Strategies for being productive when teaching online

Teaching in an online model involves considerably more preparation and planning than teaching in the customary classroom model. The daily responsibilities that were rapid, such as watching over students’ growth throughout class and monitoring late and missing coursework, is now an arduous task.

Keeping the students updated on daily assignments, for example making sure that students have the textbooks and reading and exercise material handy, and figuring out the best equipment and tools to fulfill students academic needs take a tremendous amount of planning. And most importantly, analyzing how the teachers use their time efficiently while allowing themselves to recharge for the next day, task and assessment.

Shaping Tasks

While there is variety of tasks that teachers have to fulfill, one of the elementary school teacher said that she creates a detailed, handwritten list of tasks every Friday. “I divide it into four parts (Long-Term Goals, Do Now, Creating, and Doing), which helps me to stay organized and use my time more effectively.”

In the Long-Term Goals section, a teacher can write about things that don’t require immediate attention and the things that a teacher want to accomplish later in time can be noted down. But it is important that every time you open up the document, they are visible. So that whenever you get a free time and feel convenient, you can fulfill the long term tasks.

In the “Do Now section” you can list down the things you need to do in next 24 hours, mark them as off you complete them. In the “Creating section” the teachers can write down the things that entail concentration and critical thinking. This segment may include things such as designing assessments, making new units, or making an exam paper or online assessment. The “Doing section” is for the easy tasks. This may include grading assignments, copies and assigning roles to students.

Once you organize your tasks into the sections, it becomes much easier and you could easily allot time for each task and can work more efficiently and speedily.

Take a Break

Experts say that when you take breaks with a plan, you work more efficiently and productively without getting distracted or stressed. Breaks serve as a recharge or energy booster for the teachers who are workaholics and get easily stressed due to burden and access of work.

The breaks could be taking a walk around campus, which means moving away from your desk. You must have regretted the time when you started talking to a colleague and thought that most of your time is wasted, but that’s what you needed. A happy chat with a friend at work is always refreshing. But make sure that once your breaks are over, you are working with all the focus and concentration.

Take Your Time

Over enthusiasm might over take you during these pressing times as you try to make way into the digital classroom settings. The new technology might also overwhelm you. We suggest that you take small steps rather than over burdening yourself with difficult and unachievable tasks.

Saying no when you cannot do something has always been hard for teachers. Try to explain rather than accepting and saying yes to everything. Give logical answer; explain why you can’t do it and how the technology is new for you. Ask for the time to learn a certain thing and add that to your list of tasks.

There is nothing wrong with asking a colleague who is an expert on technology and following their way and style.

Grading Tactically

It is always good to learn new tools for online teaching which can make your life a lot easier than you can imagine. The grading can be done by creating rubrics, and using online tools and choosing what to grade them on.

You can assign grades on presentations. If students are using multiple elements to present the work, then grade them on some of them which are crucial. Assigning detail write ups, projects and papers makes it all easier.

Socrative, Quizlet, Kahoot, and Google Forms are also some tools that can automatically grade assignments and provide students with instant feedback