Make Time to Teach: Ten Tools for Reducing Paperwork
What happens when paperwork starts to crowd out time with students?
Is there a way to streamline the forms that can take over a teacher's
life? Educator Brenda Dyck has found ten online tools that help
her reduce paperwork and give her more time to teach.Included:
Practical Web sites designed save teachers time.
They say a teacher will never forget his or her first class. That must be true, because 28 years later, I still can picture those students' faces. I can still recite many of their names and recall many moments of learning that we shared.
It is also amazing to me that, after all these years, the call in my heart to teach is as fresh as it was when I met that first class in 1974. I am as excited now as I was then when my instruction and my students' understanding collide!
AN INTRUDER IN THE CLASSROOM
Sadly, however, I get a sense that now an intruder threatens to sap my passion. I worry that the intruder might prevent me from putting as much energy as I can into creating lessons that energize me and engage my students. That intruder is… paperwork.
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It seems to me that paperwork has slowly crept into my daily life at
school -- and now threatens to overwhelm it. With its roots firmly planted
in the soil of accountability, I find I am spending more time than ever
filling out forms in order to fulfill expectations from all levels of
administration. Sometimes the weight of that paperwork is unbearable.
Recently, I took part in a MiddleWeb
listserv discussion, in which we talked about the mind-boggling mountain
of paperwork that comes our way. The MiddleWeb teachers came up with more
than 75 ways that paperwork intrudes on their lives. With all that paperwork,
I wonder how teachers find the time to teach!
Even the list's chaotic background music -- The Simpson's theme
-- seems to mirror the hectic pace of school too, doesn't it?
DIGGING OUT FROM UNDER
Thankfully, a handful of free online tools have come to my rescue. Those
tools have helped streamline some of the most tedious paperwork tasks
that get in the way of one-on-one time with my students. They have helped
me bury some of the paperwork. They have helped me focus on my "soul mission"
-- connecting with my students. Best of all, those tools enhance my instruction
time by helping students reflect, organize, and think in new ways.
Learning
Checklists
This practical learning tool scaffolds students as they learn to take
responsibility for their learning. It enables me to create customized
checklists that I can print for student use.
Blogs
Just when you think you've seen everything, the Web comes up with another
powerful learning tool! Blogs provide a place for students and teachers
to "think" online -- separately or together. The Blogger Web site provides
space for journaling, organizational thinking, locating research sources,
having classroom discussions, or even publishing student work.
RubiStar
Rubistar's easy-to-use template helps teachers create curriculum-specific
rubrics in a minimum amount of time. The rubrics help define assignment
expectations for students and they speed up the marking process
for teachers.
Paperwork Doesn't Work!
Teachers on the MiddleWeb listserv listed 77 paperwork tasks that
intrude on their actual teaching. Those include
* Giving and recording assessments.
* Filling out student behavior logs.
* Maintaining a "parents to call" sheet.
* Writing action plans for failing students.
* Sending home discipline notices.
* Writing lesson plans.
* Updating the homework log and homework hotline.
* E-mailing parents.
* Replying to e-mails from parents.
* Writing a monthly newsletter for parents.
* Inventorying textbooks.
* Updating the attendance register...
And the list goes on! How much of this mountain
of paperwork is familiar to you?
Zoomerang
This online survey tool provides a way to find out what students, parents,
and peers know and think. The survey results arm educators with data to
adjust and improve instruction and communication.
ThinkTank
This site offers a fun way for students to create research organizers
for reports and projects. It is a great tool for guiding student thinking.
Puzzlemaker
This practical Web site turns word lists into customized word search,
crossword, and math puzzles. Puzzles can be saved in a "custom account"
to be retrieved later.
iKeepBookmarks
This site not only organizes favorite Web page bookmarks, but it creates
special topical folders for students to use as they research specific
topics.
The
Connection Cube
Helping students make connections between what they already know and new
learning is one of the most important things teachers do. This online
tool helps students connect learning to new contexts.
Teacher
Forms and Letters
Downloadable templates are listed in four categories: Discipline, Academic,
Communication, and Other.
Brenda Dyck teaches at Master's Academy and College in Calgary, Alberta (Canada). In addition to teaching sixth grade math, Brenda works with her staff in the area of technology integration. Her "Electronic Thread" column is a regular feature in the National Middle School Association's Journal, Middle Ground. Brenda is a teacher-editor for Midlink magazine.
