Here are three common sense steps for planning work:
Step 1. Have a standard way of doing things (for example, a way of marking exercise books, a way of planning lessons, a way of answering the phone). This simple advice is open to misinterpretation, so let me spell it out: this advice involves an attitude of mind, not a constraint on how you work.
If you use five different way of taking a register, that's fine, but you should choose one of them as your 'standard 'way, and think of the other four as variations on that one standard way. Ask yourself what logical benefits arise from these variations, so you are clear why you are doing them. By doing this, you will move towards a 'best' way of doing that particular task.
Step 2. Mentally break down each of your standard-ways into steps. For example a series of steps for marking exercise books might look like this:
a) Get our red pen and mark-book
b) Put books in alphabetical order
c) Skip-read the questions and the correct answers.
d) Mark ten books, putting marks in mark-book
e) Take a break
f) Repeat (d) and (e) till all books marked.
g) Check for missing work and which students were absent
h) Choose two books for gold stars
i) Tick off the topic on the scheme of work.
When you have done this, consider when and where is the best time do do each of these mini-steps. Avoid routinely doing everything in one chunk. By doing this you are much more likely to identify work that can be done by others, or done when you are not at your best. You may also spot obvious small improvements which can be made.
Using our example, steps (a) and (b) do not require any particular energy or expertise and could be done in advance of steps (d)-(f); similarly steps (g)-(i) might be tackled when your brain is not at its most alert.
This approach is of course, quite different to a traditional approach of 'get the marking out of the way'; instead we have an approach of 'get the routine stuff out of the way' or 'get the creative stuff out of the way'. This enables you to maximise your productivity and help to avoid stress.
Step 3. Periodically, put on your Analyst hat (you can remind yourself about Roles here) and think about your standard way of doing things. Most importantly - think in common sense terms about your objectives.
In this context an objective is something that we want to achieve for a meaningful reason. An example would be 'assessment'. We want to measure our students' progress because this helps us improve our teaching and to address our students' issues. 'Marking' is not an objective; it is a way - one of several ways - to achieve our objective.
Therefore, for every significant piece of non-contact work, you should be clear on what the objective is, and how much flexibility you have in achieving this objective. In some schools, of course, policies and tradition dictate that objectives must be achieved in one specific way. If you have discretion, however, then explore alternative ways to achieve your objectives, and take efficiency into serious account. The last phrase of the preceding sentence - taking efficiency into account - is frequently undervalued by teachers. We focus on the best possible outcome for out students, frequently oblivious of the amount of time and effort involved. We call it 'being conscientious'. Of course, because we understand the concept of opportunity cost, we now know that this is not true. If we achieve one objective in an inefficient way, we sacrifice time which could have been spent achieving other objectives.
There are, of course, many excellent books discussing assessment, which outline alternatives - often more effective alternatives - to mountains of marking. There are also many alternative approaches to behaviour management, classroom organisation, parental communication and virtually every other aspect of non-contact work. At the beginning of term, or during a mid-term break, take some time to contemplate whether you could be achieving your objectives in a way that involves less work.