Achieving Balance Through Efficiency

Those starting a career in teaching will put in an incredible amount of energy into their practice in order to learn their craft and become respected professionals. In many cases, however, this energy is not enough to survive as a teacher. Currently, 1 in 5 new teachers will leave the profession after five years. The purpose of this book is to improve the “survivability” of early career teachers by focusing on one key area: Efficiency or what is referred to as Time Management. This book will examine how teachers can become more efficient in their lesson and unit planning, classroom organization, assessment of their students, how they interact with parents, and even when they search and interview for a job. Special emphasis is placed on one of the most challenging aspects of teaching, classroom behavioral management. The underlying basis for this book is a deep belief that successfully managing time will allow teachers to create a positive balance between one’s professional and personal lives. It is all too common to see time-stressed and sleep exhausted teachers lose sight of the reasons they entered teaching, eventually falling out of love with their subject and those they teach. This book will tackle head on the demands that teachers face by posing many detailed, practical solutions to time management problems in a variety of different contexts. These solutions will not only come from the author’s own experience preparing New York City science students for over 25 years, but from researchers and veteran teachers and administrators who have published their findings and advice in leading educational journals. It is time to stop procrastinating, and draw upon your inner grit to create order, routines, and systems that can be used successfully in your teaching profession.