How To Be A Better, Happier Teacher By Slowing Down

If you’re like most teachers, you’re in a hurry much of the time.

Your schedule is overloaded.

Your curriculum is bursting at the seams.

And you have precious little time between one activity and the next.

Stress rises along with your dissatisfaction, but you continue to push the pace.

Because you’ve been lead to believe that if you can somehow shoehorn everything in by the end of each day, you’ll be a good teacher—doing your job, making progress, moving the curriculum along.

But it’s not true.

Being in a hurry will make you less effective, not more effective.

Here’s why:

Being in a hurry…

Gives you less control of your class.

Causes your students to become excitable, restless, and inattentive.

Diverts your attention away from students.

Causes you to cut corners with your classroom management plan.

Gives you less leverage with students.

All are textbook examples of poor classroom management, and they lead directly to misbehavior, interruptions in learning, and slower academic progress.

Slow Down

The solution is to slow down.

Easier said than done, right? If it were that simple, everybody would go about their day at a nice, leisurely pace. With everything on your plate, how are you supposed to slow down?

I’m going to show you.

I prepared a short list of things you can do tomorrow to slow things down, give yourself more time, and become a better, happier teacher.

Trim the fat.

Most teachers try to do too much—much more than they really need to. Take a close look at everything you do and cut out what isn’t directly related to improving academic progress or classroom management. Focus only on what’s important, and eliminate the rest.

Look ahead.

Take two or three minutes every morning and visualize your day. Let the images flash quickly through your mind. Athletes use visualization to improve performance and avoid mistakes. It works just as well for teachers. You’ll be a more effective teacher and save yourself a lot of time if you mentally rehearse before the day begins.

Wait.

Never move on with a lesson, an activity, or a transition unless you’re getting exactly what you want from your students. Moving on before every student is locked in and following along will come back and bite you later. Waiting is the best defense against future interruptions, misunderstandings, needless questions, and other time-wasters.

Stop and enforce.

When you’re in a hurry, you’ll cut corners—especially with classroom management. But nothing wastes more time than misbehavior. So when a student breaks a rule, enforce it immediately. It may feel like an interruption at the time, but it will save you loads of time in the long run.

Talk Less.

Over-explanation is a common mistake teachers make. Get to the point and move on. You’ll save a lot of time by talking less, and you’ll enjoy other benefits as well—including improved behavior, better attentiveness, and deeper comprehension.

Teach your routines.

In many—if not most—classrooms, the time wasted on transitions is staggering. Your students need to know exactly what to do every minute of the school day. Done efficiently, routines and procedures can save hours of time during a typical week.

Observe.

Good teachers observe a lot—which is itself an excellent time-saver. It keeps students on task and completing their work faster. It’s also the best way to know the needs of your students and what changes you need to make to your instruction.

Remember to breathe.

Being aware of your breathing will keep your mind in the present and guard against racing headlong into the next thing. No, you don’t have to behave like you’re in a yoga class or float around in a meditative state. Occasional awareness is all that’s required. Mindful breathing will also protect you from stress, focus your mind, and help you perform at your best.

Fight Back

Teachers have more demands on their time than ever before—and less control over what, when, and how to teach.

The above list is a way to fight back.

It will ease the time pressure and allow you to slow down—which is a beautiful thing. Because, by slowing down, classroom management will improve, academic progress will accelerate, and you’ll be a better, happier teacher.

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