7 Tips to Save Teachers Time in the Classroom

Aloha, my teacher bestie! 🍎

Let's dive right into the topic of something we all wish we had more of : TIME! If only we could trade every minute lost to classroom chaos, the relentless stream of announcements, surprise assemblies, phone calls galore, mandatory faculty meetings, and the ever-mounting admin tasks for a beachside retreat with a fancy coffee (or perhaps a tropical cocktail, depending on your mood).

I totally get it – time is like a magician's disappearing act for teachers. Your to-do list? It’s a never-ending saga that rivals even the longest-running soap opera. But guess what? I'm here to champion the cause of drawing those oh-so-vital boundaries, reclaiming your hours, and letting you head home at a decent time. You deserve those cozy evenings and quality family moments.

Now, hold onto your educator hats because I've got 7 swift and splendid tricks up my sleeve to rescue your time and make your classroom life a whole lot smoother. Ready? Let’s dive in!

1. Focus the First 2 Weeks of School on Classroom Expectations

Explicitly teaching your students exactly what every single procedure should look and sound like in your classroom will make a huge impact on the rest of your school year. Yes- this can be a daunting task that'll take lots of practicing, stopping, and debriefing but trust me, it'll be worth it!

Spending time in the beginning of the year will save you time throughout the year. You will teach and model your students to do thing so that your classroom will run smoothly and efficiently on a daily basis. There will be less chaos, less time needed for transitions and reminders and the teaching will be able to happen since students will know what you expect of them.

Not sure where to begin? Here's a list of ALL the things I made prcoedures for in my own classroom. You can grab the Google Doc here. I'd type it out and use it as a check sheet for teaching students, marking if they've got it down and then also placed a copy in my Substitute Binder.

2. Eliminate or Simplify Homework

Really think through and prioritize what is important when assigning homework. Are students completing the assignments on their own or are parents guiding them through? Are you truly getting a "snapshot" of if the student got it during your lesson? What about the students who don't complete their homework?

What I found over the years were this. The students who needed the most practice were the ones not completing their homework. They were the ones that didn't have the support at home. Plus- when I was assigning homework - it made so much more work for me. I had to sort, grade, file and/or return the papers. Let's not even talk about keeping up with which students were missing what assignment. It just became too much.

Once I simplified what I did for homework - my life was so much easier. You can read more about my weekly homework routine here. I could go on and on about homework but truly, kids work hard all day during school. I think it's important to allow them to go home to be a kid and spend time with family.

3. Use Student Groupings to Simplify Your Life

Divide your students up into 5 different groups. This needs to be posted and known to students which group they are in. You can use these groups for book shopping, 1-1 assessments, grading journals or papers, writing report card comments, etc.

I used these groups to allow students to book shop, that way you only have a few students shopping in your Class Library each day. They'll hold on to those books until the following week.

Reading and writing in student journals can be a time consuming task if you do this daily - especially if you have a large class! Only doing this for 4-6 students a day doesn't take too much time and it'll help you to stay on top of things!

I also use this system for report card comments! It has helped me to always get my comments done early and quickly. I just do a few each day and I'm done in a week's time. Since it's not as daunting - I'm able to stay focused on the task easily knowing I'll be done soon.

4. Use Self Grading Assignments/Assessments

With many publishing companies - they now have online assessments that students can take for their weekly reading and/or math test. By doing this- it'll help to save YOU time on grading. You could also use digital task cards and/or Goole Form quick checks as exit passes for students to complete for you to check for understanding.

Creating your assessments and assignments will take time on the front end, but if you're lucky enough to stay in the same grade, it can save you time year after year. I have a bunch of Math Quick Checks available for 3rd grade that you can find here.

In my class - I did a lot of work in class on white boards and I'd monitor how students solved and ask questions along the way. Then - I'd use some type of exit pass so I could quickly check for understanding. Read more about that here.

5. Make use of Parent Helpers!

Parents are always willing and wanting to help their child's teacher out. There are so many tasks that parents can do to help you get ahead with your to do list. Some of those tasks are:

• cutting paper towels
• making xerox copies
• laminating and cutting (or just laminating if you're OCD about cutting) lol
• prepping centers
• labeling class library books
• reading with kids
• helping with holiday activities
• picking up supplies and food for class parties!

6. Empower Your Students with Class Jobs

Not only can class jobs empower students to take initiative and have responsibilities but it can also really help to cut down small tasks for you. Here are some class jobs that can save you time from "busy work"

• Mail Delivery - this student will be the one to return student work. I had mail boxes so students simply needed to file papers back into each mail box. I had a bin where I'd place papers to be returned. At any time throughout the day when the Mail Deliverer had extra time (sometimes they'd even come in a few minutes early in the morning) they'd pass papers out. If they didn't finish - they'd place it back into the bin.
• Pencil Sharpener - I've done community pencils AND individual pencils and this job worked for both. Students were never allowed to sharpen pencils during the day (because we all know they'd constantly be needing to sharpen if that was allowed). Instead - I had a pencil sharpener that would sharpen all the pencils.
• Librarian - I had a simple system where each book was labeled so students knew exactly which bin books would need to be returned to. At the end of the day, the librarian would just do a quick scan of the library to make sure all books were placed back neatly into bins and if any books were NOT in their bin, they'd return it to the correct place. 
• Teacher's Assistant - I utilized turn in bins called the "Assignment Drop Box". Students placed their work into their folder and would move their clip to the right to signal they've turn in the assignment. My teacher's assistant would go and collect each assignment (check that it's actually there) and move the clip back to starting point. They would then paper clip the assignments (along with the check sheet). The assistant would make a checkmark next to every child that turned in the assignment and would highlight the name of the ones that had missing assignments. This way I could easily follow up. 

7. Find a Grading System that Works for You

First and foremost - keep up with your grading. The longer you let it go - the harder it will be to catch up. I used to like grading multi-page assessments page by page. I felt it went quicker. I'd grade the whole class page 1 and make a note at the bottom corner how many were correct out of the total number of points for that page. I'd continue this way through all the pages.

Teacher bestie, you're not just a timekeeper; you're a time liberator! It's so important to make every moment in your classroom count so that you can spend more time taking care of yourself and your loved ones at home. Let’s embark on a journey to save time, embrace balance, and rock your teacher-life like the superstar you are. 🌟📘

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With Aloha,

5 Ways to Use Task Cards in the Classroom

Do you use task cards in the classroom??

I LOVE using task cards in my classroom. Over the years, I have collected, created, printed, laminated, and cut A LOT of task cards. My collection has grown quite large over the years.

Today I'll be sharing with you some of the reasons why I LOVE task cards and 5 ways to use them in your classroom.

Task cards are so great because they offer valuable practice, review, and reinforcement for students of important concepts. Being that we are a testing grade, students need lots of practice to ensure they have mastered the skills before that dreaded test. It kills me to see worksheets xeroxed, used, piled up on my desk (to be graded), returned,  stuffed into cubbies or desks, then dumped into the trash can. Task cards allow practice for students without having a gazillion worksheets to go through. The plus side of it though is that students love them too. My students often cheer when they find that it is time to work on task cards. 

The neat thing about task cards is that there are so many different ways to use them. 

Here are some of our favorite ways to use task cards in our classroom:

1: SCOOT

1. For a game of SCOOT, students are all seated at their desks. 
2. They each get one task card and a recording sheet. 
3. Assign the cards around the room in number order. 
4. Students record their answers on their recording sheet, then quietly wait until the teacher calls SCOOT. 
5. Once SCOOT is called, students will pick up their pencils, recording sheets, and SCOOT to the next seat to answer the next task card. 
6. Continue this rotation until all task cards have been answered.

Students LOVE SCOOT. They think of it as a game. I love it because it's a great formative assessment to see who knows what as well as to see misunderstandings they may be having. It's also a time for some peace and quiet :) 

SCOOT works best for skills that don't require much thinking time such as rounding, identifying parts of speech, fractions, etc. This would not be an ideal activity for things like word problems or elapsed time problems.

*If your desks are in an odd configuration, you will need to identify the movements around the room beforehand to avoid any confusion. 

2: SCAVENGER HUNT

Students also love hunting for their task cards. This is most often a center rotation.

I will tape task cards up around the room, and students will go around with a clipboard and their recording sheets. They find a card and record their answer on their recording sheets. For sake of time, I teach my students that they do not have to answer questions in number order. Find whatever card and record that answer in the correct box.

Since I use this as a center in my math workshop I also use these answers as a formative assessment for groups adjustments. Depending on the concept and how much the kids finished, I may or may not have them do ALL the cards. 

3: CENTERS

Task cards also work great as a center activity in both language arts and math. I will often lay task cards out on the carpet area and students work quietly there solving through their task cards. 

Another reason I love task cards so much is that once it's done and prepped for, you don't need to do it again! I use my task cards, again and again, year after year. 

4: WHOLE CLASS/SMALL GROUP REVIEW

Another way that I use task cards is for any review either whole class or small group. If I'm doing a whole class review, I just project the task card onto the board and have students solve on their whiteboards.

If I'm using it in a small group, I'll either show the task card to each student or I may give each student their own task card. 

If all students are solving the same card, I'll usually have them hold their answers on their whiteboard to themselves until I ask them to show their boards. When I do, the students all show their boards to one another and look at the answers. I then ask students if they agree or disagree with everyone's answer OR I might say something like "2 students think the answer is ABC but 3 of you think that the answer is XYZ, what are your thoughts?" and then we go into a discussion about how the problem was solved and ask any clarifying questions.

5: EXIT PASSES

Last but not least, I also like to use task cards as an exit pass. Once we are done with a lesson I hand out a task card and post-it note to each student. They write their name and answer on the post-it note, attach the post-it to the task card and turn it into me as they walk out the door to lunch. I'm then able to quickly sort the sticky notes based on who gets it and/or who needs extra reinforcement. 

ORGANIZATION

I used the mini Sterilite plastic drawers and just added labels. It makes it easy to find the task cards that I want. I can fit a couple of sets in each drawer. 

I purchased these Sterilite organizers years ago. There are 5 drawers in each organizer. Since it was so long ago, I couldn't find them on Amazon but I was able to find similar ones here. There are only 3 drawers but you could easily stack them. 

I have the editable labels available for these drawers in my TPT store here. 

I have a TON of math task cards that are perfect for your third-grade classroom. Check them out here. Many of my task cards also have a digital version available to help make your life easier with distance learning planning. 

What other ways do YOU use task cards in your classroom?

I'd love to connect with you! Head on over to my Instagram to say hello!. 

{Affiliate Links were used in this blog post}

Editor's Note: This post was originally published on October 20, 2014, and has been updated with additional information and resources.