- The Together Teacher: Create a Personal Organization System
- The Together Leader: Create a Personal Organization System
- So, You Have Big Goals, Now What?! Create a Priority Plan
- The Together Team: Design Routines to Lead Effectively and Efficiently
- Ten Steps to Project Plan Heaven: Project Design, Planning, and Communication
- Consulting and Training Requests
- Together Teacher at Your School
The Together Teacher: Create a Personal Organization System
Effective teaching requires strong planning, time and task management, and organizational systems. Without a clear system to sort through the daily deluge, you can easily lose sight of what you need to accomplish in your classroom. The cost of not having a plan for how you spend your time is enormous. Your students suffer, you sleep too little, and you feel overwhelmed—a dreadful combination that doesn’t help anyone. Thankfully, with some intentionality, routines, and habits, it is possible to be an effective teacher—and have a life!
Together Teacher workshops focus on the purpose, process, and usage of five critical tools and four essential skills of successful teachers. Participants will learn about why they need each tool, review samples of various versions of the tool, and then select an actual tool that works for them. At the end of the workshop, each participant will create a customized, personal organization system that withstands the pressure of classroom teaching.
You will learn to:
- Plot how to use your limited amount of “free time” each week through the personalized design of a Weekly or Daily Worksheet
- Consolidate your many school calendars (field trips, testing, holidays and more!) into one Comprehensive Calendar
- Track long-term to-do’s and ideas through an Upcoming To-Do List
- Capture your thoughts for colleagues, about students, for written communication and ideas for the future by creating Thought Catchers
- Follow-up on those good notes taken during staff meetings, coaching sessions and professional development by creating systems for Meeting / PD Notes
- Tame the email monster by learning how you may be contributing to the problem, creating a plan for answering email, and writing more clearly
- Tackle the paper beast by intentionally arranging your teacher desk, creating systems for collecting and distributing papers, and transporting work between home and school
- Arrange your classroom for maximum efficiency by creating a Teacher Workspace, Classroom Jobs that actually help you, Distribution Centers, and more
- Save time by identifying areas in which you can wisely multi-task, outsource work to students, or batch process routine tasks
- Identify your own habits (the good and the bad), preference for paper or technology, and awareness of energy levels to support a strong organization system
- Fight those demons called perfectionism, procrastination, and distraction
You will receive:
- A complete electronic package of Together Teacher templates for personal customization
- Samples packet with over 30 examples of organization systems from educators of diverse backgrounds, content areas, and organization approaches
- A copy of The Together Teacher: Plan Ahead, Get Organized, and Save Time! (post June 2012)
- An organizational folder with blank templates already prepared
The Together Leader: Create a Personal Organization System
You will learn to:
- Imagine and implement your Ideal Week transposed onto your electronic calendar
- Consolidate your many calendars into one Comprehensive Calendar with all deadlines
- Track all of your to-do’s and ideas through an Upcoming To-Do List
- Capture your thoughts for colleague and teams by creating Thought Catchers
- Follow-up on next steps from check-ins and group meetings by developing multiple Meeting Note methods
- Tame the email monster by learning how you may be contributing to the problem, creating a plan for answering email, writing more clearly, and setting norms with your team
- Tackle the paper beast by intentionally arranging your desk, your work bag, and transporting work between home and the office
- Identify your own habits (the good and the bad), preference for paper or technology, and awareness of energy levels to support a strong organization system
- Utilize Google, Outlook, and other productivity apps with hands-on tutorials
- Fight those demons called perfectionism, procrastination, and distraction
You will receive:
- A complete electronic package of Together Leader templates for personal customization
- Samples packet with over 30 examples of organization systems from leaders of diverse backgrounds, content areas, and organization approaches
- If applicable, a copy of The Together Teacher: Plan Ahead, Get Organized, and Save Time! (post June 2012)
- An organizational folder with blank templates already prepared
So, You Have Big Goals, Now What?! Create a Priority Plan
Pre-Work:
- Track time for 2 – 3 day period
- Answer short survey about current priorities and emergencies
You will learn to:
- Analyze your time and identify what tasks will have most most and least impact
- Clarify priorities for the upcoming month and create a draft Monthly Map
- Identify “focus-killers” and create systems, expectations, and protocols to fight them away
- Articulate clear and systematic plan to keep their priorities alive through use of meeting structures, personal habits, and physical space
The Together Team: Design Routines to Lead Effectively and Efficiently
Pre-Work:
- Review case studies
- Complete a team systems self-assessment
You will learn to:
- Articulate purpose of components for effective team-based systems
- Evaluate attributes of team-based systems, such as weekly one-on-one meetings, staff meetings, and project-based meetings
- Identify common barriers to a team component and 1 -2 solutions on how to overcome
- Identify the biggest lever for team investment
- Improve or create a team system based on feedback from peers
Ten Steps to Project Plan Heaven: Project Design, Planning, and Communication
Pre-Work:
- Bring examples of past and current projects
You will learn to:
- Create and implement projects with clearly articulated vision, objectives, timeline, and resources
- Break down an upcoming project or goal into bite-size pieces
- Effectively communicate with and involve others in the project
For consulting and training requests, please fill out the form below.
Together Teacher at Your School
Many educators wonder if The Together Teacher holds open sessions for individual teachers. We currently do not based on demand from districts and school leaders, however, we recently piloted this option in Boston and New Orleans with great success. We look forward to offering this opportunity in more cities in the future. If you are interested in bringing The Together Teacher to your school, download this letter to share with your principal or administrator.