Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes

I have taken a dozen education course, all of which were supposed to prepare me for the classroom and make me a better educator.  We spent various hours working on philosophies of education, developing learner outcomes, learning strategies to teach to different types of learners, and how to write picturesque lesson plans which were so structured, there is no way they would ever actually work in the classroom.  I left undergrad with an extensive knowledge on a lot of theories of education, and yet I had very little instruction on how that information translated into having an actual teaching job.  Though my studies as an undergrad and my student teaching experience prepared me fairly well to be successful in the classroom, I feel overly underprepared to handle all of the behind the scenes work; particularly when it comes to housekeeping and separating work and home life.  

When it comes to being a good instructor, what goes on behind the scenes is just as important as what goes on in the classroom.  Preparing lessons and grading play only a small roll in the behind the scenes work, yet they are the two aspects heavily focused on in teacher education programs.  Far more important is what happens after the papers are graded and after the lesson is taught.  After a few weeks of lesson plans and homework, the stereotype of the cluttered teachers desk begins to form as extra worksheets, homework assignments, quizzes, and tests mound on the desk.  The school of education could take a lesson from the business school when it comes to keeping files and everything organized.  I can keep my files in order on my computer by giving each class a folder and within that folder I can give each chapter or unit its own folder.  It seems simple enough on the computer, so I need to translate that type of file management from my computer desktop to my actual desktop.  Each drawer can be a class I teach and in each drawer will be the multiple folders with the materials needed to teach each lesson.  For homework I find a similar problem because I often find myself sorting homework and tests into piles for each student.  If I used an accordion folder and filed each student as I graded their paper or test, I could cut down on some of the clutter.

The other important skill lacking in most teacher education programs is figuring out how to separate work from home.  We have a very unique job which can often times require us to bring our work home.  With the increase in technology, the internet, and email it has become nearly impossible to leave work at work.  Students now expect to be able to email their instructors almost any day of the week and at any time of the day.  With the internet making our offices accessible at any time and with students turning in assignments online, work is always at our fingertips and it can sometimes feel like we never leave work.  I think this is where good planning and time management comes into play.  If I make a list of everything I need to do, I can schedule when during the day I am going to accomplish that task.  This way I can not feel guilty or feel like I am procrastinating, because I have my tasks clearly scheduled.  

Ideally, improving both file and time organization skills would then help me to separate work and home, and free up my evenings and weekends to relax, learn a new skill, or read a book and not analyze it.