The bell rings and the students rush off

home and the teacher is left with his desk
and sometimes a literal mountain of work.

♫

One thing that's different about teaching

than some other jobs is
that the teacher is his own boss.

When the school ends.

I believe as a teacher, it's important to
be your own boss and not let that role

go to the wayside.
Pick up that role and

boss yourself around like you would
an employee. As I think of another task

to do,
instead of being distracted

from my current task, I can quickly
jot that down onto a sticky note.

The habit of first things first is vitally

important after school. Decide the most
important thing on your list.

Prepping for tomorrow should
probably be at the top of that list.

Grading a mountain of projects is

probably not as pressing as
getting ready for tomorrow.

Decide what is most important
and give it your best time.

I like to work in reverse from the next
day, so I figure out what is my last

subject of the day
and work on that subject.

Complete any homework or quiz grading I need to do,

study the lesson for the next
day, and stick that on a stack.

And then I pick up the next book

in reverse and work through
any grading I need to do.

Stick that book on a stack until the end.

I'm through prepping
my classes for the next day.

I have a nice stack in the
correct order and

the following day I can pick up my first

textbook and teach that class and move
swiftly through the classes without a lot

of wondering where my textbooks are,
where I might have placed them.

This is also useful if you have
a substitute. If you're sick some morning

and you need a substitute,
all your curriculum is in the right order

and they can just pick up the book
they need and go from there.

Keeping the after school workflow

manageable and
sustainable keeps you from being

overwhelmed with all the things
that you have to do after school.

Allowing yourself some time,
some personal time in the evenings,

keeps you from feeling overwhelmed
and allows you to teach for more than just

one or two years and teach
for the long haul.