Sheila-Smiths-Time-Management-Project

Running head: TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT Time Management Project Sheila B Smith Virginia Commonwealth University EDLP 708 TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT Time Management While time is finite, how to spend one’s time is not Humans are very creative with how they spend their time; some cram as much in as they can, some mix in time for both work and play, while others have perfected the art of wasting time To be a successful school leader, I must use my time wisely as the responsibilities and tasks are many while the time is limited I tend to think of the school year as 180 days, 9.5 months, or 36 Mondays This helps remind me that there are only so many opportunities to make a difference in the learning lives of our students Managing my time to maximize these learning opportunities is an important and valuable skill for me to master For this time management project, I engaged in several tasks to increase my personal reflection of the use of my time while at work I began with consideration of my personal professional goals in relation to what I remember my job description to be, which I have not seen in 12 years I then compared this informal job description with the actual one and determined there are tasks that have become second nature I came to the realization that I have come to believe that my responsibilities are completed in isolation Secondly, I conducted a miniature literature review on topics related to time management that interested me; how to deal with unplanned events and interruptions, restructuring my time to better impact student learning, and suggestions for putting energy into the right tasks at the right time The third activity I completed for this project was to interview a practicing administrator while focusing on questions related to the articles read on time management Then, I kept a record of how I spent TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT my time as a middle school principal for two separate weeks, and summarized my reflections related to my professional goals and job description Finally, I created a plan of action to include implementation of strategies learned through this project Professional Goals in Relation to My Informal Job Description I am a veteran educator having worked twenty-nine years in public schools I spent fourteen years as a middle school teacher and am in my fifteenth year as an administrator Each school year brings opportunities for renewal and review; new students, sometimes new staff members, and always new strategies for maximizing learning for students My professional goals as a middle school principal include serving as an instructional leader and human resource manager, school facilities manager, disciplinarian responsible for safety, and serving as a liaison between the School Board, school, and community As an instructional leader and human resource manager my goals include: • Hiring and retaining highly effective teachers and support staff , • Serving as a resource to teachers, • Supporting teachers professional development needs, • Ensuring that all staff follow School Board policies and procedures, • Assuring alignment between what is taught, written, and assessed by observing instruction, providing timely feedback, and ensuring professional development to address • staff weaknesses, Collaborating with local instructional leaders to ensure the availability of a viable • curriculum, Creating a master schedule that facilitates student access to rigorous course selections while providing opportunities for both targeted enrichment and remediation, • Monitoring the creation of assessments for student learning, • Communicating with all stakeholders the importance of effective instruction, • Ensuring preservation of instructional time by minimizing interruptions, • Providing a safe and caring learning environment, • Responding to crisis and concerns with a level head and effective problem solving, • Determining long and short term goals for improvement As a facilities manager my goals are: • Maintaining the upkeep of the building and grounds to include preventative maintenance, cleanliness, concerns for safety, and timely responses to emergencies, TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT • Maintaining open communication with contracted custodial service, • Ensuring acquisition and maintenance of furniture appropriate to learning, As a disciplinarian responsible for safety my goals are: • Enforcing and informing all stakeholders of the county policies related to student and • adult behavior, Creating, informing, and enforcing school policies in alignment with county policies • related to student and adult behavior, Administering consequences in a fair and equitable manner as established by School Board policy when rules and policies are broken, • Providing supports for staff who struggle with classroom management and discipline, As a liaison between the School Board, School and Community my goals are: • Communicating a shared vision and support of student learning Comparisons between My Informal and Formal Job Description There are many similarities between my informal and formal job descriptions Both document my responsibilities as an instructional leader, facilities manager, disciplinarian and liaison between the School Board, my school and community The formal job description was more detailed and included an overall expectation of my working with others and not in isolation Examples include, “works with others to maintain atmosphere conducive to learning,” “Advises the office of Human Resources staffing needs,” and “Works with other school and division administrators to provide for horizontal and vertical articulation of programs with unity.” Details left out of the informal job description which were in the formal job description included providing supervision of students at extracurricular events, developing appropriate procedures for attendance and health of students, organizing and supervising matters related to student registration and orientation, working with advisory groups such as Social Services and the PTO, administering a school budget and utilizing available funds, involving myself in professional enrichment to keep abreast of developments in middle school education, maintaining relationships with the community by facilitating use of the school building and grounds, and addressing complaints and resolving problems These details and inconsistencies TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT are not surprising to me as I am involved with all of these practices on a daily basis as a principal I suppose I did not mention those in my informal job description as I not feel I need improvements in those areas and is not something which is talked about during my evaluations The formal job description included knowledge, skills, and abilities required of a middle school principal These include: • Demonstrates leadership qualities and personal characteristics necessary for working effectively with students, parents, teachers, administrators and the community, • Reads, analyzes, and interprets general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, and governmental regulations, • Writes reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals, as needed, • Effectively presents information and responds to questions from groups, staff, parents and the general public, • Defines problems, collects data, analyzes data, establishes facts, and draws valid conclusions, • Interprets an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deals with several abstract and concrete variables, • Applies knowledge of current research and theories in specific fields, • Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with students, staff and the community, • Communicates clearly and concisely both in oral and written form TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT The knowledge, skills, and abilities are qualifiers for the tasks expected of a principal and are used to evaluate the performance of principals annually These should serve as guidelines for how the list of essential job functions are to be accomplished The goals and job description I provided informally were just a list of tasks, which did not include the conditions My next step in self assessment will to make goals, which include more than just completing tasks but to what level of effectiveness I desire for improvement Mini Literature Review of Scholarly Articles on Time Management Embracing the Ambiguity Bresciani, Duncan, and Cao (2010) provided suggestions to their colleagues for dealing with unplanned events in hopes they could model effective holistic thinking for their struggling students Twelve strategies were offered requiring the user to choose how to spend their time: 1) Schedule time for your health and happiness first 2) Determine what is most important to you and make time for it For example, if being home when your children get off the bus is important to you, schedule all other events around that so you can be there 3) Find out if your values conflict with your bosses values so you can plan how they will mesh 4) Be resilient and reflective in case priorities need to change 5) Schedule in extra time for transitions, interruptions, and emergencies 6) Breathe deeply to relax 7) Use only positive thoughts and words 8) Don’t work for students which they should themselves 9) Only attend meetings where an agenda exists 10) Use the good found in one role to support the weaknesses in another role TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT 11) “Take time to celebrate” (Bresciani, Duncan and Cao, 2010, p 21) 12) Give your full attention to your priorities – be in the moment The authors suggested it is not possible to find balance by managing one’s time in defined chunks determined by roles Instead, the authors encourage the adoption of a holistic view of one’s self to free up time, relieve stress, and increase effectiveness Recognizing Leaders’ Time Walker (2010) conducted research on restructuring principal’s time and the impact on student learning Walker (2010) began with a literature review and summarized that “research suggests that leader influence, direct and indirect, is critical for student learning” (p 215) The author detailed the recent additional responsibilities and increase in hours per week for a principal to serve as an instructional leader while remaining the school manager Research cited indicated principals only spend an average of 30% of their workweek on instruction and the rest on managerial tasks Walker (2010) reported on a 2002, Wallace Foundation project called “Alternative Administrative Study” (p 215), which looked at what caused a principal to put instruction on the back burner This project created a new position titled School Administration Manager or SAM and assumed managerial tasks, freeing up the principal to spend more time with teachers and students on instruction After three years with the SAM position in Iowa schools, principals spent on average forty percentage points more of their time one instruction; either observing teaching or working with students on instruction “The Wallace Foundation supports the program in 300 schools in nine states” (p 216) School districts interested in this project have three models to choose from with three requirements The project delineates the responsibilities for the SAM and the principal so the principal can focus more on instruction TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT The SAM position may provide a viable solution for helping principals to focus more of their time on instruction Time Management and Task Trap Pani (2012) conducted a research project on the use of time by managers Data was collected and analyzed related to interviews, shadowing of four managers, and literature reviews In this article, Pani (2012) emphasized the reality that time is a nonrenewable resource which can be handled better after analysis and implementing unique strategies Time management is defined as “the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity” (p 14) Evidence of time management which is done well included getting more done while avoiding the negative impact of poor time management on one’s health, productivity, and family relations Topics discussed in this article related to time management included the following: 1) Lists of ways managers waste their times: unclear objectives, poor or lack of information, procrastination, interruptions, telephone, no planning, meetings, incompetent personnel, no delegation, no priorities, poor organization, fatigue, socializing, poor fitness, lack of concentration, and not being able to say no 2) Myth about time and work: working long hours doesn’t equal getting more done 3) Steps to be taken to manage time more effectively: Begin by recording how your time is spent, decide percent of day you want to spend on each category, set daily goals, evaluate and analyze frequently, stop time wasters Pani (2012) argued that time can be better managed by “planning, allocating, setting goals, delegation, analysis of time spent, monitoring, organizing, scheduling, and prioritizing” (p 15) TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT Calling Time Out on Work Interruptions Huppke (2012) wrote this article for the Chicago Tribune imploring that we get a handle on interruptions and distractions at work now, before technology completely controls our lives Research referenced in this article indicated that 45% of workers last only 15 minutes before being interrupted Half of the 500 businessmen surveyed admitted they waste one hour on distractions daily with 60% involving the use of computers or cell phones on some form of communication not related to work The author contended distractions are not only caused by others interrupting us but we also interrupt ourselves This article argued the human ego gets in the way of our ability to maintain attention to task The author dispelled beliefs related to humans thinking they can be more productive by multitasking Research indicated there is loss of time when having to refocus on a task The second ego trip is related to human belief in selfimportance; they feel they must respond immediately to emails or texts due to others not being able to function without their input, attention, or thoughts Ways to Use Less Energy to Get More Done Porter 2014) compared a work day to a marathon, and like a runner, we need to prepare and pace ourselves The author cited benefits of better memory, being able to pay better attention, and ease of movement between tasks for those who focus on only one thing at a time Strategies given to avoid distractions included prioritizing tasks by doing the important tasks first, leaving emails for later in the day and blocking off two hours a day as ‘no-interruption’ periods of time The author shared six recommendations from Energy Project CEO Tony Schwartz who works with Fortune 500 companies on time management Schwarts demanded that breaks are taken from work every 90 minutes, which agrees with the natural body rhythms TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT 10 1) Focus on the positive: Focusing on negatives wastes energy Worrying about mistakes and what went wrong is not productive 2) Save the easiest task for last: Hard tasks should be completed first while you have energy and when you are more likely to avoid distractions 3) Work in short stents: Large tasks leave us feeling that there is not end Breaking the task into smaller chunks makes the task more manageable and less daunting 4) Build in routines: We stay focused during routines Making rest and renewal part of the daily routine will increase productivity 5) Get sleep: Each person requires a different amount of sleep for optimal performance Analyze how you feel when you wake up to determine if you got enough rest Sleep the length of time which makes you feel your best 6) Conduct frequent self-monitoring: It is recommended you periodically during the work day check your energy level Determine on a scale from to 10, how much energy you have Take a break if you rate your energy level or below Administrator Interview I interviewed my supervisor, who is the Executive Director of Secondary Education and Leadership For the purposed of this paper I will call him EDSEL He has served as a high and middle school administrator prior to assuming this current position I was interested in interviewing him as I assumed he would have valuable time management strategies in place to share since he has a position promoted a step above my own and because he once walked in my shoes I obtained and altered some of the interview questions asked from Ngwabi (2014) who wrote them for small businesses The selected questions related to the articles read for the TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT 11 literature review and focused on planning, dealing with interruptions, road blocks, and effective strategies for managing time I began with asking EDSEL to describe a typical week to get a broad scope of his responsibilities Similar to a principal, he has meetings with leadership members, conducts visits to schools similar to classroom observations, meets with directors similar to my meetings with department heads, meets with community members similar to my PTO meetings, professional development, handles communications through email and telephone, and “puts fires out.” His week parallels mine but on a grander scale I believe I can manage a majority of my workweek by planning events and meetings at least a week in advance I try to schedule everything to leave no room for procrastination or wasted time I asked EDSEL how he planned his work Like me, he manages tasks by establishing priorities a week in advance; addressing what has a deadline first He then determines what can be delegated to others and sometimes breaks a task into parts to put a team on the task I like the way he plans delegation since this is a weakness of mine I then wanted to talk about those things that we can’t plan – interruptions EDSEL does not turn anyone away In fact, he positioned his desk to face the door so he can make eye contact with those who walk by I, too, have an open door policy and will save paperwork to be done after staff and students are gone for the day People are important to our job I asked what he considered to be an interruption He described a system he and his secretary share to help him kindly remove himself from someone just dropping in to monopolize his time His secretary will call him only to ask if he needs an out I laughed at this as my secretary and I have the same secret system If I need to get back to a pressing issue, I kindly tell the person who dropped in I have to take this call EDSEL does allow his cell phone to interrupt him In fact, I found it rude TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT 12 that he constantly looked at his phone while I interviewed him Of course I did not tell him what I thought, but I not allow emails on my phone to dictate my schedule like he does I schedule times to look at emails around larger, more important tasks like classroom observations and meetings EDSEL did mention emergencies arise which require his immediate attention An angry parent always gets a face-to-face meeting as he feels this calms the parent down much faster and better than a phone call I tend to handle angry parents over the phone more than face to face I try to see what is convenient for the parent, but can see value in a face-to-face meeting Next, we talked about road blocks to his time management The only factor which seemed to get in his way is when someone else does not complete their assigned task on time He expressed some frustration when this occurs and the task falls on him to complete He explained he attacks tasks as if the job depends on him; he has never missed a time line While I too have never missed a dead line, I experience several road blocks in my efforts to manage time These include students sent to the office for disciplinary reasons, a teacher stepping in to share bad test results from a doctor’s appointment, reprimanding a teacher for poor judgment, or a parent who just drops in to complain about something a teacher did I asked EDSEL if he experienced any emergencies like these He shared he spends 40% of his time on either parent concerns or athletics He always tries to get back to instruction Our jobs are not much different The final area we discussed related to what he considered to be the most effective time management strategies The two strategies he uses on a consistent basis are delegation and knowing when to “shut it off.” He explained when he gets home, he is 100% there; he gives between 50 and 85 hours a week to his job and feels his family deserves his full attention when he is home He “dumbs down” by watching TV with his kids and wife and enjoys talking with TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT 13 his wife as she makes him laugh He explained his family rejuvenated him and gave him the energy to return to the grind the next day I’ve heard that those who work hard - play hard I’m glad to hear he knows how to relax Personal Time Management Results As a school principal, I am charged with and desire to serve my school as the instructional leader To reach this goal I need to be conscious of how I spend my time to get the job done and then to reorganize my time to ensure I can maximize my effect on instruction To this end, I collected data on how I spent my time during one week in September and then for another week two weeks later Fourteen categories were selected based on how I spent my time and include the following: 1) Instructional Leadership Activities: Observing classroom instruction, writing observation summaries, post-observation conferences, meeting with the School Improvement Planning team to discuss improvements, attending professional development related to new instructional practices, leadership team meetings, Professional Learning Community (PLC) math meetings, working with teachers on creating and approving professional goals, leading the instructional calendar committee meetings, faculty meetings, and county K-12 principal meetings 2) Supervision of Students Activities: Morning greetings and hall monitoring, bus and lunch duty, class change hall monitoring, after school activities, and waiting for parent pick-up 3) Discipline Activities: Investigations and parent communication 4) Email Activities: Checking school related emails between scheduled events at the end of the day and at home TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT 14 5) Communication Activities: Approving monthly school calendar, emailing announcements to staff, sending auto-dialer phone announcements to parents, phone conferences, parents dropping in, teachers dropping in, and general unplanned conversations with leadership team members 6) Paper Work Activities: Signing financial and payroll documents, writing letters and organizing documents 7) Planning Activities: Review and plan weekly observations, preparing for meetings, preparing for visitors, and planning with support staff for events 8) District Meeting Activities: Meetings with all Spotsylvania County Principals 9)Safety Activities: Discussing use of magnets over door locks, preparing for intruder drill, holding the intruder drill, and debriefing after the intruder drill 10) Public Relations Activities: Calling parents to schedule conferences, assisting PTO members, meeting with angry parents, setting up luncheon for teachers by Grand Canyon University, escorting visitors, eating lunch with students, and helping teachers locate materials 11) Maintenance Activities: Meetings with Head Custodian and submitting and improving maintenance requests 12) Travel Activities: Driving time to county-level meetings 13) Special Education Activities: Serving as the administrative designee, formal meetings, and informal discussions with teachers 14) Coaching/Advising Activities: Meeting with Administrative Intern and Debate Coach I was pleased to find that I spend the majority of my time, 33%, on matters related to instructional leadership (IL) as seen in Table However, since being the instructional leader is my overarching goal, I was hoping to find this to be closer to 50% Those tasks classified as IL are tasks which I believe directly impact instruction the most I feel the other 13 TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT 15 categories/activities also impact instruction but more indirectly Supervision of students and Discipline indicate a combined 30.1% of my time spent directly working with students While some of my interactions with students are negative, I value time spent with them and am pleased that I spend more time with them than with email and paperwork, which are things I can once students have left the building In relation to multi-tasking, there was only one portion of my day I multi-task and this occurred when I ate lunch Table does not indicate time for lunch, but I ate lunch while working on emails or while eating with students Earlier I indicated that my formal job description indicated the majority of my duties were not done in isolation but rather were completed with others I found in my activity logging only 20% of the activities I engaged in were done independently These tasks included emails, paper work, planning, maintenance tasks, and travel Table 1: Work Activity Log Activity Instructional Leadership Supervision of Students Discipline Email Communication Paper Work Planning District Meetings Safety Public Relations Maintenance Travel Special Education Week Hours/Min 21:02 % Time 33.6% Week Hours/Min 16:35 % Time 33% Total % Time 33.3% 5:27 8.7% 11:58 23.9% 16.3% 10:54 7:16 8:31 2:42 0:15 0:00 17.4% 11.6% 13.6% 4.31% 40% 0% 5:08 3:44 1:10 2:13 3:40 3:00 10.2% 7.4% 2.3% 4.4% 7.3% 5.9% 13.8% 9.5% 7.95% 4.35% 3.85% 2.95% 2:20 0:33 3.73% 88% 0:00 1:25 0% 2.8% 1.87% 1.84% 0:54 0:00 1:00 1.4% 0% 1.6% 0:15 1:0 0:00 5% 1.9% 0% 95% 95% 8% TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT Coach/Advise 0:30 16 80% 0:00 0% 4% Note Min=Minutes, %=Percent It is interesting to note on average, my day was 9.9 hours long with the median number of hours per day for week being 11 hours and 41 minutes and hours and 46 minutes for the second Table exhibits the total numbers of hours and minutes worked the first week as 57 hours and 54 and for the second week, 54 hours and 22 I was interested to determine how much of my day was planned Table shows for week 1, I was involved 49% of the time in activities I had scheduled For the second week, I was involved 73% of the time in activities I had scheduled This is an increase of 24% Table 2: Hours and Minutes Worked in Total and Percentage Planned Hours and Minutes Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Totals Average Week Planned Hours Week Total Hours Percent Planned Hours 6:15:00 3:03:00 6:36:00 4:00:00 2:35:00 4:20:00 26:49:00 6:15:00 11:41:00 11:53:00 11:55:00 7:30:00 8:40:00 57:54:00 100% 26.11% 56% 34% 34% 50% 46% 49% Week Planned Hours 1:45:00 2:29:00 5:20:00 4:05:00 8:58:00 8:00:00 9:00:00 39:37:00 Week Total Hours 1:45:00 2:29:00 12:40:00 9:46:00 10:12:00 8:00:00 9:30:00 54:22:00 Percent Planned Hours 100% 47% 42% 42% 88% 100% 95% 73% 73% Note Planned hours are those hours which were written in my calendar prior to the beginning of the day Mondays and Tuesdays are my late duty nights and Thursdays are when I attend doctoral classes through Virginia Commonwealth University During any given work week, I feel a tremendous amount of my day is interrupted However, when I reviewed my task charts I found the tasks I did not plan were relevant to my job description and goals Some of these unplanned activities included discipline, meetings with angry parents, calming an upset teacher, waiting for parents to pick up a child after an athletic practice, or unplanned meetings to discuss struggling students TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT 17 Since several of the literature review articles indicated there to be an issue with emails interrupting one’s workflow, I took a closer look at how emails impacted my day I was pleased to find emails only took up 9.5% of my time on average I recorded I engaged in emails as part of my routine while eating breakfast and lunch and then again at the end of the day for the majority of each week The final aspect of interest to me related to analysis of my work activity log is that there was only a total of hour and 40 minutes worth of running copies I would have delegated If I had planned better, I would have had my secretary make the copies but I was up against a time line and did not get it to her prior to her leaving for the day I found this activity to be interesting and the data to be valuable to determining where my priorities lie Overall, I am pleased with my findings, but there is room for improvement Plan of Action The most important part of this time management project was identifying the problems and finding the appropriate solutions While I am pleased I am very focused in my work and not appear to waste time, I would benefit from planning activities more directly related to instructional leadership I currently only schedule five observations per week; I could more This activity also made me realize I spend very little time in planning with students In the past, I made it a point to meet with academically struggling students to identify obstacles, problem solve and help them set goals The amount of time I take to communicate with stake holders, especially parents, should be increased I will schedule opportunities to meet with parents since my doctoral classes are scheduled during Parent Teacher Organizational meetings I am interested in sharing my activity log with those with whom I could delegate tasks to see if they TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT 18 see an area where they could help I may be too controlling to realize there are things others can for me, so I can spend more time on instructional issues It became apparent I not plan time for relaxing, celebrating with staff and students, and enjoying school athletic events I will begin to add these to my calendar as these things will keep me refreshed and excited in the work I daily I realize there are limitations to the data which was collected as it only includes two of the thirty-six weeks I have to impact student learning I would expect to find I engage in tasks to varying degrees depending on the time of year I would benefit from keeping an activity log again to engage in systematic reflection of my time management to make sure I remain focused on instructional leadership I would add specific attention to the time I spend outside of work as I know I am not planning enough down time TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT 19 References Bresciani, M.J., Duncan, A.J., and Cao, L.H (2010) Embracing the ambiguity: Twelve Considerations for holistic time management About Campus, 15(5), 17-21 doi:10.1002/abc.20037 Huppke, R (2012) Calling time out on work interruptions, distractions Chicago Tribune http://tinyurl.com/6njfaxd Ngwabi, R.D.C (2014) Interview questions on time management skills Houston Chronicle Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/interview-questions-time-managementskills-22122.html Pani, P K (2012) Time management and task trap Anusandhanika, 4(2), 14-17 Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1525427815?accountid=14780 Porter, J (2014) ways to use less energy to get more done Fast Company Retrieved from www.fastcompany.com/3026148/6-2\waus-to-use-more-energy-to-get-more-done Walker, J (2010) Reorganizing leader’s time: Does it create better schools for students? NASSP Bulletin 93(4) 213-226 February 3, 2010 doi: 10.1177/0192636510361639 TIME MANAGEMENT PROJECT 20