Hello fellow educators! If you’re anything like me, and basically every other teacher I know, you have a zillion (real stats) things going on each day. I have a lot of co-workers ask me how I keep on top of everything and one of my favourite things to do is help other teachers and students stay organized.
We have SO MUCH going on all the time. All. The. Time. From kids asking us to open their snacks, to parents wondering how their child did on a test, to administration scheduling meetings, to our districts enforcing new policies… I could go on and on, but you you get the picture. It’s legit never ending.
I find the only way I personally can stay sane during my always chaotic and hectic days, is to stay on top of it all. I have to utilize an organizer and planner, because even though I know my brain is hard-working, I know I can’t memorize the eight million things I have on the go.
Not only can my brain just not keep track of all those things, I feel so much more at ease when I just write everything down. It’s as though I’ve physically removed a burden from my brain.
To keep myself organized and “on top” of all my appointments, lessons, grades, and so on with planning pages I made to suit my – very specific – teacher needs.
Personally, I like to break my time into months, weeks, and days. This can be a lot for some people, but it’s what I’m so used to that it’s basically just second nature at this point. My daily plans are really what keep me most sane. I plan down to the minute and include all my meetings and what I’m teaching.
I’ll look at my weekly and monthly calendars to pull anything important into my daily to-dos so that I don’t fal behind on any of my major tasks. It’s definitely what works best for my brain.
In order to keep myself sane at work, I also find I have to keep myself healthy and sane at home. So, I use habit trackers, to-do lists, grocery lists, meal planning, and so on.
I like to put everything into one binder, so that I can just grab it and go – I know everything is there! Just this simple task keeps me from falling way behind or getting overwhelmed. I call it my “whole life binder”.
Another useful hack is to throw some clear page protectors in with what’s coming up in your class to be photocopied, and so on. Then, you can easily grab what’s coming up the following day or week and photocopy it all at once.
Anything to save us tme is a must do in my book!
If you’re interested in grabbing my free planner pages, click here or on the image below!
Let me know how you use these and if they’re helpful for you!
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