planning time

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planning time
By Suzanne

Hi! In your replies to Katie, you have made me feel good, too. I've been teaching for 17 years, and although it is certainly better than my first years, I still spend quite a bit of time (and money) working on schoolwork.
I do enjoy it, though.
I sometimes resent (sometimes it's envy) those that are able to leave at the end of the day, sometimes before the buses leave, with an empty hand. Somehow, they seem to get everything accomplished.
As far as planning... This year I made a template of my plan book using Microsoft Word. I type in my lessons each Thursday night for the following week. Some

of my lessons require routines that I no longer have to retype or rewrite. Then, I print each page out (there's a page for Mon., Tues., and Wed., and a new page for Thurs. and Fri. and notes) and place it in a three ringed binder. I've found this to be very helpful.

Also, it took me many years to figure this out, but if you know you have a busy weekend, or an evening event, plan for it by being sure you have not assigned something that will require a lot of your extra time. One evening I had a dinner party with my husband and told my class the night before that there wouldn't be any homework because they were working so hard. (I didn't tell them the real reason why, though). They were in shock! It worked as a good motivator for the rest of the year, too.

Another time saver, in my opinion, has been using rubrics. They have allowed me to keep the comments I write on their papers to a minimum (sticking to mainly the positive comments), and I highlight the "areas of improvements" on the rubric.

Good luck, and have fun.