Leadership Styles for

Teachers
THROUGH THE INTEGRATION OF
TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Dr. Dheeraj Mehrotra

www.sixsigmaineducation.com
 As teachers, we have accepted a
huge responsibility- the education,
nurturing, safety and welfare of
young people. Parents trust us, for
six hours per day, with their
children. There is no

greater responsibility.
Our schedules are highly structured, not unlike the assembly line worker who must stop and start at

thewhistle . But in our case, we're not assembling inanimate parts, we're working with
enthusiastic, vulnerable, impressionable children. We are truly in the trenches all day.
 As a teacher, you are the chief
executive officer, chairman of the
board and president of your own

corporation of thirty
employees. Your classroom is corporate
headquarters and your product is the
education of your students.
Your time is booked every day. There is no

leeway in altering a class schedule, so you

must work within the very limited planning periods.
An important component of your job is to be available

for students and parents beyond the actual

classroom sessions.
 Yes,

kindness!
Just because we are in
control and expect
appropriate behavior,
does not mean that
teachers need to be
cold or distant.
One very effective method for teachers to save time is

to group activities as much as possible.

With this process you can use to maximize those all-
too-short blocks of time so that you can lessen the
amount of work you drag home every evening.
Telephone
Set aside a time when you will make and return non-

urgent phone calls . It might be

fifteen minutes in the morning and another fifteen
minutes in the afternoon. Work toward keeping
routine calls within that block.
Email
Electronic messages can easily dominate your day.
Turn off the sound or alert that advises you of

incoming messages . Just

as with telephone calls, set a block of time each day
when you focus on just your email.
 As teachers we need to
strive for positive
relationships with
our students--one that has
clear expectations, but is
based on mutual respect,
communication,
and kindness.
Discussions

If you confer several times a day with certain

colleagues, set up a folder and collect
items during the day so that you can cover all points
during just one meeting. This limits interruptions for
both of you. Encourage others to have a folder for you
also

Grape wine stories

Reading

For articles and publications (circulars/

CCE Registers) that do not have an action
date, keep them together and schedule time on your
calendar to catch up on the reading. This reading
block can include both paper and electronic
information.
Filing
Even if you have a terrific filing system and you know
where to put all your reference papers, do not stop and
file each individual item as it comes in. Wait until you

have a folder of papers, and then note on

your calendar when you will file.
It will take practice to develop the habit of grouping
your activities in order to limit multitasking, but the
resulting increase in productivity is worth the effort.
Being friendly, disciplined by time and having a good rapport
with students can go a long way towards creating a positive classroom
environment.
 Write things down
instead of keeping them

in yourhead and
Manage Time.
 Our role as a leader has much more importance that we sometimes realize in the overall classroom climate.

As a leader, we must guide, shape, teach, motivate, correct, direct, and encourage our students!
Define your "collection points"
and keep them to a
minimum – These are all
the places where you get new
information or write things
down.
(for example, email, voicemail,
sticky notes, to-do list, etc.)
 Realize that you can't do
EVERYTHING, so don't
even try; instead focus on
a few key things that will
give you the most value
and satisfaction.
. Approach your job as a business manager and the critics outside of school will begin to understand

that you face the same problems and dilemmas that they face in their world.
You are in charge of more people, in a more volatile environment, with more supervisors (parents and

administration), than 95% of the managers in the world! This link to business is unmistakable
Your classroom is your business .
Let parents and students know that you know how to run your business and that your business is successful!
 Your first two hours each
day are often your most
productive. Instead of wasting
them by checking email or with
trivial busywork, use them for
your most valuable, most
important, highest-leverage
assignments/ lesson planning.
 As you plan and structure your
day and week, try to
consolidate your time and
intentionally create blocks of
uninterrupted time that you can
use for your most important
projects.
 Use specific times for processing –
It's much better to have predefined
times for processing your stuff (like
email, notes, etc.) rather than just
doing it whenever new stuff
arrives. Setting up 2, 3 or even 4
processing times per day works
well for most people.
A week is a natural time period for
effective planning because it's
short enough to make realistic
plans and long enough to balance
short-term urgency with long-term
importance. If you are not doing it
already, think about planning your
entire week ahead of time.
Avoid multitasking and try to
focus on a single project for a
block of time. You'll get much

more done when you are

able to work this way.
Avoid multitasking and
try to focus on a single
project for a block of
time. You'll get much
more done when you are
able to work this way.
 Remember that being busy
and active is not the same as
being productive. Focus
on projects and activities
that will move your closer to
your goals.
 If you can work on a single
project for a block of time,
then only look at tasks
related to that project, don't
allow tasks from other
projects to distract you.
 Interruptions and
distractions
are two of the biggest time
wasters in our modern society.
Learn to handle them effectively
and then work proactively to
reduce them.
 Remember Parkinson's law...
"Work tends to expand so as to
fill the time available for its
completion."
Figure out a good enough result for
your project so you can decide
when you are done and can move
to something else.
Explore Teaching
as

Learning
Queries and Suggestions……….