Hi! I'm Lauren - an upper elementary teacher who loves to design resources for classrooms & teachers! Check out the resources I offer below and sign up for my newsletter!
Here’s how to leave work right when the bell rings (and not take any work home with you)
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What would you do with all your extra free time if you really could leave work right when school ends? Research/plan and fantasize about moving abroad? Finally take that workout class you’ve been really wanting to take? Meet up with friends for happy hour? (or like me, finally not be two hours late to happy hour) Or maybe just rest? Whatever it is… I have your new system to help make that a reality in 2025! As a Type B teacher (although I really like to call myself a B+ or A- teacher because I am somewhere in between), I’m always looking for systems and solutions to help me stay organized and to simplify my life as a teacher! I used to stay for hours after school (and come in early as well) because there was always just more planning and prepping to do… Well, I am happy to say that after 9 years in the classroom, I think I have finally perfected my planning system - and I’m happy to share my secrets with you today! I felt like I used to fly by the seed of my pants so often as a teacher. Day by day I was changing things up, planning for the next day, always keeping my head just above float. And I always justified it because I never wanted to be one of those teachers that planned out their whole month or quarter at a time, leaving no wiggle room for adjusting to students’ needs or allowing a spark of creativity/genius to create a whole new lesson plan/idea! While this was fun and always left me teaching the freshest, most creative lessons - it was also mentally (and physically) exhausting. Every day, the bell would ring at 3:15 and my students would leave, then I would sit down to plan for the next day. Exhausting. Or worse, if something came up and I had to leave before I was 100% planned, I was relying on my 30 minutes in the morning before the bell or my limited prep time to finish up my plans (and hope that no meetings, impromptu coworker chats, or student behaviors that demanded my attention came up). Well, the solution I finally came up with still allows me to put my creative spark into teaching, whilst leaving the classroom every day 100% planned for the next day. So here it is… PART 1: I start with a very non cutesy Week at a Glance template. It’s simple and straightforward, but helps me to see everything at once in one place. It gives me rough plans for the week that can always be changed as student discussions or lessons evolve. Full disclosure: I sometimes work on these over the weekend, but when I’m disciplined at work (aka don’t spend my prep yapping with my teacher besties) I can usually complete this template on a Thursday or Friday prep for the following week. (You can make a copy of my simple template by clicking the link at the bottom of this email.) PART 2: Because I am a cutesy teacher, I have to put my daily slides into a cutesy slide template. But it’s not just about the aesthetic (though that is an added perk) - the template ensures that I am 100% ready to go for the next day. The first slide is always a morning slide - instructions & reminders for their morning routine, a morning message from me, lunch choices, attendance question, warm up problem, etc. The morning slides have allowed my morning routine to run flawlessly, even without me there. My students know what to do because they simply come in and read the board. After the morning slide, I create a slide for each subject I’m teaching that day (in the order that I’m teaching them). Any instructions I’ll need to give, example problems that I want to work through together (my math lesson slides often follow the “I do, we do, you do” format), directions for independent work time (including where to get materials & what volume level). These slides do so much more than just display a message - they are CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT. If a student asks you where to find the worksheet, or what they’re doing - point to the board. If a student comes in late or from another class, they know to just - read the board. My daily slides are almost an extension of myself. My students know that if I’m helping another student or talking to an adult or unavailable in any capacity, they can consult the slide and 95% of the time find an answer there. Let me take it a step further: observations. Your principal walks in. No matter what you’re doing at the moment, your principal can see the slides too and know what your class is working on, AND, they will see that you give very clear instructions and expectations. All of these things that I mentioned above used to be fears of mine. What if I forget what I was going to teach for the day? What if the principal walks in and has no idea what we’re doing? What if 14 students are trying to talk to me, the phone rings, and another student comes in late and has no idea what to do? Now, I spend 5-10 minutes each day (either on my prep or at the end of the day) preparing the slides for the next day. This is often as simple as writing “today, we are going to continue working on our argumentative essays!” - so when writing time comes around, if my classroom bursts up in flames (metaphorically), at the very least the kids will see the board and (the responsible ones) will start getting out their essays and writing materials. And when I write for science bellwork “get the potential & kinetic energy notes from the front of the room and glue them into your notebook” I know that I need to put out the potential & kinetic energy notes in the front of the room before I leave for the day. These daily slides put everything you need for the next day in one place, which gives you everything you need to have the peace to leave at the end of the day. (Because let’s be honest, half the time we stay late because we’re worried we’re not doing enough or that we’re forgetting something). You can purchase my entire seasonal bundle of slides for the year here, or if you just want to try one month first - check out my February/Valentine’s slides! You can also use my same system with just a generic Google Slides or Powerpoint (how I started out with this system) and create your own morning slides & subject headers. Last, click on this link to make a copy of my "Week at a Glance" Google Doc template! |
L E A R N I N G W I T H L A U R E N
Hi! I'm Lauren - an upper elementary teacher who loves to design resources for classrooms & teachers! Check out the resources I offer below and sign up for my newsletter!
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