In a recent survey about situations that frustrate teachers the most, some of you believed that time management and finding Spanish Resources were the top on your list. Apparently, they are the most difficult to do on a daily basis.

I definitely have to agree that Time Management is very difficult to carry out. It sounds like checking on the clock every other minute, but it doesn’t have to be like that. Check on this list to review those areas you need improvement.

In regards to Spanish Resources, like most bilingual teachers, I had to make my own when I wanted to focus on certain areas that were not covered in the district’s basal. I remember thinking: “how come they have all those pamphlets in English and nothing in Spanish?” After all, the Spanish-speaking students are required to pass the Standardized test, too; just like the English speakers…oh well!

I’ve done a lot of research on the Time Management subject and let me tell you, it’s longer than what I thought. It’s a very vast subject that needs to be separated into those areas that you need the most. So I’m going to let you choose those areas by just commenting on what you need the most…

WHAT SITUATIONS IN SCHOOL CAN BE CONTROLLED BY YOU…?

• Can you change your class periods
• Can you change your class size
• Can your students be pulled out for resource classes at a different session
• What extracurricular activities do you attend…are they mandatory, can you skip some
• Is your planning time at risk…?
• Can I control those unexpected visitors without an appointment
• How about those frequent intercom broadcasts…

PLAN A SOLID SCHEDULE FOR TEACHING TIME EVERY DAY

• Tell your parents to schedule their children’s appointments to the doctor and dentist after school, if possible
• Ask your administrator to schedule those students that need to be pulled out at a different time
• Remind everyone in your group or others not to interrupt at this specific time. Put a “DO NOT DISTURB” sign on your door if necessary.

Your transitions between lessons should be smooth. Make one lesson shift to another without students having to struggle. For instance, if you are teaching the Main Idea, shift into Summarization using graphs that help your students think about the story. Here’s one I really like:

“If you assign homework every day, or if you give your students their weekly homework on Mondays, make sure that the schoolwork you are requiring them to do has been taught and explained in your classroom.”

Schedule your restroom breaks at times your students can break from their daily schedule without affecting their instruction time.

Your student’s attendance is paramount to their success in school. So make sure that:

• • Engage your parents in your effort to enforce better attendance in your classroom.

• Make sure you strain the importance of student attendance and its effects on their child’s education.
• Make sure you keep a close interaction with your parents and that you communicate with them about their child’s performance in school including attendance.
• Show statistics or graphs that show the success of students that have perfect attendance and those that are often absent.
• Attendance Works has excellent information on how to intervene in chronic absences. It addresses continuing absences using 3-tiers of intervention. They also allow you to download their worksheets for free. http://www.attendanceworks.org/chronic-absence/addressing-chronic-absence/3-tiers-of-intervention/