To be more efficient, try this tip from Jere Humphreys:
“During my second year as a school music teacher, I tried the business organizational trick of writing down all my activities for a week—in 15-minute intervals. The experience changed the way I went about things thereafter. I soon began to devote at least one 15-minute block each morning just to thinking about what I wanted to do that day and why. The ‘hows’ will come to us if we can figure out the ‘whats’ and ‘whys.’”
Humphreys adds: “If I have something important that I want to work on, I write it on a small sticker and attach it to my bathroom mirror, car dashboard, computer monitor, or palm organizer. This technique is reserved for a few select habits, attitudes, and philosophical matters, while the palm organizer helps me keep track of the more mundane activities such as faculty meetings.”
NAfME member Jere Humphreys is a professor of music at the University of Arizona, Tempe. This tip was taken from a June 23, 2010 article on the NAfME website titled “Take Time to Map out Your Day.”
Wait—there’s more! For hundreds of teaching tips to help you in your profession, go to the NAfME website at www.nafme.org and click on “My Music Class” on the top banner. You’ll have access to lesson plans and tips to assist you in many aspects of music teaching.
—Ella Wilcox, January 12, 2012, © National Association for Music Education (www.nafme.org)
