Working Ahead

I have never been a person to leave things to the last minute. I like to plan and organize well in advance. My brain shuts off around 7 p.m., so it really doesn’t work for me to pull all-nighters. I love marking up my planner and my computer is neatly organized into folders, dated and titled in a way that would make perfect sense to anyone.

As you probably already know, next year will be my first year teaching. It is quite daunting as I gather curriculum for my students. I have quite a few prep periods, so it is important that I stay organized and have plenty of material to keep my students interested and engaged. I have been reading and taking notes all summer. Along with this, I have been putting together what I call “skeleton lesson plans.” Eventually I will want to add more details to these lesson plans, but I am already glad that I have been working ahead.

The thing about teaching is that everything is completely unpredictable. It is almost silly to plan too far in advance because you just never know what could happen. I may go to school and find out there is an assembly, fire drill, or early out for all of the members of the track team. Flexibility is a must. My motto for next year: “Over plan and go with the flow.”