Great point William! Sometimes when all emails come to a single inbox, it can feel overwhelming and hard to focus on what’s important. Segmenting your inbox into multiple folders is a great way to stay organized and get highest priority tasks accomplished.
I am a manager over instructors and my listing changes on a sometimes hourly basis. What I have found that works for me is to have an inbox for the immediate / emergency task and to have a prioritized plan for everyday management tasks.
I will try to use a number system comined with a list to prioritize my time.
Jennifer, if you’ve got a system that’s working for you, there’s no need to change. Do what makes sense for you.
No, probably not. I already do things in the order they need to get done. If it's urgent it goes first. So no, I won't be changing the order in which I do tasks.
Robert, I like the way you set aside time each day to actually work on the to do list. Though it’s an extra step, it’s a great time investment as you describe.
I usually set aside time at the beginning and end of my school day to read/answer e-mails; grade tests, organize my desk for the next day. I usually place my daily tasks in order of priority, and usually make out a list of "things to accomplish" for my next class day.
I'm fortunate that I rarely have "urgent tasks" to attend to. I think I keep my daily tasks well organized so that an urgent task rarely occurs.
I don't think I'll change the order or prioritization of my tasks because my daily school/teaching tasks are the same every day. Occasionally a meeting with a student will take priority over other tasks, and in that instance I will have to change the priority a bit for that day.
Its important to prioritze daily tasks. We also need to be flexible and be able to make adjustments when somthing of greater importance comes up.
A student that will not listen is a frustrating moment for me.
Yes, when our tasks are documented on paper it is a lot easier to focus on other more important things.
No, I tend to prioritize in the afore mentioned fashion, when I make a to-do list. I have recently noticed that when I fail to make a priority list because I feel that all is in control, I cannot get my mind to shut off at night and lose sleep. This causes stress until I return to making a to-do list. I worry that I will forget things, which happens more as I get older.
Interesting technique Thomas. When you share your list with others, it probably helps you to feel a little more accountable. And the feeling of accountability can definitely help get things done.
Making a list has always helped me. I find that it helps when I share this list with my students in cases where we need to get cirtain subjects covered . I start the class setting the time line and then refure to it as I try to keep students engaged with what the class has to offer.
I think you raise an important point James. The best instructors do more than carefully plan out their syllabus and teaching materials. To be the best, we must have the ability to be flexible in the ever-changing career school environment, and work with whatever comes our way.
Great question James! Students do tend to overstep their bounds to find out how well they did on exams – and this can further delay grading. For multiple choice exams, one way I have dealt with this is to publish the exam answers just after the exam but prior to grading. Students are typically good at remembering their answers and can quickly assess how well they did on their own. This buys you a little time for grading. For essay exams, this can work but can be a little harder due to the subjectivity of grading these kinds of answers. In these cases, setting realistic expectations about when exams will be completely graded has worked best for me.
Jennifer: Hello I'm taking the course and wanted to ask you something. I find that if I'm late grading the exams the students are calling, e-mailing or meeting with me to see how they did. Is this a problem for you?
Both! Ironically I intuitively know what tasks are important and how much time I can let slide before tackling the tasks. I make a list and start with the most important ones. Then everything changes. Teaching at a proprietary college I've come to realize that the best laid plans of "mice and men" etc. have to make way for sudden changes. Typically I have to adjust my teaching strategies based on attendance in order not to present material that half the class would miss (holidays, weather, prepartation for other class exams, transportation). Although frustrating it allows me more time to get done the things I've listed as important.
Interesting points Jennifer. It’s important to be able to examine your schedule and assess when dual tasking might be an option. This method is often a far better option than taking work home.
Not only am I an instructor but I am in charge of other things at our campus. (i.e., Proctoring exams) So procrasting is NOT an option for me. I do a fairly good job at keeping up what I have to do. However, I have to say that keeping up with my grading suffers sometimes. So instead of taking it home to grade, I will grade during class when I have a lab and students are busy on the computer doing their assignments. I defintely learned that keeping up with the small tasks is better than procrastinating.
How thoughtful of you Kenny. And yes, it is important to think about how your tasks can create dependencies on others.
