3 Time Saving Tips for Teachers

Teachers have so much on their plate, time savers can be helpful. I’ll share three of my favorite time savers for teachers.

1. Initials

When taking monitoring notes about strengths, next steps, and behaviors, use first and last initials of students. This is quicker than writing out their entire first name.

For example,

BL-work on “ch” sound

XT and BP working well together during partner reading

Then, when you’re planning for the upcoming days, you can see what different students may need. Another way to use initials is when you’re making lists on the board for the class to see and use. Quickly jot down their initials and then you can move on to doing other tasks.

2. Sticks in cup

Having popsicle sticks in a cup with each child’s name written on them can be useful in a variety of ways. You can use them to randomize when you need someone to do something, like take something to another teacher. You can partner the kids up by drawing two sticks together and having those two work together. Also, you can use the sticks to randomly call on kids when they all want to share. Keep the cup of sticks near where you instruct and it comes in handy often.

3. Think, Pair, Share

Do you wish you had time to call on every student? With “Think, Pair, Share” (a Kagan strategy), every student gets a chance to share their ideas. First, give them time to think about the question you posed. Next, they turn to someone and they each tell the other member of their pair what their idea is.

As the teacher, you’ll want to make sure everyone has someone to pair with to exchange ideas. If there’s an odd number of kids, three can share with each other or a student can tell you what their thoughts are. Finally, call on a couple of students to share their ideas with the whole group.

This technique is so useful. If you can use it every day, I’d definitely recommend it! It gives more kids a chance to participate and think about the content.

Have you used any of these time savers? What’s your favorite way to save time as a teacher?
~Carrie

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Image Credits: Font by Kimberly Geswein, Background by Digital Paper Designs, Think Pair Share by Core Creations

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