The Key to Teacher Time Management? Let It Go.

Your inbox is full. The piles of work to be graded (literal or figurative) are threatening to topple and bury you. Your unit’s almost over (or not!), and the blank boxes on next week’s calendar are looming.

We know. We’ve been there. Teacher burnout is no joke, largely because it’s literally impossible to do our job perfectly.

Recommendations abound for teacher time management skills and hacks. We’ve even got a few. But here’s the secret none of these resources talk about: you still can’t do it all.

The key to truly effective teacher time management is learning to differentiate between the things only you can do and the things others can do for you. And then you have to stop doing the things others can do for you. We know. It sounds crazy.

Part of the reason we left the classroom is that we could no longer work at the pace we were working, and we didn’t know how to slow down without sacrificing quality. We burned ourselves out badly, and in retrospect, this is partly because we were wrong in believing we had to do all the things we were doing.

So forget teacher time management hacks. We’re here to make bold and dramatic cuts to your to-do list. We know. It sounds stressful. You don’t think it’s possible. But you can do it, and we’re right here cheering you on.

Effective Teacher Time Management Prioritizes What Matters Most

Only You . . . Can Build Relationships with Your Students

This is it. This is the number one thing that only you can do. It’s hard to believe, but many of our job responsibilities can be done by others (and we’ll get to that). You can be great at so many parts of teaching, but when it truly comes down to it, your living, breathing self is the only thing about you that’s irreplaceable, and the more time you can clear to actually engage with your students, both about academics and life in general, the more impact you’re going to have on their lives.

Only You . . . Can Deliver Instruction That Meets Your Students’ Needs

When you’ve built strong relationships with your students, you become indispensable in your classroom. You are the only expert on this particular group of students. You know how they learn best. You know where they struggle. You know how to modify explanations to make things clear for them. You can select strategies, activities, and texts that your students will love. You know what they need to review and what they can move through quickly.

Only You . . . Can Communicate with Parents

If we’re honest, most of us see parent communication as a chore that keeps us from our more important work. Yet if you’re the expert on your students, the one who watches them work (or not work) every day, the one who created their assignments and delivered instruction, you are the person best qualified to fully communicate their progress, strengths, weaknesses, and needs. Counselors and administrators can help you, but you hold the most accurate insights.

Only You . . . Know Which Assignments Really Matter

If you’re like us, you have a lot of assignments in your gradebook by the end of the semester. But you also have limited time to spend scoring.

You know which assignments are helpful but only intended to be steps in service of a larger goal. You know which assignments have already received ample feedback (or were completed as a class). You know which assignments are merely one of 50 in a category that only accounts for 10% of students’ overall grades. You know which assignments carry 35% of a student’s final grade all by themselves. You know which assignments you had to alter on the fly so that the requirements now exist only in your brain.

When you’re able to identify the assignments that matter most to your students’ grades (or even to their college and career readiness), you’re better able to prioritize which assignments you make time to grade and provide feedback on, which assignments you give completion grades for, which assignments can be peer-graded, and which assignments you pass off to your student aide, mom, bestie, significant other, or AI scorer of choice.

Only You . . . Can Establish a Safe and Organized Classroom Environment

When you are the expert on your students, you know best how to create an environment in which they will thrive. Whether it’s by providing supplies, organizational routines and strategies, decor that makes students feel included and at home, or setting norms to ensure students find our rooms to be safe places to take risks, you know what your students need, and you set the standard.

Only You . . . Can Bring Passion and Energy to Your Classroom

Building relationships with students and delivering instruction that meets their needs takes a lot of energy. When you are passionate about what you’re teaching, your students are more likely to engage with your content. But guess what? To put forth energy, you have to have energy. And in order to have that energy, you have to take care of yourself, which means being fiercely protective of your time and unwaveringly clear about what you can and cannot do.

Only You . . . Can Bring Your Voice to School Matters

As a teacher, you’re a member of a community, and your voice matters. You represent your students when it comes to schoolwide decision-making. Does this mean you need to be involved in multiple committees and besties with everyone on campus? Absolutely not. But you should know what’s happening on campus and what the important issues are. Be an active participant in staff meetings. Share your opinion when asked. Speak up when you have a concern. Sure, you’re advocating for yourself, but you’re advocating for your students, too, and they need you to have (and voice) an opinion.

Only You . . . Can Be You

Each of us has a unique personality, interests, experiences, and values that differentiate us from every other human being, and it is these unique characteristics that only you bring to the table. So you need to know yourself and be who you are within the walls of your classroom. It’s good for our students to see that different teachers see the world differently, and as they try to figure out who they are, they need role models who can show them what it looks like to be comfortable in their own skin.

So, if only you can do these eight things, what can others do for you? How can you take things off your plate to make room for what’s most important?

Other People . . . Can Create High-Quality Classroom Materials

The Internet is rich with high-quality resources created by real classroom teachers to supplement your curriculum. And we’re not talking about textbooks: every experienced teacher knows that to truly engage students, we have to supplement the materials our district provides us.

YouTube, TedED, Nearpod, and Edpuzzle all have fantastic videos to supplement your instruction, and several of these sites feature questions and activities to go with the videos. 

Newsela and Actively Learn offer engaging contemporary texts at varied Lexile levels, already preloaded with notes, videos, and questions you can edit as needed. 

Kahoot, Blooket, and Quizlet allow you to conduct engaging test review sessions, often by using content other teachers have publicly shared. 

The number of teacher-sellers on sites like TPT is growing rapidly. These teacher-creators have worked with students like yours and know what they need, so you can trust you’re getting content that will work better than the textbook.

Teacher as Curator

When you think of yourself as a curator rather than a creator, you’re still using your expertise (in your subject area, pedagogy, and your students). A good curator doesn’t select lessons and units blindly, and meeting your students’ needs often requires you to combine multiple resources. 

We’re not suggesting that you never create your own materials: it was our favorite part of the job! But you don’t have to create everything yourself. When you purchase a unit or two (or ten) from someone else, you create time and space to focus on creating the unit(s) you’re really excited or passionate about. (And hey, maybe you’ll even learn or gain inspiration from another teacher’s work!)

Other People . . . Can Preview the Latest YA Books

You want to build a classroom library that excites your students and share current First Chapter Friday recommendations, but you’re not comfortable recommending books you haven’t read. Maybe you don’t have time to read. Maybe you’re a slow reader. Or maybe you want to use your limited time to read books for adults, not teenagers. 

While we’re hardly the only ones, we make it a priority to find you interesting YA titles on a regular basis and to pre-read them so we can let you know what you might want to be aware of before putting the book on your shelves. Want to go a step further? Subscribe to receive five free ready-to-use First Chapter Friday Nearpods in your inbox every month.

Other People . . . Can Serve on Committees and Advise Clubs

In an ideal world, you have time to serve on a committee or advise a club. These are important parts of making a high school run, and they require volunteers. The reality, unfortunately, is that a small handful of teachers end up running all the committees and all the clubs, which takes away from their ability to focus on what only they can do.

While you do not have to join a committee or advise a club, you absolutely do not have to (and should not) join all the committees and advise all the clubs. We think it’s a great idea to try your absolute best to do one thing. That’s one thing total—not one new thing per year or one club and one committee. Running a school is a team effort, and it does not all sit on your shoulders, but if we all carry one piece of the load, it benefits everyone in the long run. And when you keep your workload reasonable, investing in the campus community strengthens your relationships with students and colleagues.

Other People . . . Can Help You Grade

Remember,  you don’t have to hand-grade every single thing your students submit. Once you’ve decided which assignments to prioritize, utilize online quizzes and tools like Edpuzzle, Nearpod, and Actively Learn that score work as it’s submitted. Let your student aide grade multiple-choice quizzes and credit/no credit assignments. Bribe your mom, bestie, or significant other to help you. Explore the latest AI tools.

If the assignment doesn’t require special knowledge to grade or carry a significant part of students’ final grades, don’t grade it yourself. Find other ways, and let it be. And maybe even just let an assignment be for practice once in a while.

Other People . . . Can Manage Your Students’ Social-Emotional Needs

Post-pandemic, students’ social-emotional needs have become top priority. And that’s important: students cannot perform their best academically when they’re struggling with serious emotional and mental health issues. They need interaction with other humans. They need safe places to express themselves.

But. You’re not a trained therapist, and you can’t be the sole caretaker of your students’ social and emotional needs. You have a curriculum to teach and a lot to do. Do what you can but remember your priorities and refer out when students’ needs go beyond what you can address within your classroom.

Other People . . . Can Help Keep Your Classroom Orderly

You may be responsible for the ultimate setup of your classroom, but you are not the only one who can maintain it. The students who spend hours each week in your classroom are responsible for it, too. Ask students to pick up after themselves. Have students help you straighten the desks or rearrange the desks for special activities. Let a student clean the board. It’s their room, too, and you’re not the only one who can (or should) take care of it.

Other People . . . Can Deep-Dive the Latest Techniques and Trends

Education is constantly changing. There are new teaching strategies (or at least new names for the old ones), new research, and new cultural conversations. It can be tempting to tune out of these discussions, but if we want to remain relevant and effective, we need to have some awareness of what’s out there.

But. You don’t have to figure it out on your own. There are educators doing that work for you. Whether it’s us (on our biweekly podcast Answers May Vary), Amanda and Marie at Brave New Teaching, Jennifer Gonzalez at The Cult of Pedagogy, or another educator you love, you can look to someone else to do the research for you, sharing the latest conversations, ideas, and trends so you can decide whether they’re things you want to pursue on your own.

Other People . . . Can Create Eye-Catching Templates

One of the top strategies for teacher time management is creating templates and rubrics for everything: parent emails, student feedback, daily homework assignments. But there are templates out there! Let others do the hard work of designing so you can focus on saving time by putting those templates to work.

This also applies to creating visually appealing Canvas modules, daily agenda slides, and syllabus templates. These are great ways to bring professionalism and personality to your work, but it takes A LOT of time to create them, and there are people who are willing to do it for you. Use templates that others have already agonized over making. Let them help you so you can devote your time to what’s most important.

How are you feeling? We would have been resistant to reading something like this about teacher time management a few years ago. But, but, no! We have to do those things! But we really wish someone we trusted had taken us by the hand, looked us in the eye, and said, “No, you don’t. Let me help you.”

Even if you’re not ready for a radical overhaul, consider taking one small step. What’s one thing you’re doing that, if you’re honest, someone else could do for you? Be brave this week and let them.

We’d love to be the ones you trust who can help shoulder some of that burden. If you want to check us out, we hope you’ll consider taking a look at our free resource library, browsing our TPT store, or following us on Instagram to see if we can take something off your plate. We were in your shoes, we burned out, and we’re committed to helping you avoid the same path.