Will Thomas’s Tips for Managing Workload

In this week’s blog, Pocketbook author Will Thomas shares his tips for managing workload:

1. Use unexpected available time, such as when people are late for appointments, by creating a weekly ‘Transition Time File’.  Keep in it tasks for that week that you can do in short bursts . Carry it with you so you never lose a moment!

2. Parkinson’s Law states that ‘Work expands to fill the time you make available to it’. So, set yourself a ‘Working Envelope’, ie how much time  you will spend each week working and in other pursuits.

3. Poor work-life balance can have short- and long-term effects on our health, relationships and effectiveness. Here’s a simple prescription for thinking about making positive changes: R.E.S.T.
R= Refuel. Eat and drink healthily for maximum performance. Are you getting enough water each day?
E= Exercise. Take regular exercise for posture, health and stamina. Are you getting a daily heart-rate rise through exercise?
S= Stop. Take stimulus-free time. Are you getting at least a few minutes of time in total peace and quiet each day?
T=Time. Take time to reflect on your successes and plan your next steps each day. Are you taking a few minutes of quiet reflection to review, energise and plan?

4. When someone delegates something to you, you always have at least four options:
a) Say Yes.
b) Say No.
c) Negotioate – ‘If I do this for the time you say, it will mean I won’t be able to do this other thing until…How do you feel about that?
d) Say you’ll come back to them when you have considered it.

Will Thomas is author of the Managing Workload Pocketbook and joint author of the Head of Department’s Pocketbook. Both books are available from Teachers’ Pocketbooks at £7.99 + p&p.

Pocketbook Linda

Rudolf Steiner

Thank this week to Brin Best for the third in his occasional series of introductions to educational theorists.  As you read about Rudolf Steiner below, we’re loading the Pocketbooks van in preparation for our drive up to London tomorrow to set up for Special Needs London. This excellent special needs resources show (visit www.teachingexhibitions.co.uk for more information) has a packed CPD seminar programme and offers the chance to see first hand a huge variety of the resources available for special needs teachers. Teachers’ Pocketbooks will be on Stand 53 on both days of the show – Friday 14th and Saturday 15th. Do come along and see us. With all Pocketbooks at 25% discount it might well be worth your while. We look forward to seeing you.

Now for  Brin’s post on Rudolf Steiner:

Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner (1861—1925) was an Austrian scientist and philosopher who developed a distinctive type of education that aimed to promote a child’s personal and social development. Over 1,700 schools inspired by Steiner’s methodology have now been set up worldwide.

The first Steiner school

After graduating from university Steiner became interested in spirituality and developed, among many other ideas, a ‘science of the spirit’; this centred on the human struggle for inner freedom. Impressed by his ideas, employees at the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in Stuttgart set up a school for their children, and what was to become known as the first ‘Steiner-Waldorf School’ opened its doors in 1919.

The central philosophy

The Steiner philosophy was based on the idea that all children and young people progress through three distinctive stages of development, each lasting seven years:

• Birth to seven years old – when the ‘active’ or ‘will’ tends to dominate
• Seven to 14 years old – when the affective or ‘feeling’ takes prominence
• 14-21years old – when the cognitive or thinking ability predominates

Steiner emphasized the importance of education working in harmony with the emerging abilities and differing needs of children at each stage. He also warned against the dangers of putting too much pressure on children to succeed intellectually at an early age, which he believed can lead to lack of personal motivation to learn.

A distinctive ethos

Steiner developed a very distinctive ethos for his schools, as follows:

• The central aims are to give children clarity of thought, sensitivity of feeling and strength of will
• All elements of growth and development are considered important, including spirituality
• An appropriate physical learning environment is considered essential – it needs to be a warm, natural and friendly environment where children can feel nurtured and at ease
• Children experience both the arts and the sciences, though during the early years there are no subject boundaries and learning proceeds at the pace of the child
• Play and imitation is emphasised for children up to age seven, as it is believed to strengthen the imagination and support all other aspects of learning
• Formal schooling using the printed word does not start until children reach 8 years old
• There is a strong emphasis on the spoken word, with stories, songs, poems etc. being considered the most appropriate introduction to literacy
• Up to age eight, mathematics is taught in practical human terms through activities such as cooking, where vegetables are chopped and counted, flour is weighed etc.
• The curriculum blends creativity with practical activity, with an emphasis on meaningful life experiences such as cooking and gardening
• Part of each day is devoted to ‘free creative play’, which includes a special form of movement with language and music
• Rhythm and structure is an important part of the school day, week and year, as children are thought to be reassured by the continuity this provides, e.g. there are regular daily and weekly activities; seasonal events mark the natural cycles of the year

Worldwide influence

The Steiner-Waldorf approach to education was enthusiastically adopted in a range of countries across the world during the 20^th century. Today, there are 1,087 nurseries and 640 schools spread across 50 countries, providing education to children aged 3-18.

Further reading

An Introduction to Steiner Education (by Frances Edmunds; latest edition published by Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004) provides an accessible overview of the topic. More information can be found at www.rudolfsteinerweb.com.

 

By Brin Best

 

World Space Week – lesson resources

SPACE – THE FINAL FRONTIER

October 4 -10th 2011 is World Space week. I thought you might enjoy a few ‘space’ jokes:

Why do people think Captain Kirk has 3 ears?
Because he has a left ear, a right ear and a ‘final frontier’!

What kind of songs do planets like to sing?
Nep-tunes!

When is a window like a star?
When it’s a skylight!

Space Related Websites

The World Space Week association was formed in 1981 and partners the UN in the co-ordination of world space events.  Their mission:

To celebrate each year at international level the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition - the United Nations General Assembly.

For further information about events visit their website.

The European Space Agency site is also packed with information and has links to the UK space education office. This organisation promotes the use of space to enhance and support the teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). From the European Space Agency site you can also link through to NASA ‘science casts’, short videos about fun and interesting topics. I watched a video clip called A Breath of Fresh Air about how the same kind of oxygen humans breathe on earth has been found in deep space. The video clips are short and would make good topic openers in class.

Also, If you visit the BBC science website there are presently some great items on astronomy. The item about the night sky in Autumn is something children can get involved in. You don’t need lots of special equipment, just a pair of binoculars and the opportunity to go somewhere that is not light-polluted.

Another website www.our-space.org  set up by Richard Garriott – computer games guru and adventurer who visited the International Space Station in 2008, contains video clips of him at the space station. There are materials and resources on this site which can be used to build lesson plans.

The National STEM Centre

Many teachers will already be aware of the National STEM Centre. Their e-library contains numerous lesson plans and teachers’ notes. I noticed a lesson plan on Newton’s first law, the law of inertia, but I decided to stay in my existing state and did not click the PDF! A few other lesson plans that caught my eye, although not directly linked to space, were ‘Engineering Chocolate’ aimed at 11-14 year olds – 4 lesson plans and teachers’ notes on areas such as investigating solubility, thermal insulation, hygiene, micro organisms and packaging, all taught through the medium of chocolate. ‘Beyond the visible – 100 years of X-rays’ is another topic I particularly enjoyed. Although written in 1995, I think it is still very useful. The areas covered in this group of lesson plans are: the discovery of x-rays; x-rays in medicine; diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy.

Although we have moved on from the notion that girls are not interested in science, there is still evidence to suggest that many students – both boys and girls – don’t select science to study. It’s perceived as difficult and, sometimes, dull. Neither of which are true when the teaching and resources are creative and exciting.

A couple of our publications which you might enjoy are:

Creative Teaching Pocketbook by Roy Watson-Davis in which Roy shares numerous suggestions about how to engage students and help them learn more effectively, and how to stimulate and support creative practice.

Boys, Girls and Learning Pocketbook by Ian Smith  – practical classroom advice on how to motivate and connect with both boys and girls and create an environment that will work for both genders.

 A couple more jokes before I blast off:

 What kind of poetry can you find in outer space?
Uni-verse!

 And my current favourite:

Where does Dr Who buy his cheese?
A Dalek-atessen!

Jenny