Guest Posted October 8, 2005 Posted October 8, 2005 I am finding it hard to manage my time at school and at home. I always feel like i have got loads of jobs to do. I know it is is a difficult question but how long do people spend outside school on school work? I would also appreciate any tips or ideas for planning my time better! Thanks Quote
Sue R Posted October 8, 2005 Posted October 8, 2005 You and me both!!! With me it depends on whether my husband is around or whether my manager (DN) has caught me trying to take work home! Both police me diligently as they know what a workaholic I can be . When Pete's at work - as today and tomorrow - or the Manager was off when I finished last week I have a satisfying pile of stuff on the kitchen table! But to be serious, it is important to strike the right balance or you'll end up burning out. The philosophy usually quoted at me is to stop, look at what you perceive as the mass of jobs that need doing - for this I usually make one big list, two columns - home/work and evaluate! Once it's all written down it's under control is how I usually see it. Then I work out what can wait, what needs doing soon and what needs doing NOW. Then I write two nice, neat, prioritised lists, stick them on the 'fridge (with all the other lists and reminders ) and enjoy ticking them off as I work through them. Smug, aren't I?? Of course, there's always the occasion when everything really does need doing now, that's when you shout for help and rope people in as and when! It's what colleagues, family and friends are for! But please Debs, whatever else you do, make time to keep coming here, we may not be able to physically do stuff for you, but we're entertaining, uplifting company Sue Quote
Guest Posted October 8, 2005 Posted October 8, 2005 I am finding it hard to manage my time at school and at home. I always feel like i have got loads of jobs to do. I know it is is a difficult question but how long do people spend outside school on school work? I would also appreciate any tips or ideas for planning my time better!Thanks 39781[/snapback] Well, for a start I do NOT gt up at 7.27 on a Saturday!!! I find I usually spend around half an hour an evening on school work during the week (but I usually stay at school for a couple of hours as well). At weekends it varies - sometimes I do almost nothing, but other times I can spend a whole day and more... This weekend time is largely dedicated to my managerial responsibilities. When I first started teaching I was advised to keep on top of housework by doing one room a night to keep things ticking over. (I still haven't managed it!). Sue's advice on prioritising is really good. And I'm a great believer in getting the family to pull their weight with the chores Quote
mundia Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 Debs, take Sue's advice it is very sound. I am a big list maker, I make one at the beginning of every week. and then relist them in orer of priority. I usally have to add to it constantly mind you.. Im guessing that you are a teac her and havent been teaching that long or are in a new phase? Or like me you have loasds of other repsonsibilities? There alwasy seems loads of stuff to do and art of teh success in the job is to be ablle to manage time well. I have to keep very focussed on my different roles otherwise they all merge into one and I get confused. If you dont already do this, make sure you leave school early at least once during the week and have a ngiht off. If you have a social activity that you do, stick to it, dont be tempted to say...'i dont have time this week'. Dont worry about housework, (oops I dont), if the floors arent hoovered, what the worst that can happen? get a colleague to help you decide what really matters and what can wait if you have difficulty doing this yourself. Enlsist the family to do the washing up and washing an cooking. You can only do what you can do. It isnt worth beating yourself up about it, nor is it worth making yourself ill. Finally, laugh. Was it Charlie Chaplin that said 'a day without laugter is a day wasted'. Soemtimes I really have to think, when was the alst time I relaly laughed. Its amazing how much work you will get done then... Help or gobbledeegook? On second thughts, dont asnwetr that. Quote
Guest Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 My new school is very hot on making sure you get that work/life balance. The head told me when I started, as did the deputy, do NOT do any school work on a Friday (everyone is out of there by 4pm at the latest and the kids don't leave till 3.30) and pick 1 other night when you leave school early and do no school work. That was their advice and I stick to it! I also make sure that I go to my dancing lesson every week, as it is totally away from work and something I really enjoy doing. I'm not hot on cleaning, but I don't care really! I have a big clean up if I know someone is coming over, but the rest of the time I do it when I can be bothered!!! I do usually spend half of a weekend day doing my planning and things, either Saturday or sunday, depending on what else I've got planned and if my fiance is working or not. Quote
Beau Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 I got these somewhere off the internet. You might find them useful. timeman_weekly.doc timeman_daily.doc Quote
Sue R Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 Carol, Your canonisation should be imminent!! Thanks for those, but what do I,U,D stand for? I thought I'd got it, but then U, which I thought was urgent turned up as something else as well!! Sue Quote
Guest Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 I think a lot of it depends on your school's ethos. the school i am in now thinks personal lives are extremely important and it is very relaxed. The last school i was in which i left burntout after 18 months of working til 10pm at night every night, was very work is everything. I can't say that i was very effective there as i was too exhausted to think in a rational manner. After starting at my new school i was off on longterm sickness due to stress and my body giving up after 5 years of working too hard - teachers are also perfectionists which doesn't help to make things easier. i have now realised that your health and sanity are the most important things there are if they are not well you won't be at school anyway!!!! I have become much better at saying no to people if i haven't got time to do things and i always stop working by 6pm so i have time for my brain to switch off. before i felt that i was working so late my head was buzzing when i went to bed then i would keep waking up thinking of things and so not sleep properly, be tired and it just went round in circles. How ever hard it is you have to have time for yourself to reflect on what is happening at home and work. I still make long lists of things i need to do but now i don't do them all and i often think what will happen if i don't make that or laminate that - i think i have gotten things in a much better perspective now but it took a long time and really took me being really ill to make me wake up - so my advice would be look after yourself first - the kids will learn something each day whatever you do. Quote
Sue R Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 Sound advice there, sunbeam!! Sorry you had to learn the hard way, but you got there!! Sue Quote
Beau Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 Carol, Your canonisation should be imminent!! Thanks for those, but what do I,U,D stand for? I thought I'd got it, but then U, which I thought was urgent turned up as something else as well!! Sue 39883[/snapback] Sue, The U is urgent and the I is important. Not all urgent things are important which is why there is the separate categories. It's a case of working out what actually is important first though! As for the D - who knows? - these are the things that are neither urgent nor important. Perhaps someone else knows the answer! (I'll be looking out for my canonisation in the post ) Quote
Sue R Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 Thank you for that, carol - I had never really realised that Urgent is not always Important.....now what does that say about me? I wonder....... Maybe D is 'dull' ?? Sue PS, when you get to my age, some things are definitely Important when they're Urgent Quote
Guest Posted October 9, 2005 Posted October 9, 2005 PS, when you get to my age, some things are definitely Important when they're Urgent 39914[/snapback] Ha ha ha I know how you feel! Maybe D is "don't bother"? or "ditch"? Quote
Susan Posted October 10, 2005 Posted October 10, 2005 Have to say I agree with all of this!! Except that my husband always tells me off for making lists so they tend to be mental ones that he wont find!! I too have worked in a school where work, work, work seemd to be the ethos of the day and there were never enough hours. As a supply teacher I do enjoy walking away promptly at the end of the day and having my weekends back and I have time to laugh!! A long time ago now, but when I first started teaching the school I worked at was locked up at 4pm, staff meetings took place in the lunch hour, when lunch hours were actually a lot longer and we wrote monthly record books of what we had done! INSET didnt exist but courses were on offer at the local teachers centre and were stimulating!! I changed all my classroom displays every 3 weeks because I had the energy and was not burnout without meetings for meetings sake and paper/planning chases. Only you can actually decide what is right for you, but do try and prioitise and make sure family and fun are pretty near the top!! A fridge magnet I bought it USA over the summer, just about sums it up for me " A clean house is the sign of a wasted life"! Otherwise that poem about dusting and cobwebs go to sleep is a good one although perhaps neither quite address the work life balance is this context??? Quote
Beau Posted October 11, 2005 Posted October 11, 2005 Perhpas you ought to have a look at this thread! Quote
Guest Posted October 12, 2005 Posted October 12, 2005 I would like to thank everyone for your advice, it has been great to hear some sound advice! Thanks Again Debs Quote
Guest Posted October 12, 2005 Posted October 12, 2005 Hi I run my own Nursery so its a business as well as a Nursery. I have a cut off time of 8 in the evening so that i don't work past that time. it gives me 2 hours to vegetate before i go to bed Also i find delegating the best thing ever even though most of the time it comes back to me in the end but at least I've managed to get some other work done in the meantime. Have a PLAN as we are told so often on what hours to spend doing what. i did a business course and time management was part of it. but i'm still working on it Quote
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