Teacher Planning Time: Make the Most of Your Prep Period

Do you ever get to your teacher planning time and realize you have so many items on your to-do list that you don’t even know where to start? I’ve been there! Sometimes you’re so overwhelmed it’s hard to even get started. As teachers we always have a million tabs open in our brains, so I’m going to help you sort through them so you don’t miss anything.

Teacher planning time is an important part of every teacher’s day, and being well-prepared can make a big difference in how smoothly and successfully the day goes. Here are some tips to maximize your teacher planning time so that you can make the most of it!

3 Steps to Make the Most of Your Planning Time

Step One: Brain Dump

First, brain-dump all your tasks. Think about all the tasks you do on a daily basis (responding to parent emails or notes, making copies, etc.) I know, it probably looks like so much! Deep breaths – we’re going to make a plan to tackle them!

Step Two: Sort Your Tasks

Look at all your tasks and sort them into daily, weekly, and monthly lists. If you love color coding, grab three different colored highlighters: one for daily, one for weekly, and one for monthly. Go through your list and highlight all of your daily tasks in one color, then do a second color for weekly tasks and finally the third color for monthly tasks.

Step Three: Create Your Checklists

Now it’s time to create your daily, weekly, and monthly checklists. Make three different checklists for your tasks. Then, laminate them or pop them into a sheet protector so you can use a dry-erase marker to cross tasks off your list. Keep this list somewhere handy, like a clipboard you keep with you or on the inside cover of your planner.

Free Planning Checklist

To help you follow the three steps above, you can download this free teacher planning time checklist. Click here to get a copy for yourself!

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