The Work Less, Teach More Planner: How to Plan Your Day, Week, Month and Year for Maximum Impact

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Do you ever feel like you’re working to your max—maybe even more than that!—and still don’t get through your list of to-dos? Or despite all that work, you’re not seeing any tangible impact in your classroom and student outcomes? Most educators will feel this way at some point. 

Enter: Work Less, Teach More. It’s our signature course and a philosophy discussed many times on the Time for Teachership podcast. In this episode, I break down how to use the Work Less, Teach More planner to maximize your planning time, protect your mental health, and reach your goals. 

The Work Less Teach More planner is available for purchase, but you can also work on these exercises independently and use a notebook or your computer to keep track of things. Each section of the planner addresses daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly goals and priorities. Let’s look at the highlights for each.

Yearly Planning
We’re starting with the yearly planning because there is some big-picture goal-setting activities to do at the beginning of each school year:

Clarify Your Vision:
Before the school year starts, get clear on your vision and goals for the year. Do this by asking the following questions: 

• I will feel…
• I will spend most of my time doing…
• I will learn…
• I will embody the values of…
• My students will experience… 

From there, determine what shifts need to happen to make those things a reality, both at home and in the classroom. 

Take Stock of Your Health:
At the root of almost any conflict are unmet needs. We have needs in four areas, which you can remember with the BASE acronym: Belonging, Autonomy, Survival, and Enjoyment. Within each category, reflect on three questions:

• To what degree are my needs being met in this area?
• What would it look like to thrive? 
• What actions do I need to take to get there? 

When looking at this, choose just a couple to prioritize over the year. This helps focus and direct your attentions for the year instead of being pulled in too many directions. 

Monthly Planning
Each month, you’ll set priorities and goals. For example, in September your first and only goal might be for everyone to feel welcomed and included in the class. For January, it might be to re-focus on establishing a routine after a holiday break. 

Each month you can also:

• Prioritize BASE needs. Use the “do, have, and be” framework to understand what they are (i.e., “what do I want to have, what do I need to do, and who do I want to be”?).
• Categorize challenges you had and identify if they are technical (can be resolved through training and learning) or adaptive (speak to deeper underlying beliefs, habits, or loyalties).

Weekly Planning
Weekly planning and reflection are essential to managing your time and reaching goals. There are a few key areas in which you’ll do this:

50-40-10 Planning:
You have limited planning time each week, so focus on what is proven to make the most impact on your students. This includes:

• 50% of your planning time on lesson planning.
• 40% of your time on professional learning.
• 10% of your time on feedback.

Be specific about how you will accomplish each of these things, focusing on being more efficient and only including high-impact activities. At the end of the week, do a time audit to see how much time you spent on each thing.

Clear Your Plate:
Each week, eliminate eight unnecessary tasks from your to-do list. This can be in both your personal and work life. Be specific about what it is and how you’ll pass it off to someone else. This is part of self-care, which is preventative—you must plan ahead to protect your time and mental energy.

Daily Planning
Your daily responsibility is simple. Ask yourself these two questions:

• At the beginning of the day ask, what is most essential today? You can only pick one thing! This brings clarity and focus to the day.
• At the end of the day ask, how do I feel? By evaluating how you are based on feelings rather than productivity, you can bring more peace, joy, and calm to your day. 

There it is—the Work Less Teach More planner in a nutshell! But there is so much more to the approach. Work Less Teach More is backed by research and has helped so many educators claim back their time while making maximum impact. You can learn more about Work Less Teach More here and follow along with the Time for Teachership podcast as part of your commitment to professional learning.

Click here for your free 50/40/10 planning bundle