As teachers, we have a lot of tasks to do each day so being able to simplify your teaching will help. Teaching is such an important job. We want to teach our students everything they will need to know for the next grade, along with how to be a good person. Especially on the elementary level, it can be a challenge to fit everything in.
As elementary teachers, we have to teach reading, language arts, spelling, writing, math, science, social studies, and sometimes even health, art, or gym. This is so challenging to fit all of this in one day! Look at any grade level standards, and you will find anywhere from 20 to 50 standards in one subject. Now think of how many subjects you teach!
It is really easy to get overwhelmed when you look at your classroom and all you have to teach throughout the year. THEN, think of all the school activities, awards assemblies, reward days, school breaks, classroom parties, and all those little things that take time out of your classroom teaching schedule. Talk about no time for everything!
My first year of teaching, I was extremely overwhelmed. I tried to do it all and quickly realized that I couldn’t. I since have made some changes that really helped to SIMPLIFY my teaching and make it so I could focus on the most important things during the school day.
Hopefully this list will help you simplify your school day and let you have a better experience as a teacher.
1. Simplify your schedule.
One of the first things you can do as a teacher is to look at your daily schedule. Like I mentioned, there are a lot of subjects you have to teach. What I did, was I thought about which subjects have the most standards. Which on the elementary level are math and reading/language arts. I then decided to teach those EVERYDAY. Each day, I had a math time and math rotation time. I had a reading/language arts time and a writing block, along with some time for some reading rotations to work with small groups.
Next, look at the subjects that have fewer standards, like science, social studies, art, or health. I decided that these subjects I could teach once or twice a week. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THESE SUBJECTS ARE LESS IMPORTANT, it just means that I don’t need as much time to teach all the standards. What I decided to do was to teach science Monday and Wednesday and to teach social studies Tuesday and Thursday. I usually kept Fridays as a catch up day and a day to fit in art and health.
Once you know what you are going to teach each day, you need to plan the time for it. I tried not to spend more than one and a half hours on math and one and a half hours on reading/language arts, just so I had time for everything else in the day. The rest of the subjects I planned anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes each day.
I included my sample schedule just for ideas. But really, it is ultimately up to you and your school district. Some teachers have more flexibility in their schedule while others don’t. This is just to get you to look at your schedule and see if you can move things around to have more time.
2. Plan ahead to simplify your year.
This is one of the most important steps to simplify your teaching. You need to create a curriculum map to plan ahead. This saves you time, since you only need to teach the standards. Don’t add in all the extra things that textbooks often have, this will just waste time and you won’t cover all the standards in one year. Basically, you need to have a long-term plan for what you are going to teach each week, month, or semester. This way you will be on track to teach all the standards in one year.
When you have a plan, you are less stressed and overwhelmed. I always long term plan over the summer, so I am better prepared for the year.
If you don’t have a plan of where you are going, you may never get there. When you don’t plan where you are going, any destination becomes acceptable and that is a scary thought in education.
Continually Learning will have a whole section on curriculum mapping and planning coming soon. Please subscribe to our newsletter here so you know when it is available!
3. Have a concise and simplified behavior program.
Classroom Management is essential to every classroom. You need to have some form of management in place. There are a lot of ideas of how to discipline or give rewards for good behavior. Clip charts, Class DOJO, and reminder slips are just a few of the ideas that are out there. Whatever you decide to go with, you need to make sure it is concise. Pick one program or type of management. You CANNOT do it all. For example, if you decide to do Class Dojo, then just do that and don’t have a clip chart also.
Sometimes, teachers can have too many systems going in their room. Like keeping track of book points, time spent on task, individual behavior charts, etc. You may need to have multiple rewards for different things in the classroom, but sometimes you may get too many things going on at once. It is overwhelming trying to keep up with everything.
4. Simplify your classroom systems.
Whatever positive behavior or reward systems you have, make sure it is something you can keep up with and have time for. There are a lot of ideas out there to manage student behavior but you don’t want to make it hard on yourself. Maybe just pick one thing to reward or have points for different things in the classroom, that all add up for one reward.
Whatever you decide to do, just make sure you are willing to commit to it and have time to do it.
One time, I decided to do Students VS. Teacher points. I read about it and decided it was something that I thought could help my class. I introduced it in the middle of the year as something else in my management. It ended up being too much for me to handle in my classroom. I just couldn’t remember to give them the points they needed and to have the reward ready for them. Not saying this is a bad idea, you just need to be committed to whatever you do.
Simple management that you can easily remember and the students can easily remember is the key.
5. Simplify your workspace.
Elementary teachers have to teach a lot of subjects. That usually means that they have a lot of manipulatives, books, games, and resources to go along with all the subjects. Classrooms are not that big and you may find that you are overwhelmed with STUFF. I always found it difficult to focus when in a messy environment, so even think of your students!
I realize you can’t always get rid of things in your classroom. But just knowing what you have is so helpful. Whether you are a new teacher coming into a room that is junked up by the old teacher or you have been teaching in the same room for many years, I’m sure there is stuff that you can organize or get rid of.
What I normally did around the end of the year is to pick small sections of the room to go through. Decide what you need to keep and throw away or donate the rest of it. If it is old or you haven’t used it in years, it is just taking up space. Everything that remains, you should organize into tubs that are clearly labeled so you know what you have.
A clean space will make you feel better. You will easily know where everything is. You won’t have to spend hours looking for something. It will ultimately make your day run smoother.
6. Simplify your jobs.
As a teacher, you have a million things to do each day. You have to teach, manage your classroom, prep for future lessons, meetings, grade papers, and data analysis, just to name a few. There are many little things that I’m sure you also do in the classroom too. One of the biggest things I learned my first year of teaching was that I didn’t need to do EVERYTHING. Students are capable of helping around the classroom. You have enough to do as a teacher, so this will definitely help.
Look at your procedures that take you a long time to do. For example, moving clips or magnets back at the end of the week, erasing boards, plugging in computers, etc. This is something that you can have students do. It is so easy to assign students jobs that will make your life easier. And most of the time, students love to help!
The students should go home tired each day, not the teacher!
If you want to know the classroom jobs I love and use in my classroom, click here.
Hopefully these tips will help simplify your teaching. Teachers have so much to do and it can become stressful. Teaching is such a rewarding profession though, so minimize the stress with these tips!
Thank you for Continually Learning with us!
Kyle and Sarah
