The 6.54-Hour Gift: Reclaim Your Lost Travel Time Before the New Year
The 6.54-Hour Gift: Reclaim Your Lost Travel Time Before the New Year
I was halfway to my second campus of the day when I realized I’d left my lesson plans, and my lunch, sitting on the desk at the first. Again. Between the constant travel, readjusting to new classrooms, and digging through papers I swore I had already organized, I hit my breaking point. I may have even cried a little. That’s the day I realized I needed a system.
If you are a gifted educator serving multiple schools in a rural or small district, you already know that exhausting truth.
You’re not just tired. You’re running a full-time logistics operation.
Research shows itinerant gifted teachers lose, on average, 6.54 hours each week just traveling between campuses. That’s nearly a full workday behind the wheel time you can’t use to plan, prep, or breathe.
Now here’s the gut punch: once you subtract all the driving, meeting, and paper-chasing, you’re left with as little as 4.44 hours* of actual planning time for your entire caseload.
*Obviously that is just an average, but I'd venture to guess few of us have more time than than for planning.
No wonder it feels like you're drowning. But let's try to help that.
🎁 The Gift I'm Giving You is A Time-Saving System That Actually Works
You may not be able to clone yourself or redraw your district map, but you can take control of your planning.
I create Gifted Ed Solutions with the mission to empower gifted educators by systemizing the complicated so you can focus on what you love: teaching.
I know one template or one resource may not help you reclaim all of your travel time, or time spent tracking down paperwork, (and on and on...). But, what I've found is that stacking these systems, resources, etc. truly adds up to real time savings. (Think Habit-Stacking/Atomic Habits)
at Gifted Ed journey. Follow these three steps to make the most of what's left in this semester and recover your time!
✅ Quick Wins Before Winter Break
Let’s make the most of what’s left in this semester with these three steps:
Audit Your Week
Where is that 6.54 hours going? Track it. Name it. Tame it.Use a Single 'Week-at-a-Glance' View (Save: 30–60 mins/week)
Stop flipping between notebooks, emails, and sticky notes. Use one editable doc or printable for all campuses + subjects. Everything, all in one place.
Download a free copy of our Weekly Gifted Planning Snapshot
🧠 Power Move: Use Color-Coding for Instant Organization (Save: 15–30 mins/week)
Assign each campus or grade a color across your digital folders, planner, and files. You’ll spend less time hunting and more time teaching.
Batch & Automate Communication (Save: 30–45 mins/week)
Use Google Keep or a sticky note system to track parent messages, IEP reminders, and teacher notes throughout the day. Then batch respond to all messages in one sitting. This eliminates the whack-a-mole replying during lunch or when you finally get a few spare planning minutes.
🧠 Power Move: Set a recurring calendar reminder for “Friday Parent Check-In – 15 minutes only." Block this time on your calendar and protect it!
My Closing Thought: Your Time is Not a Luxury. Your Support Shouldn’t Be Either.
Trying to do everything within the time you're given is rarely realistic or sustainable.
Reclaiming your time is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. Make the rest of this year sustainable. Systemize what you can and simplify what you must. And if you need some help, reach out! Let’s get you off Gifted Island, together.
From child-find to instruction,
Michelle
Founder, Gifted Ed Solutions
Helping gifted teachers reclaim their time & joy—one system at a time. 💚💙
🛠️ Resources to Help You Start Now:
🎁 Tiered Differentiation Template (Free Download)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/1Bse-M2Lum390sDXDNbVb88lSrxucx0m112j6bD2H1lw/copy🤝 Join the Gifted Ed Solutions Community - I'd love your help in growing our online community.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556725315475
