The commencement of a caller schoolhouse twelvemonth means antithetic things to antithetic teachers. For immoderate it’s a caller start, afloat of possibilities. For others, it’s a rebuilding clip aft a downturn successful the program. And for others, well, they’re inactive crying connected the patio begging summertime not to end.
No substance your existent affectional state, it’s clip to deliberation astir being acceptable for the archetypal day. Between getting your schoolroom ready, handling instruments, recruiting, not to notation the back-to-school territory nonrecreational improvement and potlucks you’re required to attend, it mightiness consciousness overwhelming.
The 2nd your to-do database starts to consciousness unmanageable, it’s clip for immoderate reflection. For each task, inquire yourself the pursuing 2 questions:
“How does this service my students?” and
“What volition hap if this doesn’t get done?”
If you can’t reply however it volition service your students oregon you don’t similar the answer, de-prioritize it. For me, “important” tasks are ever those which assistance students turn musically oregon personally successful my attraction and marque them consciousness safe, confident, and susceptible successful my class.
Of course, erstwhile we enactment successful education, we sometimes indispensable bash tasks we cognize don’t substance (they telephone this hoop-jumping successful my cervix of the woods). This is wherever the 2nd question comes in: what volition hap if you don’t?
If your presumption oregon a narration volition beryllium successful jeopardy, past it’s inactive important. If the lone happening that volition hap is that your folders won’t beryllium personalized connected the archetypal day, oregon the gathering committee won’t person home-baked cookies for that potluck, oregon that the kids mightiness person to acceptable up their ain snare stands, I mildly suggest that you fto those items go.
If you’re inactive struggling, effort an Eisenhower Matrix!
Put each task into a box:
- Important/Urgent: You indispensable bash close away
- Important/Not Urgent: Schedule a clip to enactment connected it later
- Not Important/Urgent: This 1 is tricky due to the fact that sometimes a task mightiness beryllium important, but it’s not important that YOU bash it. In these cases, delegate it to a colleague, student, a parent, oregon a schoolroom aide. If it’s not important but you indispensable bash it due to the fact that of declaration obligations, etc., well, we each person to leap a hoop oregon two.
- Not Important/Not Urgent: Remove these items from your to-do database oregon prevention them for a time erstwhile you person escaped clip (ha ha, what’s that?) and your important tasks are finished.
Here’s a illustration of what my Eisenhower Matrix mightiness look similar preparing for the archetypal time of schoolhouse arsenic a set director.
Whenever you get stuck, deliberation astir what’s important to you and what volition impact your students’ information and success. And retrieve that nary 1 volition beryllium huffy astir store-bought cookies.
Jill Dobel directed nationalist schoolhouse bands successful Iowa astatine varying people levels for 17 years. She holds a grade successful Music Education from the University of Northern Iowa. She is presently a Music Education Marketing Specialist astatine Sheet Music Plus.
Jill continues to thatch backstage saxophone and clarinet students, and is progressive arsenic a clinician and adjudicator. She is simply a performer with the Iowa Women’s Jazz Orchestra and section North Iowa groups.
When not penning about, reasoning about, oregon playing music, she enjoys watercolor coating and hanging retired with her hubby and 2 stinky pit pulls Greta and Snickers.
English (US)