Together Teacher in Process Still Meanders

If you follow my blog, you know my OLW (One Little Word) is prioritize, and you know I love the book The Together Teacher and how I’ve drunk the Kool-Aid once again.

Today was my first day really trying to be a “Together Teacher” and live by the calendar based on priorities I set for myself. Plus, plugging times into a calendar can be difficult when you do not have a schedule for your day. Here are a few insights from today:

1.  When I look around my classroom, my priorities change (I desperately needed to rearrange my room and make my space my workable, so I spent a long time on that, and I feel more relaxed and comfortably in my room now.) My kids probably will, too.

2. Electronic is great, and I love to be digital; however, I need to print out my calendar to physically be able to check off what I complete.  Plus, without my printout, I felt like I didn’t get to a lot of things. In actuality, I didn’t get to 2 things, and neither actually had to be done today.

3. I love the Taskboard app and before my meeting I used it on my iPad to set up tasks that I thought might help my grade level ELA teachers divide and conquer work better in a more efficient way. When I suggested we meet a bit earlier, work together for a shorter time, and each have consistent roles for getting things done, ALL were receptive and positive about working to get our parts done before the weekend, so we aren’t scrambling during the weekend or on Monday.  Voila!   Eureka!  Woohoo!  This will help me with my life, too.

4.  Closing Routine: I need to work toward closing up and getting out of work faster.  Today I did not meet my leaving goal, but dinner was on the table and cooked by me by 6:10.

5. I’m in process. I still meander. Good gosh–sometimes I think I need a tether to stay in one place.

6. I got a lot done, and my classroom looks great (other than those piles of papers I haven’t gotten to yet). Having priorities and writing them down does make me more aware.

7. My file system of during the day drop offs (to office, action, grade, etc.) worked well today. I am digging that system.

8. Priotizing is a great word for me, and I have a newfound awareness. I only entered other classrooms when I needed to, and I didn’t linger. When people came in my room to talk, I talked and worked, finding something to do even while they were in the room.

9. Thought Catchers (running lists for people, committees, teams, etc) are great–writing down thoughts instead of sending emails. I was able to have conversations with a few people today that went a lot quicker than sending a long rambling dissertation type of email.

10. Oh, stop! Did I just write my Tuesday slice before Tuesday? Life is good.

Let’s see how it all works with students in the room. My computer beeped, and I am reminded of my priority of sleep.  I will print out my calendar, and then I’m going to sleep.

I still meander, but I am making progress.