1: Instant Messaging
While instant messaging can be a useful intra-office tool, its generally informal (and instant!) nature can also make it productivity’s worst enemy. How many times has a discussion about something work related quickly degenerated into a half-hour gossip session? And there’s always someone with a lot less to do who will tempt you into a chat marathon.
The solution: If you can’t disconnect completely, at least set your status to “Busy” for a good portion of the day. This will help deter frivolous chatter. If someone insists on bothering you with non-work related chit-chat, tell them (politely) that you are in the middle of something and ask if you can pick up the conversation another time (maybe during your lunch break?). Don’t feel bad about it – no one will fault you for your silence if you’ve got work to do. If they do, you probably don’t want to be chatting with them anyway.
2: Over-Reliance on Email
We’ve all become addicted to email as a form of communication. It’s convenient. It’s also a great way to keep an electronic trail of your correspondence (helpful if you’re ever challenged on a decision or occurrence). But a lot of time is wasted on back and forth emails that would be more easily resolved as a verbal conversation. Don’t even get me started on the oh-so-common “reply-to-all” debacle.
The solution: If there’s something that needs to be discussed, opt for a face-to-face conversation. Is the person you need to speak to on the other coast? Call them. And if you still want a written record, write up a quick email after the conversation outlining where things left off and send to all relevant parties. On the surface it seems like more steps, but it can mean the difference between an hour of work and a two-day back and forth email discussion.
3: Meandering Meetings
“Meetings about meetings.” You know the kind –- you get together for an hour and all you end up with is a list of what should be discussed in yet another meeting. Sure, meetings are an essential part of the workplace. But if run poorly, they can be a colossal waste of time.
The solution: Meetings should have a purpose; a set of tangible goals you want to accomplish. This should be realized by tackling a set agenda, which should be distributed to attendees before the meeting starts. Stay focused on the task at hand. If there are visual aides, have them set up and ready to go before the group enters the room. Finally, make sure you really need a meeting: if what you have to say can be just as easily shared in an email to the group, why get people up and away from their work?
4: Short Gaps Between Meetings
Speaking of meetings, what about those 15-30 minute gaps between them? What do you ever really accomplish in that time? Usually, very little. Sure, it gives you a bit of time to decompress, but it also takes you in and out of meeting mode for no apparent reason. If you have several meetings a day, that limbo time can amount to a couple hours of waste.
The solution: Schedule your meetings back-to-back if you can; you’ll knock them out more efficiently. The time in between is better clumped together at some point in the day so it can be used for productive endeavors.
5: Reacting to Interruptions
You’re in the middle of something when you get an “urgent” email. You reply, only to be accosted by a phone call shortly after. You hang up, only to be faced with yet another email that demands your response. And on and on. Before you know it, it’s 4pm and you still haven’t made a dent in what you’d started first thing this morning. Sound familiar? The average employee works for just 11 minutes before being distracted. No wonder we’re struggling to get things done.
The solution: It’s unavoidable – the hyper-connected workplace will throw constant interruptions at you. The trick is to learn how to react to them without taking away from the task at hand. If you’re busy, let your phone go to voicemail. Set aside three times a day where you manage your inbox. Of course, there are instances where an email demands an urgent reply. But more often than not, it doesn’t. Know the difference.
6: Ineffective Multi-Tasking
Everyone likes to think they’re great at multi-tasking. And maybe you are. But there’s a limit to how many things you can do at once without taking away from the quality of your work and, ultimately, slowing down the process. Shifting between five different projects at once? You’re probably wasting your time.
The solution: Prioritize and then break up your day accordingly. It’s the key to successfully completing any project. Write down everything you hope to achieve and assign a set time to do so based on importance. Don’t move on to the next task until you’ve really completed the previous one. Not only will you do a better job when you’re focused, you’ll also force yourself to finish something within the time allotted.
7: Disorganized Workspace
Your primary workspace might be the top of your desk, your desktop computer or most likely, a combination of the two. Either way, if it’s messy, you’ll end up wasting a lot of time looking for things.
The solution: A scattered workspace makes for a scattered mind. De-clutter, and you’ll manage your work more efficiently. Before you leave the office, clear your desk of cans, cups, food and paperwork. Use that file cabinet for something other than your box of saltines. Recycle paperwork you’re never going to use. And don’t add unnecessary items to your files – if you don’t need to print something out, don’t. Your company’s shared drive is perfectly capable of storing documents tidily.
8: Personal Communications
In the olden days, it was a little harder to get in the way with personal correspondence at work. Today, you can be constantly connected to friends and family without anyone really noticing. It’s no longer a question of “Will I get caught?” so much as “How much time am I wasting?” If you’re checking Facebook religiously, G-Chatting with friends or responding to personal emails the same way you do professional ones, the answer is: a lot.
The solution: These days, employers understand that you may spend some time at work doing personal things (after all, you spend so much time there). Leave your personal correspondence for your lunch break. You can check your various accounts all at once, guilt-free. Be firm with your friends and family about contacting you during work hours –- if they’re not reaching out to you between nine and five, you’ll be a lot less tempted to check in.
9: Web Surfing “Breaks”
You need to step away from what you’re working on so you search for reviews of that movie you’ve been dying to see. Before you know it, you’ve got six tabs open in your browser. You’re looking up concert tickets, shoes, today’s news and the etymology of a words. No need to ask where your afternoon went. Your browser history says it all.
The solution: Know your limits. If you’re tempted to look something up, wait until you’ve at least finished what you’re working on. Preferably, leave this type of search for your lunch break or the end of the work day. It’s just too easy to get sucked in when there’s endless information at your fingertips.
10: Cigarette/Coffee Breaks
Everyone needs to step away from their desk every once in a while. In fact, it’s been said that taking breaks can often make you more productive. But if you’re going out for a smoke or a coffee run every half hour (sounds extreme, but not totally unrealistic), you’re reducing your productivity to the bare minimum by never really getting into the groove of your work.
The solution: It’s a good idea to look away from your computer every fifteen minutes or so. But when it comes to breaks outside the office, reserve them to three a day: one mid-morning, one at lunch time, and one in the afternoon. Taking your full lunch break is key. If you’re out of the office for a solid hour mid-day, you’ll feel less of a need to step out for smaller breaks. And you’ll be able to get into the work groove – and stay there! – more often.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Effective ways to make a lesson plan
Master teachers are also master lesson planners. They can look at a learning goal and piece together key components that will ensure that their students meet the goal. Not all lessons need to be a reinvention of the wheel, but there are several hallmarks of well-crafted lesson plans. Whether you are building your own lessons, or searching through databases of lessons, be sure to include these 10 key components:
1. Learning Goal:
Every lesson plan should have a clearly defined learning goal, after all, that is the reason for teaching! I have seen some very inventive lesson plans that lack this important ingredient. No matter how entertaining a lesson may be, if it is lacking a learning goal, it has missed its mark.
There is a day celebrated annually by students all over the country affectionately referred to as Mole Day. Celebrated every year on October 23 (10-23), Mole Day honors Avogardro’s Number (6.02 × 10^23), which is a basic unit of measure in chemistry. There are some fun lesson plans out there for Mole day (and in fact entire websites dedicated to the celebration). Mole day is uniquely celebrated by creating moles (the animal) and creating a diorama that represents a play on the word ‘mole’. For example “guaca-mole” or “Remember the Ala-mole”. Students spend weeks creating their moles and mole puns. But in all the entertainment, does the lesson completely lose its meaning?
What does the mole (the animal) have to do with Avogardro’s Number aside from sharing a name? When the learning goal is lost, so is the learning. When writing and searching lesson plans, make sure you always have a clear learning objective in mind: everything hinges on this.
2. Resources:
List the resources needed for a lesson. Nothing is worse than having the perfect lesson planned only to find that you are missing an important material. Jotting down a list of resources needed for the lesson will ensure that you have all the paper, glue, copies, etc. when the time comes to use them.
Don’t forget to list digital resources as well. Make sure if you are using technology that the websites you intend to use with students aren’t blocked at school. A great lesson you created at home could come to a screeching halt if you can’t access the video you found the night before. Also, be sure to note any of the plug-ins that may be required for a website (Silverlight, Flash, Shockwave, etc.). Often, if you can plan ahead, your tech department can confirm that you have everything in place for your lesson.
3. Standards:
It is important to note any standards being met by the lesson. Most schools are requiring a standard tie in for every lesson. Even if your school doesn’t require that you note which standards you are meeting, it is good practice to be familiar with your state and national standards. You will be surprised how many standards you are meeting in any given lesson. You may also choose to note how a lesson falls into the scope and sequence for yearlong learning.
4. Anticipatory Set:
After the learning goal, the anticipatory set is one of the most important ingredients in a quality lesson plan. The anticipatory set engages your students in the learning that is about to happen. It sets the tone for the lesson and makes students hungry to learn more. Think of the anticipatory set as a movie trailer. The trailer doesn’t tell everything about the movie but provides enough glimpses to leave you wanting more. A good anticipatory set activates prior knowledge or encourages students to ask questions. Students learn, by making connections and exploring. Build anticipation for your lesson through props, secret notes from historians or scientists written to your class, a video clip, a song, a short story, or role play. Students love pretend play, so think about how you can get them to use their imagination and pretend as they are learning.
5. Introduction:
The introduction of your lesson is a great place to give your students a 30,000 foot view of the lesson. Tell your students what they will be learning (the learning goal) and give them an overview of what will be expected of them during the lesson. During the introduction, you can also begin to activate prior knowledge about the subject. Do this through class discussion, a KWL chart, or through small group or buddy discussion.
6. Direct Instruction:
Direct instruction is the meat of your lesson. This is where you are actually teaching or coaching your students. This can be done in a variety of ways. Sometimes direct instruction is simply giving students directions and guidelines for the self guided, discovery learning they will be completing independently or with a friend. During direct instruction, make sure that you are incorporating different learning styles. I have found that one of the best ways to teach something is through a story. Students may not recall a list of facts about the Civil War, but if you can tell an engaging story about an event from the Civil War that includes pictures and role-playing for students, they will be able to recall significantly more later on.
Humans learn and relate to the world through stories and pictures. When someone mentions September 11th, you likely don’t think about a definition type answer of what happened on that day. What comes to mind are the stories people told, the video, and pictures that you saw. This is how we construct and frame knowledge. As often as you can, teach through stories. This is a difficult task at first, because it requires each of us to become storytellers. The rewards are great and as you compose lesson plans; you too will begin to think in story.
7. Guided Instruction:
Guided instruction is the instruction that happens in small groups or one on one with students. This is the point where students have actually begun a project or assignment. As students work, you can encourage and guide students in their learning. Guided instruction gives you the opportunity to find out what your students know and can do through anecdotal assessment. You are observing and helping or redirecting as needed. Students can pair up in partners or work in small groups to guide each other in new learning or review. During this time, if you notice students who aren’t quite getting it, you can pull them into smaller groups to re-teach.
8. Assessment:
Every lesson should have some form of assessment. This can be formal, informal, or anecdotal in nature. Formal assessment is usually in the form of a test, quiz, worksheet, or project that is turned in and graded. Informal assessment can be done during direct instruction. Asking students to write down their answer on a small whiteboard and hold it up, using clickers with an interactive whiteboard, or a simple “thumbs up if you agree, thumbs down if you disagree”. These are all great informal ways to gauge understanding. Anecdotal assessment is usually done during guided instruction as you are walking around and observing your students understanding. Not every lesson needs to be graded but every lesson does need to be assessed. As the teacher, you need to know if your students understood the learning and what re-teaching or follow-up teaching may be required. Every lesson should include informal and anecdotal assessment throughout the lesson.
9. Closure:
Every lesson should have some type of closure where students can summarize or wrap up their learning.
# This could be done in several ways: Through informal class assessment with clickers or thumbs up/down
# Students could each list something they learned as a ticket to line up for lunch
# Students could write a sentence in their journal summarizing a lesson
# Students could whisper the answer to a question to their elbow buddy
# The class could complete the KWL chart
# Students could blog about their experience or learning
# Students can add a piece of learning to a Wall Wisher wall www.wallwisher.com
Often times a completed project is adequate closure for students, but don’t let them just turn the project in, let students show off their work to others and discuss.
10. Differentiated Instruction
Students all learn in different ways and at different rates. Make sure that you account for adjustments that may need to be made for students. For example, if you have a student who struggles with reading, and the history lesson for the day requires extensive reading, plan to pair them up with a buddy, make an audio recording, etc. Think about those who will struggle with the learning and make a plan for them.
Don’t let these rules for lesson planning overwhelm you. After you have written out a few lessons you will be able to start jotting notes down in your lesson planner and still fulfill every one of these key components for a quality lesson plan.
Lesson planning takes practice, but with a little planning, your students will be learning more effectively and you will know exactly where they need review or additional practice.
There are thousands and thousands of free lesson plans online. As you are looking through lessons, make sure that they follow these rules. If there is a component missing, add to the lesson and customize it for your classroom.
1. Learning Goal:
Every lesson plan should have a clearly defined learning goal, after all, that is the reason for teaching! I have seen some very inventive lesson plans that lack this important ingredient. No matter how entertaining a lesson may be, if it is lacking a learning goal, it has missed its mark.
There is a day celebrated annually by students all over the country affectionately referred to as Mole Day. Celebrated every year on October 23 (10-23), Mole Day honors Avogardro’s Number (6.02 × 10^23), which is a basic unit of measure in chemistry. There are some fun lesson plans out there for Mole day (and in fact entire websites dedicated to the celebration). Mole day is uniquely celebrated by creating moles (the animal) and creating a diorama that represents a play on the word ‘mole’. For example “guaca-mole” or “Remember the Ala-mole”. Students spend weeks creating their moles and mole puns. But in all the entertainment, does the lesson completely lose its meaning?
What does the mole (the animal) have to do with Avogardro’s Number aside from sharing a name? When the learning goal is lost, so is the learning. When writing and searching lesson plans, make sure you always have a clear learning objective in mind: everything hinges on this.
2. Resources:
List the resources needed for a lesson. Nothing is worse than having the perfect lesson planned only to find that you are missing an important material. Jotting down a list of resources needed for the lesson will ensure that you have all the paper, glue, copies, etc. when the time comes to use them.
Don’t forget to list digital resources as well. Make sure if you are using technology that the websites you intend to use with students aren’t blocked at school. A great lesson you created at home could come to a screeching halt if you can’t access the video you found the night before. Also, be sure to note any of the plug-ins that may be required for a website (Silverlight, Flash, Shockwave, etc.). Often, if you can plan ahead, your tech department can confirm that you have everything in place for your lesson.
3. Standards:
It is important to note any standards being met by the lesson. Most schools are requiring a standard tie in for every lesson. Even if your school doesn’t require that you note which standards you are meeting, it is good practice to be familiar with your state and national standards. You will be surprised how many standards you are meeting in any given lesson. You may also choose to note how a lesson falls into the scope and sequence for yearlong learning.
4. Anticipatory Set:
After the learning goal, the anticipatory set is one of the most important ingredients in a quality lesson plan. The anticipatory set engages your students in the learning that is about to happen. It sets the tone for the lesson and makes students hungry to learn more. Think of the anticipatory set as a movie trailer. The trailer doesn’t tell everything about the movie but provides enough glimpses to leave you wanting more. A good anticipatory set activates prior knowledge or encourages students to ask questions. Students learn, by making connections and exploring. Build anticipation for your lesson through props, secret notes from historians or scientists written to your class, a video clip, a song, a short story, or role play. Students love pretend play, so think about how you can get them to use their imagination and pretend as they are learning.
5. Introduction:
The introduction of your lesson is a great place to give your students a 30,000 foot view of the lesson. Tell your students what they will be learning (the learning goal) and give them an overview of what will be expected of them during the lesson. During the introduction, you can also begin to activate prior knowledge about the subject. Do this through class discussion, a KWL chart, or through small group or buddy discussion.
6. Direct Instruction:
Direct instruction is the meat of your lesson. This is where you are actually teaching or coaching your students. This can be done in a variety of ways. Sometimes direct instruction is simply giving students directions and guidelines for the self guided, discovery learning they will be completing independently or with a friend. During direct instruction, make sure that you are incorporating different learning styles. I have found that one of the best ways to teach something is through a story. Students may not recall a list of facts about the Civil War, but if you can tell an engaging story about an event from the Civil War that includes pictures and role-playing for students, they will be able to recall significantly more later on.
Humans learn and relate to the world through stories and pictures. When someone mentions September 11th, you likely don’t think about a definition type answer of what happened on that day. What comes to mind are the stories people told, the video, and pictures that you saw. This is how we construct and frame knowledge. As often as you can, teach through stories. This is a difficult task at first, because it requires each of us to become storytellers. The rewards are great and as you compose lesson plans; you too will begin to think in story.
7. Guided Instruction:
Guided instruction is the instruction that happens in small groups or one on one with students. This is the point where students have actually begun a project or assignment. As students work, you can encourage and guide students in their learning. Guided instruction gives you the opportunity to find out what your students know and can do through anecdotal assessment. You are observing and helping or redirecting as needed. Students can pair up in partners or work in small groups to guide each other in new learning or review. During this time, if you notice students who aren’t quite getting it, you can pull them into smaller groups to re-teach.
8. Assessment:
Every lesson should have some form of assessment. This can be formal, informal, or anecdotal in nature. Formal assessment is usually in the form of a test, quiz, worksheet, or project that is turned in and graded. Informal assessment can be done during direct instruction. Asking students to write down their answer on a small whiteboard and hold it up, using clickers with an interactive whiteboard, or a simple “thumbs up if you agree, thumbs down if you disagree”. These are all great informal ways to gauge understanding. Anecdotal assessment is usually done during guided instruction as you are walking around and observing your students understanding. Not every lesson needs to be graded but every lesson does need to be assessed. As the teacher, you need to know if your students understood the learning and what re-teaching or follow-up teaching may be required. Every lesson should include informal and anecdotal assessment throughout the lesson.
9. Closure:
Every lesson should have some type of closure where students can summarize or wrap up their learning.
# This could be done in several ways: Through informal class assessment with clickers or thumbs up/down
# Students could each list something they learned as a ticket to line up for lunch
# Students could write a sentence in their journal summarizing a lesson
# Students could whisper the answer to a question to their elbow buddy
# The class could complete the KWL chart
# Students could blog about their experience or learning
# Students can add a piece of learning to a Wall Wisher wall www.wallwisher.com
Often times a completed project is adequate closure for students, but don’t let them just turn the project in, let students show off their work to others and discuss.
10. Differentiated Instruction
Students all learn in different ways and at different rates. Make sure that you account for adjustments that may need to be made for students. For example, if you have a student who struggles with reading, and the history lesson for the day requires extensive reading, plan to pair them up with a buddy, make an audio recording, etc. Think about those who will struggle with the learning and make a plan for them.
Don’t let these rules for lesson planning overwhelm you. After you have written out a few lessons you will be able to start jotting notes down in your lesson planner and still fulfill every one of these key components for a quality lesson plan.
Lesson planning takes practice, but with a little planning, your students will be learning more effectively and you will know exactly where they need review or additional practice.
There are thousands and thousands of free lesson plans online. As you are looking through lessons, make sure that they follow these rules. If there is a component missing, add to the lesson and customize it for your classroom.
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