Daily interruptions can really wreak havoc on your schedule and cause you to make less effective use of the mere 24 hours that you have in each day. But have you ever considered that during the course of your day as an educator that you may be interrupting yourself? Perhaps it has not crossed your mind, but the fact is that many teachers actually do interrupt themselves and they may be less efficient as a result. The reason that you are interrupting yourself usually falls back to being disorganized or not completely prepared for the day’s tasks. Let’s look at some ways to prevent this little problem from eating into your day and becoming a big problem over time.

Be Prepared

Prior to the start of your first class each morning, and well before the students start to funnel in – have everything that you need to get started within easy reach, such as pens, markers, construction paper, labels, grade book and other supplies. Having everything within easy reach allows you to avoid getting up and searching for items – which can interrupt your activities – and your train of thought. Stepping away to grab a stapler can also find you distracted with other “stuff” before you get back to the task at hand.

Set Your Space Up to Be Distraction-Free

A distraction free workspace is important. You need to maximize what you get done when you are not actually teaching – which is usually during your “planning period” but may be after school when you are grading papers or preparing lesson plans. If you are easily distracted by sound, set up your workspace in a location where noise is at a minimum. If you prefer to have some background noise to help with your focus, then you might consider playing some soft music in the background. Don’t have your workspace facing a window because movement can be distracting. Your computer can be a distraction, too. Disable the little blinking yellow envelope in your system tray so that you won’t see each email that comes in, and allot a particular time of day to read and respond to emails.

Discipline Yourself

Allot a particular amount of time to a particular activity, and vow to work uninterrupted for that time frame. Use a kitchen timer or other timing device to keep track. Whether you work in twenty, thirty, sixty or a ninety minute block of time is unimportant. What is important is that you can get a particular activity checked off of your to-do list without being distracted – so you won’t need to be distracted when doing other things if you stop to do something on your to-do list. Set appointments with yourself for certain tasks. Need to work on your lesson plans this weekend? Pencil it in. You likely know how long it will take you to do the job – so schedule a block of time and make an appointment to get it done. And remember – once you get started in on an activity on your to-do list, don’t let other people (or yourself) become a distraction.

Don’t Over-Schedule Yourself

A big pitfall for many teachers is that they have to juggle the responsibilities of home and work while oftentimes raising kids – and having their schedules tugged in a million different directions. Will you have time to work in sitting on the parent committee and being a sponsor for the girl’s cheerleading squad? It is certainly doubtful unless you are planning to clone yourself. Learn the art of saying no. You may get a few disappointed faces at first, but you’ll learn that you can’t please everyone all the time.

Author Bio: Jennifer Dobson is an educator and she invites you to visit MPM School Supplies. The website has tons of quality products including teaching supplies, classroom furniture, Brand Cialis and games and puzzles. It offers games and puzzles for children of all ages with a variety of basic skills games and early learning games like picture bingo.

Category: Education
Keywords: advice,classroom management,teacher tips,teaching tips,education,teacher