What do you think?
Rate this book
The Together Teacher: Plan Ahead, Get Organized, and Save Time!
An essential guide for over-scheduled teachers Maia Heyck-Merlin helps teachers build the habits, customize the tools, and create space to become a Together Teacher. This practical resource shows teachers how to be effective and have a life! Author and educator Maia Heyck-Merlin explores the key habits of Together Teachers—how they plan ahead, organize work and their classrooms, and how they spend their limited free time. The end goal is always strong outcomes for their students. So what does Together, or Together Enough, look like? To some teachers it might mean neat filing systems. To others it might mean using time efficiently to get more done in fewer minutes. Regardless, Together Teachers all rely on the same skills. In six parts, the book clearly lays out these essential skills. Heyck-Merlin walks the reader through how to establish simple yet successful organizational systems. There are concrete steps that every teacher can implement to achieve greater stability and success in their classrooms and in their lives.
Ebook customers can access CD contents online. Refer to the section in the Table of Contents labeled, Download CD/DVD Content, for detailed instructions.
Ebook customers can access CD contents online. Refer to the section in the Table of Contents labeled, Download CD/DVD Content, for detailed instructions.
352 pages, Paperback
First published June 5, 2012
13 people are currently reading
230 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 29, 2012
My first year teaching? Well, it was hell. So far into year 2? Better. I read this book very quickly the weekend before school started. I feel this book changed my life. Not just teaching life, but LIFE. I think of myself as pretty organized, but teaching changed that. To be organized as a teacher takes new skills. This book has those skill laid out in a easy and beautiful way. I loved it, and am sharing with everyone I know!
August 7, 2024
Was affirming that I am already a mostly put together teacher. There were a lot of tips I plan to try in the upcoming year. Touched on all grade levels. I wasn't sure what to think of the emphasis on doing work outside of school. On one hand it is normal, we all have it, and need to find ways to manage it better in order to live more balanced lives. On the other hand, I really believe we need to stop making this the norm so it would have been helpful to hear more about organizing ones teaching around this idea.
December 31, 2017
This book was so helpful I had to read it again and try more of the smaller details out. Excited to start the year with new organizational patterns and thoughts on staying that way.
September 27, 2019
Good organisational ideas. I wouldn’t mind trying some of them out. The author has a website which contains some of the templates that can be used.
February 5, 2020
A great book to help do just what it states: plan ahead, get organized and save time!
May 1, 2023
Lots of good tips!
July 1, 2018
I would recommend The Together Teacher to any educator who is overwhelmed and needs to get organized. It comes with a CD and lots of visuals and examples throughout the book.
September 23, 2012
I truly think that staying organized is THE hardest thing about being a teacher.
As this book points out, we deal with thousands of pieces of paper each week in addition to a constant stream of requests that come in from so many inputs (kids asking us things during passing period or during class, requests from other teachers, emails, things that need to get copied). It is so easy to constantly feel like you are forgetting something and always feel behind.
Using an organizational system that is very closely adapted from Getting Things Done, this book lays out how to track incoming to-dos and acts on them in an efficient way. I would totally give this book 5 stars if I didn't feel that half of it was such a blatant rip off of GTD. The added value of this book is that the CD actually gives you templates for many of the things I had to create myself after reading GTD.
The second half of this book is what I really appreciated, though, because it walks through all the considerations of physical organization and routines that one needs to be a sane teacher. I really wish this was the first thing that we taught new teachers. I gradually figured many of these things out during my first two years, but it would have been way more helpful up front, all in one place.
I plan to propose this as a book study topic for TFA Indy corps members because I think this is that important!
If you are a teacher, buy this book. It's worth it. It will make you feel excited about teaching again because you will have a more sane way to manage your crazy amount of responsibilities. Return to being the put-together non-frantic person you were before you became a teacher? Priceless.
As this book points out, we deal with thousands of pieces of paper each week in addition to a constant stream of requests that come in from so many inputs (kids asking us things during passing period or during class, requests from other teachers, emails, things that need to get copied). It is so easy to constantly feel like you are forgetting something and always feel behind.
Using an organizational system that is very closely adapted from Getting Things Done, this book lays out how to track incoming to-dos and acts on them in an efficient way. I would totally give this book 5 stars if I didn't feel that half of it was such a blatant rip off of GTD. The added value of this book is that the CD actually gives you templates for many of the things I had to create myself after reading GTD.
The second half of this book is what I really appreciated, though, because it walks through all the considerations of physical organization and routines that one needs to be a sane teacher. I really wish this was the first thing that we taught new teachers. I gradually figured many of these things out during my first two years, but it would have been way more helpful up front, all in one place.
I plan to propose this as a book study topic for TFA Indy corps members because I think this is that important!
If you are a teacher, buy this book. It's worth it. It will make you feel excited about teaching again because you will have a more sane way to manage your crazy amount of responsibilities. Return to being the put-together non-frantic person you were before you became a teacher? Priceless.
August 18, 2014
Very detailed and thorough explanation of how a teacher can create their own system of organization that is streamlined and efficient. I read David Allen's "Getting Things Done" last year and loved it, but this book is even more impressive in that it takes similar ideas and processes and applies them to the world of teaching.
My one very very small critique would be that it highlights teachers who seem to spend a very very large amount of time at school and are very dedicated to working full blast--this isn't surprising in that the author is partnered with a number of charter school teachers. However, I think on top of reading this book and learning how to manage your paperload and workloads effectively, teachers should also read Jackson's "Never Work Harder Than Your Students" and "Embedded Formative Assessment" by Dylan William as enormously wisely and practical books on streamlining your practice so that you aren't suffering from overwork, a disease that teachers are most often guilty of giving to themselves.
My one very very small critique would be that it highlights teachers who seem to spend a very very large amount of time at school and are very dedicated to working full blast--this isn't surprising in that the author is partnered with a number of charter school teachers. However, I think on top of reading this book and learning how to manage your paperload and workloads effectively, teachers should also read Jackson's "Never Work Harder Than Your Students" and "Embedded Formative Assessment" by Dylan William as enormously wisely and practical books on streamlining your practice so that you aren't suffering from overwork, a disease that teachers are most often guilty of giving to themselves.
May 12, 2013
I will be a first-year teacher (and switching careers) and wanted a resource with tips for staying organized. This was a great book with lots of really helpful ideas not just for teachers but lots of different kinds of professionals. I find I already use part of the "Together Teacher" system the author recommends, but she takes it to another level of planning which I am excited to try. There's also a great chapter on emails that has already been useful even though I have not made the official transfer to the classroom. I look forward to using the CDROM in the near future too.
August 26, 2013
This book was recommended to me by another teacher and I'm glad I read it. I think that this would be helpful for any teacher whether they are starting out or have been teaching for a few years. The book not only goes into organizing your time, e-mails and paperwork. It also includes organizing your classroom and gives examples of systems that any teacher can have in place to make your life easier.
June 16, 2014
I'm already using some of the organizational tools that Maia suggests in her book, but I haven't tried implementing the full GTD-style system yet. I'm familiar with Getting Things Done but haven't read the book, so this was a good teacher-focused introduction to it. Even though I'm not a fan of corporate-based education reform, I could overlook the many references to it and focus on the book's plethora of useful information.
May 8, 2014
Last year, I thought, "Oh, I'm a real teacher now. I'm an organized person, so I'll definitely stay organized. " And then reality happened. This book offers a variety of solutions to organizational time-wasters. I have tried out two of the suggestions and have seen a dramatic increase in my productivity.
July 14, 2015
To my surprise, I've been doing most of the tips of this book :to-do lists, Calender deadlines and weekly worksheets.This book motivated me more to be more organized as it made me realize the positive influence of my results. Indeed, planning means that half the task is done.
Read
July 21, 2013A wonderful book with great tips.
January 6, 2014
Good advice - a little overwhelming at times, and I could do without the elitist tones in the begining. Got better though. A good suggestion for new teachers!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews