Week 6 Instructor Notes Notes from the Field I used to tell my father that I wish I had eight days in my week. I will never forget his response: “What for? You would just fill it up with something!” He knew me too well. What he didn’t know was that I had learned that behavior from someone—I wonder who! I believe I could write a book on time management. Since technology made its debut, we have been told that we will “have more time” to get everything done. I remember a time when it took my mom all day to do the family laundry. We had a big, old wringer washer. If the water became too dirty, Mom would empty it and start with clean water. After she washed everything in sight that appeared to be dirty, she had to hang all of it out to dry— many times having to wait until some of the laundry dried. She could take it down and have room to hand out the rest. Toward evening, it was time to take the clothes down and bring them in the house. It was an all-day affair! Then enter the automatic washer and dryer era—what a time saver that was in comparison to the old way! As all of us know, our worlds have been evolving with “time savers” ever since, but it seems that no one has any more time. I marvel at all of the resources that are available to teachers through the Internet and a mouse click! That would have been so helpful had we had that option when I taught sixth grade. I have to be careful not to generalize, but I think I have seen more articles written on the subject in the last decade and fewer people actually managing their time well—especially in our circles! My parents taught me “time management” in no uncertain terms. They saw to it that I either managed my time or they would do it for me! It still rings in my ears: “Never put off until tomorrow what you can today.” My dad even added, “Don’t let it take you an hour to do what you can do in fifteen minutes.” I am sure you get the picture! Even my piano teacher got in on the act with “Do the worst-us first-us.” Those were her exact words. She spoke German very fluently, and when I wanted to do the easy parts of my lesson first and catch the arpeggios later, she would always tell me to do what I disliked first and then I could play the music that I enjoyed! This nine-year-old piano student learned her lesson well, and it was very good training along with learning how to read music. Both my parents and my piano teacher taught me a life-skill that I still use today. Let’s look at what might be the culprit in stealing time. Even though we have the Internet where we can readily go for information, have you caught yourself starting to research a particular topic only to find something more interesting to read, and when you finally look up, your lack of focus has eaten up some time you could have been using more wisely? I’ll watch one more television show; I’ll play one more video game; then I will get to the business at hand. Have you had those experiences? Several years ago, I heard an educator speak and one of his tenets was time management. He spoke about the problem many of us have in “peeling bananas for other people’s monkeys.” Let me explain. As we walk down the hall to our offices, we come upon someone who tells us about something he or she has to do, and the complaint usually is, “I just don’t have the time to do that.” We do what is natural. We feel sorry for the person and what do we do? We want to help, so we jump right in and take that monkey off the person’s back, put it on ours, and start “to peel a banana” for the money. Further down the hall, we meet another colleague. That one has a bigger job to do—a bigger “monkey.” Again, the same sob story from this colleague and once again, we feel sorry for the teacher andWeek 6 Discussion – Managing Interruptions
After completing this week’s Readings and Resources, respond to the following questions.
Managing interruptions will more than likely be your greatest challenge. There is always someone vying for your attention. Your text mentions that “greater control of your time means greater freedom.”

How does this quote resonate with you?
Have you already experienced this in your internship, or perhaps observed it in your school?
What does it mean to you to have greater freedom because you have control of your time? Give some examples where you have found this to be true.

Your initial responses are due by 11:55 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday and should be between 200-250 words. The initial posting should be a statement of your point of view on the question, supported by the required readings.
Links:

https://www.naesp.org/blog/time-management-101

https://marshallmemo.com/articles/Time%20Management%20PL%20Mar%2008.pdf