many jobs does the time fly as fast. I’ve worked in all sorts of sectors, including sales, retail, hospitality, construction, banking, logistics, and energy (to name a few). When I looked at my watch in those jobs, it never seemed to get to 5 pm quickly enough. In teaching, it’s the opposite. Before you know it, it’s 5 pm.

If, after you’ve written out your timetable, you simply don’t have enough hours in the school day (a good thing to realize), you can reserve a small part of Saturday morning to complete any tasks for the next week instead of taking work home during the weekdays. Some people like working on a Saturday morning as there is no pressure and you have a clear head (moving from Q1 to Q2).

But I’d highly recommend no work on a Sunday night. Your week (or at least the first few days of the week) should be ready by Sunday night (ideally before). If it isn’t, not only have you ruined the weekend by having unfinished tasks in the back of your mind, you will end up back in the ‘urgent’ zone, which is a recipe for the ‘Sunday Scaries’. Not Happy Teacher.

I hear some of you cry, “I can’t do that; I have this and that responsibility. I need to leave work at 3 pm”. It is valid for some people I know, but unfortunately, if you leave early and take work home with you, your work-life balance will suffer, and the job will feel harder, and that is just how it is. I wish it were another way, but this is the way. As you develop as a teacher, things get more manageable, and you can start to create a timetable that fits your circumstances better, but my advice is to stick to what is known to work.

Lastly, on Saturday (also on Sunday), I schedule no rules. This is a reminder that if I follow the timetable to the letter, what I will earn is a genuinely free weekend. The start of the following week is planned and ready, and there will be no nagging in your head of “I need to get this lesson planned for Monday.” You can properly have fun, give your family and friends the attention they deserve, and rejuvenate. Happy Teacher.

Malcolm

This is a section from Malcolm Finney’s upcoming release the “Happy Effective Teacher”.

If you would like a FREE PDF before release copy email us at info@yakhat.com

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