Between lessons, impromptu parent meetings, and a mountain of papers to grade, the day blurs into a whirlwind of controlled chaos. You look at your to-do list at 3 PM and realize it’s longer than it was at 7 a.m.

This feeling of being perpetually behind is a shared burden among educators. We pour so much of ourselves into our students that our own time, energy, and well-being often get placed on the back burner. For years, I watched colleagues—brilliant, passionate teachers—burn out, not because they didn’t care, but because they couldn’t keep up with the relentless demands of the profession.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Effective time management isn’t about working harder; it’s about working smarter. It’s about building a system that allows you to be an incredible educator without sacrificing your life outside the classroom.

The First Step: Know Your Time, Not Just Your To-Do List

Before you can manage your time, you need to understand where it goes. The biggest mistake most of us make is focusing solely on the “what”—the tasks on our list—without considering the “when” and “how long.” For the next week, conduct a simple time audit.

For every 30-minute block of your day, write down what you were doing. Were you teaching? Grading? Answering emails? Lesson planning? This exercise reveals your hidden time sinks and your most productive hours, providing a realistic baseline from which to build.

Strategy 1: Batching and Theming Your Tasks

Think about how a factory operates. They don’t switch from building a car engine to sewing a seat cover every five minutes. They have stations dedicated to a single task. We can apply this same principle, known as task batching, to our teaching lives.

• Grade Everything at Once: Instead of grading a handful of papers whenever you have a free moment, dedicate one or two specific time slots each week to grading. Set a timer, put on some music, and power through. Your brain will be primed for the task, reducing the mental fatigue of constantly switching gears.
• Plan Your Week on One Day: Theme one afternoon or evening a week for lesson planning. Having a dedicated “Planning Day” ensures you’re thinking about the curriculum and student needs in a comprehensive way, rather than scrambling for a lesson the night before. Separate planning into chunks.
• Email Blocks: Don’t let your inbox control your day. Check and respond to emails at specific times—perhaps before school, during lunch, and before you leave. This prevents constant interruptions and allows you to stay focused on your students.

Strategy 2: Prioritization Using The Eisenhower Matrix

Not all tasks are created equal. The Eisenhower Matrix helps you categorize your tasks into four quadrants, allowing you to focus on what truly matters.

• Urgent & Important (Do Now): These are tasks with a deadline that directly impact student learning or safety, such as an administrator’s urgent request or a student’s immediate concern.
• Important & Not Urgent (Schedule): This is where the magic happens. These are tasks that are crucial for long-term success but don’t have an immediate deadline. This includes long-term lesson planning, professional development, and building relationships with students. Schedule specific time for these tasks to prevent them from becoming urgent.
• Urgent & Not Important (Delegate): These tasks demand your immediate attention but don’t significantly contribute to your core goals. Think about a parent volunteer who needs a specific supply list. When possible, delegate these to an aide or a student helper.
• Not Urgent & Not Important (Eliminate): These are the time wasters, such as endless scrolling on social media or excessive classroom decorating. Ruthlessly eliminate these from your schedule.

Strategy 3: Leverage Technology and Automate Where Possible

Your smartphone and computer aren’t just for distraction; they’re powerful productivity tools.

• Go Digital with Grading: Platforms like Google Classroom and SeeSaw allow you to grade and provide feedback digitally, often with features that automate or streamline the process. Learn how tools you may already use, like Google Classroom and Google Docs, can be leveraged for better time management by exploring Google for Education’s website.
• Use Digital Planners: Ditch the paper planner and use a digital calendar like Google Calendar or a project management tool like Trello. You can easily drag and drop lessons, set reminders, and share plans with co-teachers.
• Create Templates: The next time you have to write a newsletter, send a permission slip, or create a bell ringer, save it as a template. This saves you from reinventing the wheel every time a similar task arises.

Strategy 4: The Power of No and Setting Boundaries

This is perhaps the most difficult—and most important—tip. As teachers, our inclination is always to say “yes,” but every “yes” to a new request is a “no” to something else—whether it’s planning, grading, or personal time.

• Protect Your After-Hours: Set a firm time when you stop working. When that time hits, close your laptop, put your phone away, and don’t look at it again until the morning. This boundary is crucial for preventing burnout and fostering a healthy work-life balance.
• Communicate with Administrators: If your workload feels unmanageable, don’t be afraid to have a conversation with your K-12 administrator. Explain your workload and ask for help prioritizing. A good administrator understands that a healthy teacher is a more effective teacher.

The To-Do List that Never Ends

Here’s the hard truth: your to-do list will likely never be empty. The key isn’t to finish it all; the key is to manage your time so you can tackle the most important tasks with focus and intention, freeing you from the constant pressure of a ticking clock.

Implementing these strategies won’t just make you a more efficient teacher; it will give you back your personal life, reignite your passion, and allow you to show up as your best self for your students, day after day.

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Additionally, personal wellness and keeping good mental health going may be challenging while undertaking this endeavor. Staying organized and using good strategies to balance everything can make this undertaking less stressful and manageable.

If time commitments are properly managed, a teacher may thrive during this time. Gaining more knowledge in the field can be inspiring and motivational, promote teacher wellness, and help against teacher burnout. Good time management skills stay with one for life and can contribute to success in the field.

Time Management Tips

The key to time management is having a plan. When going to grad school, most teachers take cohort classes that will last approximately 18 months. Beginning with a yearly calendar is helpful. Write in the start and end date of each of the classes that will be taken along with the responsibilities and tasks that are important to the full-time teaching job, such as report cards, unit planning, and required evening events.

Once these are in your calendar, it is time for course planning and using a monthly or weekly calendar. As soon the course syllabus is given each semester, write the deadlines of assignments into your calendar. Be sure to give yourself a due date that is a few days early from the time it is due so that if something goes wrong, you will have extra time to find a solution and not have to stress over it. Below are some time management tips that will help as you plan.

Goal Setting

Set reasonable, achievable, and effective goals. Do not pack every day with items and appointments back-to-back. Pre-plan only half of your non-work time each day, so there is time for the unexpected. Keep your eyes on the prize-the end of your coursework and graduation! Chunk your goals into smaller time allotments, perhaps semester by semester. Looking at the entire commitment can be overwhelming.

Prioritize and Delegate

Prioritize your to-do list weekly in your planner. Give high priorities to items that you and only you need to do. Things that have tight deadlines also get high priority. Don’t try to do everything all by yourself. Delegate whatever you can in order to gain more time for items that are prioritized at a high level.

Get out of the mindset that you and only you can do things the “right” way. For example, if you have some chores at home that need to be done each week, but time is needed for assignments or school work, consider some options such as having your groceries and dry cleaning delivered instead of taking valuable time out of the week to get these things done.

Consider hiring a cleaning person to free up more time. A teenager looking for extra money may be a way to get some of these household items done for you at a lower rate.

Share duties at school as well. Your department or team can co-plan with you to help remove some of the load. As long as the end product is of high quality, you do not need to micromanage the way it was done.

Set Time Limits

Be sure to set time limits for yourself. If you’ve planned to work on an assignment until 9 p.m., then go to bed, stick to your commitment. Your sleep is important and you don’t want your times overflowing into other scheduled items. Maintaining your routine and sticking to what is planned is very important. It can be tempting to do “just a little more,” but ultimately, you end up stressing yourself with the next item for completion.

Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle

Your physical and mental health should not be overlooked. Instead, plan for it. Many people find that putting in their physical exercise routine in the early morning offers an excellent start to each day. It can help you to feel refreshed and have a clear head before the work day starts. It is invigorating and gives you more energy for your day. There is no worry about how to fit it in after a tiring day of teaching or in between classes.

Plan for an Appropriate Amount of Sleep

Schedule it in if you have to. Cutting sleep is tempting, but it makes a person drag when they become overtired. It is not sustainable to continue to cut sleep over long periods of time.

Your Support Network

Be sure you have someone you can talk to regularly. That may be a spouse, friend, or counselor. It is essential to take time to share the happenings and stresses in your life with someone trusted so that you feel that sense of good mental health.

Connect with Your Cohort

Sometimes, going out with your cohort group once in a while is also helpful. After all, you are all going through the same things, taking classes while working full time, juggling your home and family responsibilities, and having to continue these for the program’s full course. Your peers often have good suggestions and are good at listening. They can be an excellent source of support. These fellow classmates may also become your network group in the future.

Other Miscellaneous Tips

There are other small things that may work will for you. Some people like to:

• Set regular reminders in their phone
• Call or email themselves and leave messages at work/home as reminders
• Set apart one weekend day for working and the other for just having fun

No matter what you prefer when it comes to time management strategies for graduate students, find what works for you and stick to it. That regular routine and adherence to organization will have you on top of things and make getting through your grad school experiences smooth sailing.

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Time Management Tips

The convenience of online teaching may be easier for some but a challenge for others, especially if teachers are not technology savvy. Educators need adequate routines, technology equipment and resources, and collaboration tools to better manage time teaching online. With the appropriate time management tips, educators can experience success in the virtual education setting.

Routines should be established as similar to a normal work schedule as possible. Those that teach online should have the same start time every day. The beginning of the day should be used to check emails and messages, respond to pressing concerns with parents, and check in with students needing additional support. Morning and afternoon times should be established for synchronous instruction for no more than an hour, and the remaining time, asynchronous, should be spent responding to discussion boards and grading assignments from students.

Establishing office hours also allows for uninterrupted time to take care of students’ needs and discourages students from reaching out to teachers during non-office hours or inconvenient times. Some students will need the additional time to ask questions, gain clarity, and receive affirmation of tasks, which can be arranged by the online instructor at a convenient time. The range of office hours should last from one to two hours daily. Some instructors may choose to offer support times two to three times per week. School districts and colleges normally provide guidelines for setting up office hours to support students, which online teachers should adhere to.

Online teachers should end instruction at the same time daily to ensure they are consistent with meeting the needs of their families, but most of all taking care of their own social-emotional needs. It is important to end the workday between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to ensure a work-life balance. Teaching online for multiple hours of the day can be draining without frequent breaks. Also, screen time may produce eyestrain. Therefore, time management is of essence to prevent burnout when teaching online.

Adequate technology equipment is needed to manage time with online teaching. An appropriate wi-fi band is needed to run many of the different technology tools and video platforms to collaborate with students and colleagues in the online learning environment. The bandwidth needed to sustain elearning may be different from the devices that may already be in an educator’s home. Technology glitches can diminish time educators could spend instructing students. Updating software and submitting support tickets for technology issues can last for multiple hours, which can hinder productivity with online teaching. Educators also need updated computers and laptops to be able to run software programs, access private networks, and to explore technology features in learning management platforms.

Collaboration tools can help online teachers better manage time. The ability to meet with colleagues to plan instruction is important to ensure students are receiving quality instruction. Planning with peers helps educators to collaborate on the best instructional tools in the online setting, which saves time when delivering instructional content to best meet the needs of students. Educators should not have to plan lessons in isolation and search through a multitude of resources when they use digital collaboration tools when planning with others.

Learning Management Systems

Learning Management Systems help online teachers navigate through subject content and student work and provide synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities. In synchronous learning, instructors can teach live lessons directly through learning management platforms. In contrast, educators can post daily assignments and resources for students to access during asynchronous times.

Instructional resources in the learning management platform can be automated with delivery time to help instructors with time management (Cross and Polk, 2018). The instructional resources in a learning management platform may include discussion boards, media albums, quizzes, content folders, grade books, calendars with alerts, and embedded video and conferencing capabilities. Learning management platforms make it easier to save, share, and reuse material. Some learning management systems allow for copying and pasting materials among multiple folders, which makes it easier for instructors to share materials. Overall, learning management systems save time in the online learning environment.

Online teaching may come with challenges such as managing time. However, with adequate systems, organizational skills, and sufficient equipment, teachers can be successful while teaching online. Networking with colleagues and following the guidelines of educational institutions can help teachers experience success when teaching students online. As educators embrace the new normal of online teaching, many strategies and technology tools will evolve to make the online teaching experience more manageable and less time consuming.

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