Teachers have different tasks to perform. They must plan, prepare, classify, and correct. They spend long hours teaching a group or class of students; and preparing for lessons. In France, teachers work on average around 40 hours per week, including 15 to 18 hours in front of the students. In Canada, the work week is 32 hours. However, a teacher who works 8 hours or more at work is often less productive than one who works less. Long hours of work cause fatigue, novel to release stress, and headaches (beware, “long hours” include commuting time!)

These long hours of work require the teacher to work smart and efficiently, here is a list of 10 tips for teachers to work smarter:

1. Take care of yourself
This principle is the basis of everything. Teachers are at the service of students, parents, and the administration. But, by putting yourself aside, your well-being will gradually decrease. It is by taking care of oneself that one takes care of others. If you feel right, you will impact your students in the best possible way. But, how do you take care of yourself?

Have a breakfast
Practice a meditation and gratitude session to manage stress.
Walking in nature
Have a good time with your family, and your friends.
Define professional and personal goals.
Read a good book.
Take time to have fun and relax, and to watch your favorite movies ...
Plan regular breaks
Transform the classroom into a space that ensures well-being and that inspires motivation and calm.

2. Team teaching
Some teachers enter their classes, close the door and remain isolated and alone in front of their students. But, they are called to work collectively. They must learn to work in a team. This working method emerges from common difficulties or common objectives, by founding projects. Teachers define common goals, share responsibilities, and also share teachers' teaching practices. Quite simply, everyone is committed together for the collective project to be successful. Everyone feels co-responsible. Therefore, this cooperation between teachers brings multiple benefits: efficiency, improvement of the quality of teaching, and the pleasure of working intelligently. More, teachers will not feel alone when faced with the difficulties of teaching, because collaboration facilitates the work of teachers towards these students. They are better able to target students' problems, and also promote their professional development.

3. Focus on your strengths
When you focus on your strengths, you gain more, you are confident, and you have enthusiasm and energy. But, if you focus on your weaknesses, you deplete your energy and make yourself uncomfortable. Ultimately, you work harder, and you put in more energy and time, but you produce less.

So if you are good at new technologies, classroom management, communication, remedying reading difficulties, or you know how to motivate your students… Use these strengths that you are good at to move from hard and arduous work to intelligent and efficient work.