![]() Any new instructor can tell you that there is nothing more alarming than the thought of walking into class with nothing prepared and having fifteen faces staring at you. These are tasks that have an immediate deadline. ![]() Since I began teaching ten years ago, I have generally taken care of things in Quadrant 1 first. Shredding old tests and student work from five years ago.Putting in a work order to have my office floor stripped and waxed. ![]() Making photocopies of a handout of key discussion-leading phrases for the class that starts in 10 minutes.Printing off boarding passes and travel documents for the TESOL convention I’m headed to in the morning.Answering emails about switching computer labs with another teacher.Reorganizing my grade book on Blackboard so that it is clearer for students (and me) to interpret their grades.Working on program tasks that are not due for several months, such as working on the self-study for accreditation.Taking care of administrative tasks that have no set deadline other than my own target for example, post-test data analysis, testing reports, or updating handbooks and documents.Personal professional development, such as writing an article about a topic that has been on my mind, preparing a presentation for a conference coming up in a few months, or designing some classroom research.Planning a reunion for former students in order to better collect feedback on the program.Completing evaluations of student mentors working in my classes.Printing a report to present at a faculty meeting.Entering final grades into the university’s online system.Grading midterm exams and preparing grade reports that are due the following week.Grading a quiz so that I can return it the next day.Preparing the lesson for my next class and creating materials.The following examples illustrate how I look at the concerns and tasks in my own professional life. This will likely differ from person to person and will change as deadlines approach and events draw near. One of the challenges in prioritizing as a teacher, as well as in general life, is how to get beyond the urgent tasks, so that we are doing more than just “putting out fires.” We can apply Covey’s matrix to the daily tasks of a teacher by first identifying the degree of importance and urgency of each. This is all wonderful in theory (or in the life of a corporate CEO), but how does it apply to the busy life of an ESL teacher? On the other hand, focusing on the important/not urgent tasks in Quadrant II lead to vision, balance, and control. The results, he says are stress, burnout, and crisis management. But Covey says, “As long as you focus on Quadrant I, it keeps getting bigger and bigger until it dominates you” (p. Many people spend a lot of energy in Quadrant I, taking care of the important and urgent things. And in the fourth quadrant are tasks that are neither important nor urgent, things like busywork, playing video games, and so forth. In the workplace, these might be answering emails and phone calls. The third quadrant is for tasks that are not important, but urgent. The second quadrant is for tasks that are important, but not urgent, such as long-term planning and personal development. Common examples might be emergencies, such as fire or dealing with sick children. These are things that should be dealt with immediately. In the first quadrant are tasks that are both important and urgent. In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey (2004) provides a matrix to help us prioritize tasks based on importance and urgency. It was then that I began thinking more about Steven Covey’s (2004) time management matrix, something I had known about for many years but never gave much thought to. So with my course release time, I worried that my lesson planning might crowd into my administrative work. Likewise, whether I taught a lighter 12-hour load in the summer or a heavier 21-hour load in the fall, my classes would take up all of my time. I could spend my entire Saturday planning a lesson that, during the week, I would have to prepare for in only an hour, if that were all the time I had. One can spend an infinite amount of time preparing effective and engaging lesson materials. How would I efficiently manage such a huge block of unstructured time? In the day-to-day rhythm of teaching, prep time is like a vacuum. I was somewhat worried when I realized that my classes were all scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays, leaving my Mondays and Wednesdays completely open for lesson planning and my other projects. Several semesters back, I was given some course release time from my normal teaching load in order to do some administrative projects in our intensive English program.
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