Before we uncover the secrets of how to save time, let’s think back . . .
What is your earliest childhood memory? This was my icebreaker question for attendance one day this past week. The answers ranged from warm and fuzzy holiday moments at grandparents’ houses (waking to the smell of homemade cinnamon buns on Christmas morning) to tragic injuries (falling off of bunk beds). For me—and I’m stretching way farther back than my students to recall this—it’s taking a magical train to the “Land of Make Believe” while watching Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.
I remember pretending to be in that fantastical world well beyond the confines of the 30-minute program. The idea of traveling magically in time—which could possibly save time in a sense—permeated playtime with my Fisher-Price® toys and my LEGO® bricks. Because I could imagine it, I could live in that world.
The powerful teaching magic of duplication
My fascination with magic and traveling to a new place continued throughout my life. As a child, I devoured Alexander Key’s Escape to Witch Mountain, and even though I knew it was make believe, a part of me still desperately hoped that I would uncover my own magical powers if I just concentrated hard enough—much like my own children and their generation secretly hoped to find a letter from Hogwarts arriving on their 11th birthday. This thrilling undercurrent of possibility mesmerized me, and a little part of me was always searching for the magic in the fabric of every situation.
In college, my secret refuge from the heavy reading of required classics as both an English and History major was Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes books. I became a child again, knowing better in my heart, but secretly enjoying the fantastical possibility of a stuffed animal being “real” when no one was looking. The storyline that really resonated with me was in The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes, when Calvin creates a “duplicator” machine out of a cardboard box. Calvin didn’t change history with his invention, but he did do something that blew my mind.
By duplicating himself, and using those duplicates to carry out meddlesome chores and tasks, he created more free time for himself to play.
This concept of turning back time to save time by generating more time stuck with me.
How we choose to use each minute makes a difference
I first put this “magic” into action when I discovered the power of recording classroom videos to better facilitate both teaching and learning. If I could record my “essentials,” students could access them without me needing to repeat myself, saving them the hassle of seeking me out for a reteach. It was, indeed, just like Calvin’s duplicator machine. Suddenly, I was not limited to the number of minutes in a day. My teaching was scalable, and time was being saved!
Not only were my current students benefiting from my tutorial videos, but my future students would benefit from them as well. Now, consider the duplicator effect of one classroom video I recorded that was 23 minutes and 35 seconds long. I recorded myself reading chapter 9 of A Separate Peace by John Knowles—a habit I developed for many classroom units. I simply record what I am doing in class, upload it to YouTube, post the link on the classroom platform, and forget about it.
The links are there for students who are absent or who need to review them. Imagine my surprise when I checked the link nearly three years later to find that it had +11K views! Clearly, those are not all my own students. My initial investment of less than a half hour had become over 3,500 hours of teaching. (The other 12 chapters were also somewhere around 10K views—and that was only for one unit in one class!)
It’s important to understand that teaching cannot be replaced with video
I am not suggesting that we save time by getting rid of traditional teaching. I am simply suggesting that teaching AND recording can save exponential amounts of time. And let’s face it—time is the most valuable resource teachers have. It’s also the most scarce.
Once I discovered this amazing life hack, I was hooked on the idea of finding other opportunities in my day to recreate the magic.
If you consider time like you do your own money—which we all presumably budget to stretch wisely—you’ll soon discover that how you use your minutes matters greatly for the quality of your life. A question I frequently ask is, “What would you do with an extra hour in your day today?” Most people want quality time—exercise, relaxation with friends and family, etc.
Teachers do not secretly desire even more work to do!
Creating video tutorials is one way to “turn back the clock,” but there are so many more habits to save time that can be put to good use.
One of my favorite analogies is the roll-out cookies metaphor. The scraps of dough between the cookie cutters leave you with a choice: eat them, roll them out again, or free-form them into shapes. No one throws those scraps away! If we consider our minutes in the same manner (those last few minutes before the bell, the transitions between classroom activities, etc.), you may find prime minutes that are currently wasted in your day.
As a teacher, it is easy to feel the palpable stress of my colleagues at the end of a term. We all face a mountain of grading and racing the clock to post those grades. Which one of us envisioned a stressed-out, sleep-deprived (often fitness-free) existence? That was never my magical vision of utopia. I was drawn to teaching for the love of the books that had forged my imagination. My thought is this: The magic really does exist if we concentrate hard enough.
Learning how to manage our time will save time
Whether we harness the magic of video tutorials or find ways to manage our minutes more effectively, “duplicating ourselves” will inspire better teaching and learning. Learn more about my duplicating methods in Capturing the Classroom and Teacher Time Management.
P.S. Have you ever considered implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help you save time? It just might prove to be a game changer!
- Fifty AI Prompts for Teachers [Book]
- AI for Educators 1-Day Workshops [Events]
- Solution Tree Master Class: Educator AI [Online Mini-Series]
About the educator
Ellen I. Linnihan is a National Board Certified English and public speaking teacher in Wisconsin. Her passion is using video to improve teaching and learning to empower students of all levels.
