A Teacher’s Time Is Oh So Precious Especially During The Holidays

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Is there anything more precious than a teacher’s time? Just when you think you can’t handle one more task before the ever so close winter break, we’re here to tell you that you ABSOLUTELY can. Why? Because when you realize the simple steps you can take now to ensure minimal work over the holidays, trust us, it will be worth your time.

Send Home School-made Gifts

So often as teachers we spend so much time and money thinking of creative gifts, wrapping them, and then we wait until the last day to send them home. But honestly why do we wait? This is just one more teacher stressor that we don’t need on our plates. So this year, once the gifts are completed and wrapped ready to go home, SEND them home. Does it matter if your super excited scholar gives a present a few days early? Not at all. Who doesn’t love the joy children have at Christmas!?!

Thank You Notes

No matter how many candles, coffee mugs, or lotions teachers receive we love them all! Obviously, it is only good manners to write thank you notes for all of the goodies and trinkets we receive, but honestly this can be another stressor teachers have to tackle. So, let’s beat the system to avoid this stress.

Instead of waiting for the gifts to trickle in that last day before break, try writing all of your students a greeting card wishing them well into the new year. Then, as students begin to bring you gifts the last week of school, simply pull their cards and add on a quick thank you. Now, not only are you saving your vacation time from writing thank you notes, but you’re also avoiding the price of postage mailing them. #WINNING!

January Lesson Plans

Those pesky lesson plans can bring on those January blues worse than a five day week with meetings every night after school. The question is how do teachers avoid giving up our precious time off so we can enjoy every last minute of break? The answer is quite simple, prepare now!

Odds are pretty good that you won’t have time during the school day to prepare your January plans. If you do, this is definitely option A! But let’s face it, most of us will have a hard time being able to get these plans done during the school day. So you’ll want to block off a chunk of time on the weekend or one evening after school to get these plans done. Try to plan for the first two weeks of January. Come New Year’s Day you will be THRILLED you took the time NOW to get this off your plate.

Tidy Classroom 

Most classrooms usually have some type of treat on the last day of school before winter break. There will more than likely be spills, crumbs, and scraps on the floor from the excitement of the celebration. No teacher wants to stay late cleaning up after the students, so what’s a teacher to do?

When you are planning lessons for that last day, be sure to incorporate a movie into your day. It would be awesome if it could be a holiday movie, but if your administration doesn’t allow that then find a video tied to your curriculum. As students are watching the video, you (or your student sweeper) can begin to tidy the classroom. Maybe your class made snowflakes for the January bulletin board, well then use this time to hang them up. Switch your calendar. Tie up the trash. Get as much done in that 30-40 minute as possible. When that bell rings at the end of the day, your bags will be packed and ready to go!

Conclusion 

You will hear this over and over on this blog: a teacher’s time is his/her most valuable possession. Try following these four holiday time saving hacks to help ease your teacher stress: send home school-made gifts, prepare thank you notes ahead of time, prep two weeks of January lesson plans, and tidy up your classroom. When that bell rings on the last day, you’ll be outta there for two whole weeks!

 As always, you know you can count on us to keep you in the loop on what is trending in education. If you need help or feel like you can’t keep your head above water, then please be sure to reach out. We can certainly steer you in the right direction and find you the tools you need for your teacher journey.

Teacher~Relax~Repeat

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