To wonder if any teachers can help me …

[Peekaboolight]

How do you get stuff done?

I’ve been trying all weekend, unsuccessfully, to get my planning and marking sorted (I have a toddler) admittedly we are going through a VERY challenging stage with sleep so not going to bed early.

But I’m struggling so much, just bogged down with work

I have no idea. We have an ofsted pending, in the past few weeks they've been in other schools in the area. The pressure is ridiculous. The other schools have all fed back what they've been asked and every other day we're asked to do something for which ofsted MIGHT ask. I've spent the weekend crying in front of my computer.

@Peekaboolight I do all my planning for a half term in 1 full day of each holiday. That means day to day I only need to resource/mark etc. my kids do 3 days at nursery 8-4.30 and then the other days I’ll take what I need to home for after they are in bed.

Unfortunately I won’t really gain any time when y11 go as don’t have a y11 class!

what is CCR, please - is it like PPA?

P.s. if it’s just book marking, then get a visualiser for class (they’re about £45 on Amazon) and select 3 kids books at the end of every lesson and mark them infront of the class. I’ve been doing this for months after my HOD bought us all a visualiser and it means every kids book has comments in (as well as being actually productive feedback as they listen at the time).

@Peekaboolight sorry I missed that you won’t have gain time 🤦‍♀️

ok, so two options there:

• use a little bit of your holiday to do this

• take a sick day to do it. I honestly have never done this but I know plenty of teachers who have sick days when the marking is insurmountable and I’ve put two and two together over the years and think at least some are using the day to catch-up on work.

Will look into a visualiser - thanks. Do the kids mark their work as you model?

Incorporate self/peer assessment into EVERY lesson and leave more than enough time for it. Get a stamp that says “checked by Peekaboolight and a date stamp. Use good text books as lesson structures and photocopy extracts from there

Verbal feedback (get a stamp to show in books when you've given it).

Peer marking.

Self-assessment.

Butterfly marking ie flit around the room and do live marking on the spot.

Get TA if you have one to do some of the butterfly marking with you.

Take them into the computer room or book the ipads/laptops for one lesson per week and set quizzes/revision that can be automatically marked by the website.

Do a practical lesson and just take photos of them working in pairs/groups.

I love my visualiser!

if you let us know your texts/ topics we can send you stuff?

also use: englishdepartment.co.uk

loads of free stuff on there and it’s great!

@Peekaboolight, primary teacher here. I'm part time, but there's absolutely no way I could leave at 4. I tend to do 7.45-5, and I only leave at 5 as I have to pick my DDs up from nursery. Are you full time? If so, could you have 2 days a week where you stay later? Can anyone else help with nursery pick up or drop off? Apologies if that has already been answered!

Thanks. Leaving at 5 would mean a very, very long day for DS and I’m also not at my best then either - I’m definitely most productive in the mornings!

Cut stuff to the minimum and put your effort into what helps kids learn. Live mark as much as possible. Use twitter, TES and SOW to plan.

Pay for the time til 5.30 and use it 2-3 times a week so you can have an evening.

Alternatively go to bed when DS does and get up at 5.

Yeah it's hard isn't it. Both mine do over 9 hours at nursery, but they are only in 3 days a week.

I'm secondary MFL. Are you allowed to use whole class feedback? When I've used that in the past, a full set takes about half an hour to read and make notes on my master sheet. Then they can respond in their books once you've gone through your sheet in class.

My kids are dropped at 7am and collected at 5.30 on days I work!

I have pulled a couple of sick days after mocks as have 2 year 11 classes and 3 A level ones, all writing essays in their mocks and no SLT seems to give a shit/think about the marking load on top of the everyday work not reducing .

They also give us an INSET day after mocks to mark!

The visualiser sounds interesting.

Never step away from your desk without a marking pen in your hand. Use shared SOL with your team ( should be embedded) and tweak for your classes. Stay until 5 everyday. Self / peer assessment in every lesson.

I pretty much do go to bed when he does - I have to! I am not rating to go at 5, though.

Ive largely survived by planning and marking in holidays but I always feel rushed and stressed and wrung out.

Sympathies. Being a teacher is bloody hard work and so is having a toddler. I also feel bad about putting my toddler in for a long day at nursery. She does 7.30 - 5pm. Do the nursery give your child dinner? That helps me. I know for some people it's not possible but does your partner get involved with drop off and pick ups. Getting to work at 7am a couple of times a week would make a huge difference. Ultimately I've found that I need 8- 6pm to keep completely on top of the job without taking work home. I hate hate doing work post bed time.

In terms of the job, I think there's been some really good tips here. Definitely agree with live marking. Reduce your comments unless they directly impact pupils. Don't mark for makings sake. Do you get bothered by colleagues in the day? If so, hide lol.

@Peekaboolight I mostly use the visualiser for me to mark students work and give clear verbal feedback to the whole class as I do, but it would work well for peer assessment too. I’ve found it also helps me to motivate kids to write as they know their work will be shown to everyone and it means I can flick back in their books and point out if they’re improving or if I’m giving them the same feedback again.

I plan in the holidays but try to keep on top of marking in the week.

Shared planning, TES/pre made resources you can tweak, live marking/peer marking/self marking, very basic powerpoints if you’re confident enough to teach more off the cuff, work through lunch and break times, super organised PPA times.

When my kids were little they went to a childminder 8-6pm. She lived near the school. If I needed to stay later than 6pm, I picked them up from the childminder and took them back to work with me. I’d give them snacks from the vending machines and put Peppa Pig on the whiteboard. Also, I got up early on Sat & Sun and got a few hours done while the kids slept/watched CBEEBIES.

I no longer have the option of going in early/staying late, so I work part time and go into school on my days off to do my marking/prep. It feels like an absolute luxury getting peace and quiet. Luckily I can afford to do this. Can’t imagine being a full time teacher again! It’s tough juggling kids and work.

I did my NQT year with a 2 year old and a 4 year old. <shudders at the memory...>

We had a nanny who did 8-6 during term time. I left the house at 6.30 and got into school at 7 for an hour of uninterrupted and very productive work.

DH started breakfast and handed over to the nanny at 8 - I got back at 5.45 and did bed time for both, DH got back at 7 and started supper.

But they both went down at 7. We were very fortunate.

Saturday morning, DH took them both swimming so I grabbed another 2 hours of marking then.