Time management and increasing productivity in the classroom

I have never been very great with managing my time; I have always been a procrastinator.  Until this year, I would always wait until the last second to do my work.  I was always able to get away with this, but I got hit hard during the first quarter of ninth grade.  Since then I have had more and more work packed on, but I have found a few ways that work for me, and they may work for you.

Carpe Diem

"Carpe diem.  Seize the day, boys.  Make your lives extraordinary."-John Keating

This quote from Dead Poets Society really made me realize what I should be doing.  At first I thought I should do what I want, anything that I desired I would attack it with haste.  But after thinking about how I could make a real connection with my life and that quote, I decided to take the entire day for what I wanted, and what I truly desired, and left the night for the necessities.  I wait until sundown or a bit after to enter the mindset I needed to get work done, and I would be done in time to get eight hours of sleep.  Some think that this way of getting work done isn't a good idea, but it works for me, I can go to track, the gym, and hang out with friends, then I have my time for school work and other assignments.  This can be brought into the classroom by not having the students fill out worksheets in class, but take up the whole class to teach them.  Then allow the students extra worksheets and papers if they think that they really need it.  This allows the students to be given the choice of not doing unnecessary work but it still gives them a chance for help if they really need it.  

Silence

Silence is the key to speed and quality.  I have learned to do my work in a room where all I can hear is my keyboard's clicks.  Doing this makes my brain flow much easier, reading becomes faster and I actually pay attention, and I don't have distractions.  When I work in silent I get papers done in thirty minutes that would normally take more than an hour.  The only problem with working in this environment is that it is rare.  It is hard to get a silent room for even an hour, this is one of the reasons why I work in the night also, and silence is most common in early mornings or late nights.  This can be brought into most classes by allowing a thirty-minute period of time for the students to work independently or one on one with the teacher.  This gives a great workspace for the students as everyone is working and it gives them time to focus on whatever they need, studying, writing papers, reading, or doing homework.  

A Small Light In A Dark Room

"But even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can, within their own small ways, turn on a small light in a dark room."-Miep Gies 

This quote, which I heard in Freedom Writers, inspired me.  To do what I do, to get what I need done, and to do the right thing.  I was never extremely aware that people actually heard what I was saying, writing, or saw what I was doing.  That is until I do see it, for the first time I saw that people were listening to what the #bowtieboys are saying, that day was March 16, 2017 on the #G2Great chat.  That day my tweets were viewed over 16,000 times, a number I couldn't even imagine.  That night of the chat, I really felt as if I was pushed to continue, and to do what I'm doing better than ever.  You don't have to be a celebrity, millionaire, or a congress member to make change, you just have to put in the time, and work for it.  I believe that social media can be brought into the classroom in many ways, for example my English class has weekly discussion boards online and this offers a great format for person-to-person interaction online.  Doing online chats or any sort of published work can be very affective in the classroom as it shows that the students are doing it for a reason, not just for a grade.  They can show people what they believe, desire, or just care about and doing this inspires and can be intriguing as they aren’t writing about a prompt on something they don’t care about.

Freedom writers. Dir. Richard LaGravenese. Prod. Danny Devido. Paramount home entertainment, 2007. DVD.

Dead Poets Society. Dir. Peter Weir. Perf. Robin Williams. 1989. DVD. 

Implementing Creative Writing Into The English Classroom

Incorporating creative writing into the English classroom is very important in order to create a more personal and a more interesting environment.  Creative writing is not an easy style of literature to bring into any classroom.  Many students will slack off if they don't have anything to write about, and many teachers will be afraid of not having a rubric.  This is usually because they don't know how to write in this way and they don't have true motivation to write it.  Before this year I was never truly introduced into creative writing; I always had a rubric, topic, and an exact style that I had to write in.  This year I was given each quarter a creative online writing to write, and it was 15% of my grade.  I was very scared when I first heard that, but now it is fun to write it.  There are many ways that we can implement creative writing, and all of them have their specific benefits.

Quick Writes
Adding quick writes into the classroom opens the minds for the students, and allows them to explore different styles of writing and different topics.  Just one five-minute quick write is enough time for each student to write their own little story, poem, or any other style.  This will make them more comfortable with writing, and are given an intro to all kinds of topics you decide.  "It can serve as a basis for more collaborative learning activities, such as student-led discussion, or pair and shares." (Shen)  Doing these discussions helps tremendously with the students ability to present and with their confidence, even though they can pass if they would rather not share.

Presentations
Implementing presentations can have many benefits for the students, especially when they are given on open topic.  The students can choose what to present about, and in doing so, they will get a better oral presentation skills and will boost their confidence in front of crowds.  "Despite the fact that oral communication is a key professional skill, efforts to help undergraduates develop this skill are often confined to an isolated course on public speaking, if they are formally addressed at all," (Galindo)  Recently in my English class we had the choice to either write a speech or rap and present it in front of the class.  Many of the students were very scared and overwhelmed, but the teacher offered help on the presentation part of it.  Almost all students took advantage of this, and were in the clear when it came time.  Others weren't and really struggled but from talking to them, they have taken a good lesson out of it, and that to take advantage of your resources because it will help you later on.

Analyses
Using analyses allows students to really explore different types of literature, and then depict it in any way that they want.  The analyses can be on poems, songs, books, movies, or any other piece of literature.  I have just begun doing these analyses for my English class this year, and so far we have done three poems, two songs, one movie, and we do an analyses every few days.  I know of not one student who doesn't love either poem or song analyses.  Doing these allow those students to let you what they think, and how they interpret something.  This is a great confidence booster in the students writing as their thoughts aren't judged and they can access areas of writing that they have never accessed.

What I have mentioned here are only a few styles of creative writing that can be used in the English classroom, but there is a never ending list.  Every student can do some form of creative writing, it just depends on how motivated they are.  Writing creative papers can have many of its benefits, as it boosts the students confidence, allows the student to explore their writing abilities, and will teach them how to be a better writer without even knowing it.

Galindo, Julia Hayden, Ed.D. "Presentations." Ablconnect. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.
Shen, Danxi, Ed.M. "Quick Write." Ablconnect. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.