You can search for teaching hacks all day long and come up with a long list. Today, I’m sharing my three favorites after 17 years in an 8-12 classroom setting.
Prevent Reply Alls by using the BCC function
Look, there are a lot of memes out there about people who reply all to emails that they don’t need to. You cannot change people, but you can prevent them from responding to all and clogging other people’s email inboxes. (This is genuinely one of my biggest pet peeves. I hate reply alls) If you have to send an email to a large group that does not require a response to the group, put all the recipients into the BCC field.
If you need anyone else to be included in the replies, put them into the To function. Often, I will put my colleague into the TO or CC field so that the group members reply to both of us.
Do everyone a favor; use BCC when sending to a large group.
Scheduled Send
Schedule send is your best friend if you are trying to establish boundaries. Sending emails at all hours shows you are available, which is not the greatest precedence.
The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.
The Eisenhower Matrix
There may be times when you feel the need to write an email but not send it immediately. Schedule send! I also utilize schedule send when I know someone is out of the office. Instead of clogging their emails for them to read when they are gone, I schedule a send for the afternoon of their return. This is a way to allow them back to the office without adding too much to their morning. Respecting your time as well as others shows you are considerate as well as showing others how you’d like to be treated.
Classroom Doorbell
I got it on Amazon, and it was terrific. Having a class of 8th graders was sometimes loud because that’s learning, and I am not a yeller. Having this as an attention-getting was helpful. I plugged it into the back of the classroom and left the remote at my desk for me to use. You can also put in a lanyard if that works better for you.
There are many other hacks and tips, but these are my favorites. What would you add?
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Liz Evans, NBCT 