Copying how people get organized

How do they do it? I get to school at 7am and leave school kicking and screaming at 5pm because I still have so much to do! Then after I put the kids to bed I sit on the couch and watch TV with my husband and do more work. I am always amazed and jealous of those teachers that roll up 10 minutes before the kids walk in the door and leave as soon as they can gather their belongings.

I guess I wouldn't mind if when I walked into their rooms their students were all off task, or their scores were horrible or they just gave their kids worksheets all day. I would be able to excuse it away that I am really trying to do everything possible for my kids and they are just punching a time card, but that's not the case. Their kids are on task, the room looks put together, and their kids are making progress...great progress. What am I doing wrong? 

I have decided that this is going to be a year where I need to be more efficient. I would always talk to my second graders about "cutting efficiently" or "working efficiently". We want to be quick but accurate. Easier said than done. 

I make to-do lists. I love them actually. There is something so satisfying about crossing things out. Feeling productive. Getting this done. I admit that sometimes I write things on my list after I have already finished just so I can cross something off. go to the bathroom I got tired of all the post-it notes all over my classroom, car, and school bag so I began using a spiral notebook to house all the notes in one place. I would even turn to the back of the notebook and write down things I wanted to remember to change for the next school year. (Smart idea right?!? I was so proud when I though of that cause I'm SO not original). 

The to-do lists aren't the problem. The problem is that I end up filling up the pages with more things to do before I ever get to cross anything off. Here is what my kitchen table looks like...

This is ridiculous!!! I need to find a way of streamlining my life so that when I get home from school I am actually present this year. I don't want to miss out especially since I have enjoyed all this good kid time this past year. 

So I Googled. I found a website where a lady wrote a blog called zenhabits: breathe. One of her posts was entitled, "How to Actually Execute Your To-Do List: or Why Writing It Down Doesn't Actually Get It Done." HOLY COW THIS IS FOR ME!!! If you are like me this article is for you. 

According to the article, I would be categorized under the "I get started but get distracted"...is it just me or the longer one teaches the shorter their attention span becomes? I digress...So here are the nuggets I'm going to copy for the rest of this summer and into the school year:

1. Small Tasks: Only work for 15-20 minutes on a task and then move on.
2. Single Task: DON'T DO MULTIPLE TASKS AT THE SAME TIME!! This is so hard for me. I am like that dog in Disney's Up who is talking and shouts "squirrel!" 
3. Unplug: Close all task windows except for the one you are on. NO SOCIAL MEDIA...I get lost in a Facebook/Instagram/Pinterest vortex, as my husband calls it, and realize I have been lost for an hour.
4. Clear your desk: or in this case my dining room table! This is key for me, "Distractions can come from visual clutter." HOLY COW that's exactly how it starts. I see something that needs to be done. Oh this will be really quick I say (kind of like me sitting down to jot down a few notes for this post and I have been here for 45 minutes) This also made me think of my classroom. If I'm distracted what about my kids?!? (I think I just found my next post subject...) FOCUS SARAH!!! See what I mean?
5. Focus: enough said I think I just proved this point.
6. Take breaks: This is where I get tripped up because I feel like if I stop I will never get started again or I will start something new. So here is what I'm going to try: a timer. I'm going to treat myself like one of my students that needs a brain break and I'm going to set a timer. When it goes off I will get back to work.

Do you have the same problem I do with getting your to-do list done? Leave a comment and let my know strategies I can copy to be more efficient.

Kindergarten or bust!!

Ok so here goes...I'm a 30 something, mother of 2, wife, and teacher in Maryland. I recently took a year off after teaching for 9 years in low income schools at various grade levels to stay at home with my kids. 

I don't know what it's like where you live and teach, but here in Montgomery County Maryland if both parents aren't working, you will run out of funds faster than you can say, "Holy crap we are broke!" So after a lot of discussions and happy hours with my besties who are still teaching, my husband and I realized we need the benefits and I still have a small itch to be a teacher. Ok it's more like a full body, I can't stop myself rash!! This was made very apparent when I was offered a position as a kindergarten teacher and immediately got off the phone and started Pinteresting ideas for my classroom at the dinner table. 

I have known for about 2 months that I will be teaching kindergarten, and I have spent about 30 seconds less than that planning my first year. I spend every waking moment reading kindergarten blogs, reading books by "The Sisters", buying EVERYTHING that is offered on Teachers Pay Teachers, and printing, laminating, and organizing all my new finds. Now I know you know nothing about me and when I say I have bought everything you think ok, she bought a few things...she has laminated a few stations...

Each of these bins contains amazing math stations and Daily 5 word work activities. All of these beauties I have gotten off Teachers Pay Teachers from an AMAZING kindergarten blogger, Martha McGuire. If you are not following this woman yet, you are stupid. She is amazing and she has changed my life. I first saw something of hers on Pinterest.  I began staying up til all hours of the morning reading and rereading her blog from the beginning (she started in 2012). I had never seen such adorable activities and ideas of how to teach the same boring concepts for an entire year, but make them come alive for the kids. I was/am truly obsessed. I began talking about her so much, my sister coined her my "best friend." Everything she makes I want to buy, as evidenced by my first TPT purchase of over a hundred dollars of only things she has made for the first quarter (back to school, apples, farms, harvest, etc), downloading every free product she offers, buying the exact same bins she has with the labels, and signing up for Stitch-fix. I want to be this woman. I want to start the year off and WOW the pants off everyone. 

Am I the only one who thinks this way? I want people to walk into my classroom and say, "Wow, she is so organized." "Wow, her students are the best behaved." "Wow, her reading and math data is amazing." "Look at that bulletin board!" It is for this reason I spend every waking moment trying to learn everything I can about how to be better. 

Let me be very clear...my classroom is never the most organized. My students are never the best behaved. My math and reading data is never the best, but a girl can dream can't she? 

This is my goal for this year and my reason behind this blog. I am one of those people who is SO not creative...but I'm a really good COPY CAT. I like to find things that other people have done and try them out. In a planning meeting I never come up with really good original ideas, but I DO take other peoples ideas and run with them. So this year, I plan on taking the ideas of greater kindergarten teachers and trying them out in my classroom. I would love for you to join me in my journey.