Monday, August 01, 2016

Teaching Well: Strategic Use of Time


The strategic use of time supports good teaching?

How is time used where you teach and learn?

Who has good amounts of time for planning and collaboration, and who has less time in that regard?

Does the use of time match professional expectations?

It is advantageous to audit the use of time in school systems.

You can do that by making a chart that notes primary activities and the average time it takes to complete those activities?

Then add up the time and see what happens. It's my suspicion that some job expectations will far outpace the time available thus demonstrating the reason for stress or the inability to meet expected outcomes.

You may want to take the task a step further and rate each task with regard to systemwide goals and vision. You may find that some jobs that take a lot of time have no connection to collective goals, while other jobs that have little time are closely linked to goals and vision.

Too often no one truly considers time. There's a lot of conjecture, but no true, honest, transparent, and shared analysis--the kind of review that inspires everyone to think deeply about what they do and why they do it.

You might want to start this with your own work. Make a list of what you do, the time it takes, and the results gained. Are you satisfied or do you see areas for positive change? I plan to do this before the school year begins.