Peer Review Committee

Managing Your Teaching Workload

or, How to Remain Sane and Happy During your Prison Sentence in Greenlaw

This page lists some tips that should help you balance your teaching workload so that it doesn't take over your life and keep you from ever finishing that damn Ph.D.

Create a Folder on Your Hard Drive for Each Class You Teach (and Back It Up on Your H Drive)

This folder should have easily accessible and organized subfolders with your syllabus, course policy statements, lesson plans, assignments, and course documents (including draft workshop sheets and handouts). If you keep your grades on a spreadsheet, start it early if at all possible, and keep it in this folder. You might also consider having subfolders for grammar, model papers, and ideas, or one for participation with a running word document on each student (whatever floats your boat).

Write a Lesson Plan for Every Class

I know that no one likes doing this, but you will teach English 11 and/or 12 many, many times over the course of your graduate study. Why reinvent the wheel? Use the sample lesson plan below (filling in appropriate info) or create one that better suits you, but type one up, print it out for class, and most importantly, save it, with a number, in your "lesson plan" subfolder (ex. "Lesson Plan 15"). You will thank yourself next year, and more than likely, your teaching will improve because you'll become more aware of how you break up class time. Good teachers use lesson plans - so quit bragging that you just wing it, Mr. Lazy, and get a grip - you and your students will be much happier.

Sample lesson plan format:

Lesson Plan 15

Monday, February 6

My Preparation: list anything you need to have prepped for class here, including handouts

Student Preparation: what they need to have prepped for class today

For next time: what's due next class

                                    _________________________________________________________

                                    Introductions                                                                         5 minutes write what you want to talk about

                                    Activity #1                                                                         10 minutes

or whatever you have planned

                                    Discussion of Activity #1                                                 7 minutes

                                    are there specific issues you want them to address?

                                    Activity #2                                                                         15 minutes

                                    In-class Drafting of Thesis                                                 7 minutes

                                    Wrap-up                                                                         5 minutes                               _________________________________________________________

                                    Notes for next time:

Designate Certain Times for Class Planning

Do not let this take up your whole day. Office hours can be a great time to plan your lessons and make handouts for the week. Just set a consistent time to work on it, and do not let yourself put it off until later.

Of course, the more planning/organizing you can do over the summer or during Winter Break, the less you have to do during the semester.

Make It Clear That You Are Not Their Slaves

Do this from the beginning of your class. I tell my students that they need to give me at least 36 hours notice if they want to make an appointment to meet with me. I also let them know that it might take me 24 hours to answer their email, and that I will not read papers sent to me over email. I also emphasize that papers are due on the day they are due, period. No last-minute emailed excuses, etc.

Keep your email interaction with students to a minimum whenever possible. Force yourself to reply to their concerns in a few sentences, and force them to rely on themselves and their classmates for answers (as much as possible) rather than you outside of class.

Don't Fret Over Your Grading

Remember, it's not rocket science. Read quickly and minimize comments. If you can't understand a sentence on the first read, it is the student's problem 99% of the time - unless you haven't been sleeping and are on drugs. So don't keep rereading a sentence thinking that it is you that can't get it. For god's sake, realize it just doesn't make sense and move on.

As with lesson planning, designate a set time, as in "I have 3 hours in my office on Saturday (ugh) to grade these papers" or "I'll grade 6 per hour, allocating 1 hour a day to them." Then do it. It might seem ridiculous, but telling yourself you are going to get through 8 papers in an hour actually helps it happen. It's some sort of weird visualization magic. Maybe there will be another handout with that as the topic.

I've also found that typing comments in a word document and then copying/pasting parts as applicable into comments for other students really helps speed things up, too.

Recycle Whenever Possible

You are taking exams in the Spring. You are really sick of the English 12 class you taught last Fall, but it is completely planned and ready to go. Should you (a) teach English 11 in the Spring, (b) try to work up a new class plan for English 12 in the Spring, or (c) do the same boring class again, and worry about transforming English 12 into "Composition Fun 101" after exams? It sounds too stupid to even mention, but DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE CREATE MORE WORK FOR YOURSELF THAN IS NECESSARY. Focus on your exams. Pass them. Then become teacher of the year.

Talk (But Only Over a Beer) to Other Graduate Students, and Ask To Use Their Ideas

Listen up, young one. We've all been through this. So buy us a beer and hit us up for ideas. 7 times out of 10, you'll end up with assignments, if not lesson plans and handouts, emailed to you. You might end up with a friend, and you'll have managed to make your happy hour buzz a productive one.