I entered the profession without a vision but my goal
was set on day two of my job. My mind had registered the fact that I wanted to
see myself working as a principal of a school one day.
I admit…
I never took steps immediately to proceed towards my
goal. For years I was just content and satisfied working as a teacher. It was
much later that I pushed myself to achieve the goal which I had set for myself.
Anyway… I want to talk about Time Management and I
will stick to it.
Nature has a pattern. All living things function
according to a set pattern. We all know about tides and rotation and revolution
of the earth. These are set patterns of Nature. There is no stress in Nature because
the pattern is almost set.
Similarly, every school and the education system in
the country has a few basic set patterns. If a teacher observes the pattern and
keeps a note about it, she will be able to complete her work well before time
and there will be no cause for stress.
In this article I will only speak about the basic
functioning of the school which cannot be ruled out ever. Pay attention to the
points mentioned here to get rid of all your time management and anxiety
related issues.
It is commonly said that take care of your pennies and
the pounds will multiply on their own. If you take care of these daily or
monthly or yearly patterns which occur in a school, you will surely focus on
bigger goals and progress in your career.
1 Foresee and foretell: As a teacher you must
know about what is going to come next in the routine or as a task.
Just a brief example-Every school has a set assessment
pattern. The examination department generally asks for question papers and
other requirements a few days in advance. This time period is also previously
fixed.
As a teacher if you have foreseen the dates then you
must also start preparing the question paper a bit in advance. If you do this,
you will not be pressurised when the dates are announced for the submission of
the question paper.
Similarly, a class test pattern is set, the tentative
time period of the annual functions is fixed, parent Teacher Meet is pre
decided, celebrations or certain inter school activities are pre-determined,
etc.
There are many such other events and activities which
are planned at the beginning of the year and then implemented when the time
comes. You can gain advantage if you foresee and then foretell about these
happenings and keep your own submissions ready beforehand.
Most teachers know about these dates but the only
thing I have heard from them is-Oh no..they are asking for it again.
OR
There is a lot of time in hand now. I will do it
later. (This ‘later’ becomes the killer weapon for action and you just
procrastinate to avoid the task.)
2 Mind your minutes to mind the hours:
There are some tasks which are to be done every day.
They seem insignificant in nature because they take very less time and are due
every day the minute you reach school. Like: Marking attendance for yourself,
marking the attendance for the students, submitting the daily attendance report
or the daily log, writing date and attendance on the class board, etc.
Even planning a leave and setting aside some
assignment to be done while you are on leave. This is a routine process but
most teachers pretend they have overlooked it.
Teachers do not understand why these tasks are
important and so often they are avoided. They try to overlook it or postpone it
thinking that the leadership will forget it. But time and again it adds to
negligence or carelessness on your part.
Teachers ask for forgiveness once then twice on such
matters when questioned and reprimanded but they should understand that this
should be a part of your discipline to complete these tasks without any
reminders.
No work is small or mundane or insignificant. Work is
work. It has to be done.
3 Workstation:
Define a space in the school or the staffroom which
will be your workstation. That space is your space. Stick notes. Keep it neat
and tidy. Give it a glimpse of your personality. Attach value to it.
At times a good and organised workstation pulls you to
work.
4 Maintain folders or files
Organising your work place takes less time but it leaves
a lot of time in your hand to do other things. All the papers and important
documents should be kept in proper files or folders. Extra paper should be
either given for recycling in the school or destroyed if not required.
Take note:
A Do not ever store any piece of extra paper.
B Do not keep any paper in the attendance registers or
teacher’s diary.
Teachers receive a lot of applications from the
students or test papers, etc. Never keep loose papers in books, note books,
attendance registers, class log books, etc.
The correct place of a loose paper is in a file. Take
a file from the office, punch the papers and file them. Write appropriate title
on the file so that you are able to find the papers later on under proper
heads.
5 Carry a pocket diary
While moving in the school, or while talking to the
teachers, or while teaching in the classrooms, you remember some important
tasks which were to be done. Make a habit of writing it down in your diary. You
will completely stay focussed and get all the work done in time.
6 Talk to all the teachers in the staff
room:
This one is a golden rule. Each teacher works at their
own pace. But there are some very proactive teachers. They not only complete
their work well in time but they are also the ones who are foreseeing and
foretelling most of the time. Keep talking to everyone in the staffroom and do
keep a track of what others are doing in the current time. If you have skipped
an important point or two, you will be apprised well in time of the task coming
up or is immediately due.
All this helps you to wrap up your work in a proper
way. Hence you have a lot of time in hand to practice creativity or target your
higher goals.
