Enough Time?
Principals and teachers and students and yes, superintendents all say there isn't enough "time". I am struggling with the concept of making the best use of time in a secondary school.
My premise is that there is "enough time" but we aren't very efficent in how we use time. (S. Covey's new book, 8 Habits, says that this is true in business too. He said only 10% of employees say that they are making efficent use of their time and energies so this isn't just a school issue)
This is how much time is set aside within the 7.5 hour contract at my junior high per certified employee:
Staff Meetings 9 hours
Team Meetings 9 hours
Department Meetings 9 hours
Building Inservice 40 hours
Personal Inservice 40 hours
Employee Inservice Fund $130 per year
Building Inservice (avg. per cert) 9 hours
Dept. Days 11 hours
Total Planning/Meeting Hours 137 hours per year per teacher
Daily Planning Time 175 hours per year
Total Planning Time Per Year 312 hours per year
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Essential Questions
1. Are we efficently using our 137 hours of total planning and meetings per year
2. How could we change our meetings to really build collaboration?
3. What effect would effective, efficent curriculum design have on student learning?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take this one step further and look at the responsiblity a principal has to make the best use of time. At SJH, we have 870 students and about 40 certificated teachers. Look at the time that we have for the staff:
Staff Meetings 360 hours
Team Meetings 360 hours
Department Meetings 360 hours
Building Inservice 1600 hours
Personal Inservice 1600 hours
Employee Inservice Fund $130 per year * 40 employees
Building Inservice (avg. per cert) 360 hours
Dept. Days 500 hours
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bottom line, we have lots of time and sooooooo much to do. We really need to learn to make the most efficent use of time that we have. I think teachers and principals would agree that we often sit in meetings that don't have to happen and we often fiddle away time like our students who do not get focused on big projects. How can I make the most positive use of staff time? my time? student time?
My premise is that there is "enough time" but we aren't very efficent in how we use time. (S. Covey's new book, 8 Habits, says that this is true in business too. He said only 10% of employees say that they are making efficent use of their time and energies so this isn't just a school issue)
This is how much time is set aside within the 7.5 hour contract at my junior high per certified employee:
Staff Meetings 9 hours
Team Meetings 9 hours
Department Meetings 9 hours
Building Inservice 40 hours
Personal Inservice 40 hours
Employee Inservice Fund $130 per year
Building Inservice (avg. per cert) 9 hours
Dept. Days 11 hours
Total Planning/Meeting Hours 137 hours per year per teacher
Daily Planning Time 175 hours per year
Total Planning Time Per Year 312 hours per year
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Essential Questions
1. Are we efficently using our 137 hours of total planning and meetings per year
2. How could we change our meetings to really build collaboration?
3. What effect would effective, efficent curriculum design have on student learning?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take this one step further and look at the responsiblity a principal has to make the best use of time. At SJH, we have 870 students and about 40 certificated teachers. Look at the time that we have for the staff:
Staff Meetings 360 hours
Team Meetings 360 hours
Department Meetings 360 hours
Building Inservice 1600 hours
Personal Inservice 1600 hours
Employee Inservice Fund $130 per year * 40 employees
Building Inservice (avg. per cert) 360 hours
Dept. Days 500 hours
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bottom line, we have lots of time and sooooooo much to do. We really need to learn to make the most efficent use of time that we have. I think teachers and principals would agree that we often sit in meetings that don't have to happen and we often fiddle away time like our students who do not get focused on big projects. How can I make the most positive use of staff time? my time? student time?
posted by Mike at 9:32 AM
1 Comments:
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