I was part of Teach for America (an Americorps social justice more-than-just-teacher-placement program), which trained us in Teaching as Leadership. One of the things we were taught to do was set Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals (BHAGs). The point of a big goal is to motivate everyone. Then you break it down into bite-sized chunks. Then you constantly check in and see if you are making progress towards your goal (in the classroom this would probably look like meaningful, guiding assessments). The other key to goal setting is that the goal has to be measurable. You can't set a goal like "all my students will be good readers." You have to set a goal like "by the end of the year, all my students will have improved by at least two grade-levels worth of reading." Make it measurable.

TFA is an amazing, efficient organization, who is a model for recruitment and hiring and management to other nonprofits and for-profits (however, I don't think that they're going about the inequities of education in the best way). But either way, I learned a LOT from them on how to be a leader, how to get things done, etc.

Thank you for that Teach for America idea. I will be able to use that.

My best time management idea is to make lists. I just find that if I make a list I'm more apt to actually do things I need to do and not procrastinate. It also helps when I have a bunch of errands to run to list them all then I put them in order of where to go so I'm not running back and forth across town.

Hope this helps,
Mama Bear of the Four Bears