Two years ago I began this blog. Two years?! How is that even possible?! Well, I know it's possible, because a LOT has happened in the last two years!! Our family has grown and so did the size of my classes - and between those two things life became exceptionally hectic and my focus wasn't on blogging... shocking, right?! :)
All of these things have brought me to the place where I am now personally and professionally. I need to use my time very efficiently, both at school and at home. One of my colleagues introduced me to the OHIO method. OHIO stands for Only Handle It Once. OK, so admittedly i'm not always perfect at this - but it has certainly helped me a lot. My new normal is that when I have something in my hands - no matter what it is - I deal with it right then. So, for example, if I have a piece of paperwork needing to be filed - I file it. I don't put it in a basket that is labeled "to file" and then never get around to it - or have the basket become so full that now the task is daunting.
So, now onto my life as a teacher - because that is really why you are probably reading my blog in the first place. OHIO has helped (see above), but this summer I didn't go in to school much at all. Especially compared to what I've done other summers. Why? Well, that answer can be found by looking at the weather we've had this summer. Massachusetts has been in a major drought. What does the drought have to do with school and my classroom??? My personal rule for summer always was that I would go in and work on rainy days. We have had VERY few of those - and the few we had, I already had other plans. So, here we are, with time ticking on summer, and my classroom still needing to be set up and organized for the coming school year.
While scrolling through Facebook the other day I saw a fellow blogger post a video that showed how she set up her classroom in just 3 hours. 3 hours I thought?! No way!! Well, she did it - and her room looks a lot like mine does now - boxes of things moved from their usual homes for summer storage. The one huge difference I noticed is that she had a lot of nice in classroom storage which I do not, but hey, I'm up for the challenge anyway!! So, this is the beginning of my "3 hour classroom prep challenge" series! Are you willing to take the challenge with me?????
I know what you are thinking... "I can't do that!" "It's not NEARLY enough time!". Well, the blogger I watched did - and I'm going to try to do it as well, but with my own spin.
THE CHALLENGE...
Spend just 3 hours at your actual classroom setting up.
**Just think of all the extra time you'll have to be at home, watching the Olympics, reading, doing ANYTHING you want!
This means... do all of those little preparation tasks from HOME before you go to school. I'll outline them for you in my upcoming blog posts. Do them in your living room, on your patio, where ever you are comfy! You don't even have to get out of your pjs! Take the challenge with me! Let's see if we can do this together!!!
Oh, and if you are wondering about that blogger who inspired me? Here is a link to the video I saw earlier this week: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2013/08/classroom-setup-three-hours-and-done
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