Played
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Teachers all around the world are working to establish a new "normal" routine as schools are being shut down and teachers are asked to give instruction from home.
Join Bridget as she invites you to see how she navigates being a teacher during the COVID-19 shut down, a mom to two boys at home and a wife to a work-from-home husband.
You will hear how she works to schedule her day, accomplishes her goals and has to make adjustments because things just happen.
This is a week-in-the-life of a teacher at home.
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Batching is our JAM! When you understand the power of batching and utilize it to help you gain back your time and feel less stressed, you will never want to go back to your normal to-do list again!
In our episode How to Lesson Plan Like a PRO, we talked about the power of project planning and in there we gave you a teaser that this week was all about batching. For all those out there that are already batching their work, they will tell you how it has helped them to become more efficient. It’s true.
When you bake cookies, you don’t bake one cookie at a time. NO! You batch them. This is how you need to view your productivity. When you batch your work your productivity increases and that leads to less stress and a happier YOU.
[1:37] But first! We want to hear your Time Sucking Hurdles! Be sure to click here to share your Time Sucking Hurdle with us and you can be featured in our next episode.
[4:00] In our last episode we talked a little about multitasking versus task-switching, and before we move on to the steps to get you started with batching, we want to revisit what this means. For those of you out there thinking that you are fantastic multitaskers and you don’t need batching, what if we told you that you are not truly multitasking? In fact, what if we told you that you are actually task-switching?
Multitasking is the act of completing two tasks at once. For instance walking and chewing gum. Sweeping and talking on the phone. Those are examples of multitasking.
Task-switching is the act of moving back and forth from one task to the next. Your brain never really gets to focus on one thing because it doesn’t have enough time to process what it is doing.
Batching helps to prevent task-switching and gets your brain laser-focused on one “like” task. So let’s stop task-switching! #LetsStopTaskSwitching
Now you’re probably wondering what you can actually do for batching. Well, we’ve got you covered because there are so many areas that you can batch in your life! Answering emails, grading, lesson planning, copies, and laminating are only a few ideas that will get you started. You can also head over to the home page and signup for our 7 Ways to Jumpstart Your Teacher Productivity freebie and get so many more ideas!
Now let’s jump into these steps.
5 Steps to Getting More Done
[8:15] Step #1: Plan Ahead
[10:26] Step #2: Decide How Long it Should Take
[12:45] Step #3: Choose a Time to Batch
[16:14] Step #4: Gather All of Your Materials
[18:00] Step #5: Get it Done
[21:22] Review the Steps
CONCLUSION
Remember that batching works best for projects that can be broken down to those like tasks. The hardest part is planning. Taking the time to plan each of these steps will ensure that you are successful, but we are confident that if you do follow these steps you will see the reward greater than you can imagine.
Click HERE to download the FREE Batching Organizer!
Let us know what batching has done for you! Be sure to leave a comment here or over on iTunes!
SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW
Are you subscribed to our podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. Click here to subscribe to iTunes!
Now if you’re feeling extra loving, We would be really grateful if you left us a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find our podcast and they’re also fun for us to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let us know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!
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This is a topic that we think you all are going to absolutely LOVE! Today, we are talking about lesson planning. Yup. We said it. Lesson Planning. We want to dive deep into getting your lesson plans done so that you can leave on Friday feeling ready for the next week.
But here is the thing, lesson planning is NOT a to-do. It’s not something you write to write down on your checklist because lesson planning is a project. In this case, it is a recurring project. When we understand that lesson planning is a project then we are more capable of tackling it with a separate process. A process that is unique to project planning.
Now, if you are already asking the question, “Am I able to apply this to any project?” Absolutely! You can! We are using lesson planning as an example for this episode because it is a project that EVERY teacher has on their plate, but you can use these steps for any project no matter if it is a one-time project or recurring project.
7 Steps to Lesson Planning Like a PRO!
[6:50] Step #1: Define your End
[8:37] Step #2: Set Your Deadline
[10:13] Step #3: Brain Dump
[14:03] Step #4: Create a List of Materials
[15:28] Step #5: Group Related Tasks Together
[19:10] Step #6: Find the Time to Batch
[20:20] Step #7: Monitor Your Progress
[20:58] Review of the Steps
CONCLUSION
Leaving school at the end of the week knowing that your plans are ready all the way down to the copies is truly life-changing, but it’s not rocket science. In fact, it’s quite simple when you break things down into actionable steps that allow you to see the whole process. Give this a try and be sure to share how it has worked for you!
Click HERE to download the FREE Project Planning Organizer!
SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW
Are you subscribed to our podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. Click here to subscribe to iTunes!
Now if you’re feeling extra loving, We would be really grateful if you left us a review over on iTunes, too. Those reviews help other people find our podcast and they’re also fun for us to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let us know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!
