Chapter 1: My Ideal Week

9:06 PM Sarah Koves 1 Comments

I am working with Kelly at An Apple for the Teacher on a book study of Maia Heyck-Merlin's book The Together Teacher. I had this book on my reading list and read the sample. Then I saw Kelly's book study, so I bought the book and jumped in feet first.

Pick up a copy at Amazon. I got mine for my Kindle.

I consider myself an organized person, but I can always use new tips and ideas to add into what I am already doing well. Maia talks of discipline that is needed, so I hope I can pick up some of that.

She says together teachers need:

1. Prioritization

2. Planning

3. Organization

4. Execution

5. Efficiency

Number 4 was interesting for me because I am not terribly aware of my energy levels and planning around them. Apparently you should perform the most mental tasks when you are most alter...duh was my first though when I read this, but it never occurred me to plan like that. I do, however, think I am a decent judge of how long tasks will take.

She talks a lot about tools for being together as a teacher, no more than two. I am thinking my phone and my teacher binder will be my two.

Maia's first step is to layout your ideal week. I never thought of this before. I live by lists, planning, and my timer, so why this never occurred to me I have no idea.

Now, I don't know if staff meeting days will stay Monday, and I don't know what night my girls will have dance and athletics, so I will probably have to redo this in August when I get those details. I have an extra blank ideal schedule in my planner, so I can adjust with my full schedule.

So here is my ideal week. I used projects as the term for working on something off my to-do list (another chapter). I am hoping this will help me stay on top of grading, which is my downfall.

Maia talks about how little discretionary time we have as teachers (if any), which is probably while I feel guilty reading a novel during the school year instead of essays. I am hoping this ideal schedule will allow me to remove the guilty feelings.