Here it is, my best strategy to save time in the teaching world! Drumroll…..cue the confetti….massive applause…..BATCH PREPPING!
There it is in all her glory: Batch Prepping.
I use Batch Prepping to save myself countless hours during the school year. Want to know how to save yourself hours too? And be prepared for every lesson before you even teach it? Well, grab yourself a hot cup of coffee and get ready to read! This post is lengthy, so pin it for later or settle in now. It just might change your life:)
I have my Batch Prepping system broken into 7 steps, that I can do in about 45 minutes each (because that’s my plan time). Depending on how you unit plan, this process might take a bit longer the first time around but I promise it gets faster the more you practice! (If you want to streamline your unit planning, click over here for my tips!)
MATERIALS I USE TO PREP
For math, I have a 6th grade curriculum that I have bought off TPT. This makes this Batch Prepping infinitely easier because I’m pulling resources from 1 place. This would also work if you use your textbook or have a set curriculum. However, this process totally works with no curriculum too! Some steps might take a bit longer, but it will be worth it to save yourself time later! For science, I do not have a curriculum so I am working with my team to create resources. It is a bit more slow going than just printing and going but with this Batch Prepping system in place, I gain time to work on creating what I need.
If you want a checklist for all of these steps, drop your email below!
STEP 1: Convert your unit plan to your calendar
This step is one of the fastest, if you already have your long-range plan done. I take my unit plan and convert it to the actual days of my school calendar. I work around days off, early release days, sub days, you know all the extra stuff that messes up perfect 5 day weeks.
Because I have my unit plan done, I just line it up with my calendar. If you don’t have a unit plan done, make one! Having a unit plan is the single most important thing when planning. Your district might already have one made up, or you can grab one here, or you can make your own. Get that done, then come back to this step.
In my unit plan, I have already decided what notes I need, activities I want to do, and assessments I have to give. Locate all of those resources & head to step 2!
STEP 2: Make notes copies
Now that I know what I’m going to teach, the order in which I’m teaching, and how I want to teach each topic, I can get into the bulk of my planning prep. I start with notes sheets because I use notes most of the days in the unit. For example with this unit, I am using 7 notes pages, 4 activities, a quiz, study guide and test. By prepping for 7 days to start with, I’m half way done with prepping!
I choose to make a packet of notes for my kiddos each unit. I know what notes pages I’m using so all I have to do is make copies. If you aren’t pulling from a curriculum, you might have to make notes pages. This can be done a little quicker if you have a teammate that could split the work with you, or if you can find free resources from TPT/online to use.
While I’m copying the notes packets, I’m making the answer key so that I have that ready to go. This saves me time later on and is a much better use of standing by the copy machine.
STEP 3: Plan Homework
Now that notes are done, I plan out my homework because it usually happens on multiple days in the unit. I have a textbook I’m supposed to use which luckily has an online homework platform that I assign from. I choose a few problems for each day of notes and write them down in my plan book. I then go in and assign them to open and close on the correct days. If I am choosing a paper homework option, I will make those copies on this day too.
If you don’t assign homework, you get to skip this step 🙂
STEP 4: Prep Activities
During each unit, I usually plan a few activities to make lessons more engaging. I already know what activities I want to use thanks to my unit plan so I make any copies and print/laminate anything all on this day. While copies are being made, I am making answer keys to save myself time later.
This is also the step where I prep any station activities I know I want to use. I don’t always know what I want to have for stations at this stage of the planning but if I do, then I will make the copies now. If not, I plan those later, when it’s closer and in more real time.
STEP 5: Assessments
At this point, I have prepped for nearly every day! All that’s really left are the quiz and test days. I tweak any assessments that I need to and then run copies. Once again, while copies are printing, I’m making the key. This is also a nice time to make sure that I will have taught everything on the test. If not, I can make a game plan to teach it. This step I sometimes do at the beginning of the unit, or right after the notes prepping to make sure that I’m not missing anything!
STEP 6: Exit Tickets
Exit Tickets are a valuable part of my teaching process, so I need to make sure that I prep them! I mainly use digital options (like Plickers!) so really I’m just taking problems and inputting them into the Plickers system. If I’m choosing to use paper tickets, I’ll make the copies. Even though I’m using a curriculum, exit tickets aren’t something that are pre-made so I have to add this part myself. To speed this part up, I will take problems from the textbook, or will search online for options. I also only have 2 problems so that it 1: doesn’t take kiddos too long to complete and 2: doesn’t take me too long to create.
If you teach 5th grade math and want this step done for you, click on over here!
STEP 7: Bell Work
This is a step that is always a plan, but doesn’t always come to reality before the unit starts. Luckily, it comes together pretty quickly if I need to do this each morning. I choose a problem (usually from homework) and screenshot it. I add it to my pre-created daily slide and away we go! Over the summer I actually got ahead on this step and made a giant slide show for the whole year of bell work! That might be a nice project on a teacher work day, snow day or whenever you’d like to dedicate more time to school. Or you can save this step and make it each morning like I typically do!
WHAT DO YOU DO WITH ALL THE COPIES NOW?!
By batch prepping, you accumulate an entire unit’s worth of copies in the matter of 7 days which can get a bit crazy! There are 2 systems that I have found work really well for keeping copies organized.
File Cabinet: Use a hanging file for each day of your unit. You can use post it notes to label (day 1, day 2 ect). I then just put in the copies for that day.
A Nice Stack: This is how I organized my first year of teaching and it actually wasn’t terrible. I used a shelf of a cabinet and a bunch of binder clips. I clipped each copy together and then just put the stacks on top in order (day 1 on top, day 13 on bottom).
Notes Packets: I make my kiddos a packet of notes for the entire unit which they keep in their pronged folders. This way, a bulk of my copies are actually being stored by the student in their own folder, and not in my area. Their folders live in my room so they don’t get lost or forgotten about.
YOU DID IT!
Now you have Batch Prepped an entire unit! I love having an entire unit already planned and prepared before I even get to teaching it. This has saved me so much time, and I can really get a feel for what I’m teaching before I actually teach it.
[…] especially with a personal laminator like the one I use. I’m a task card planner so I usually batch prep sets over the summer so that during the school year I can just grab and go. If you aren’t able to […]