Last chance! Register for tomorrow's student motivation workshop. All participants get access to the live, virtual event with me, plus a recording of the event, plus a link to the slides I use, PLUS a cheatsheet PDF I developed today after talking with some genius school leaders in Linden, CA.
So many pluses, right?
Riiiiiiiiiiiiight?
*Registration closes tomorrow at 7:30 am PST / 10:30 am EST
Yesterday, we examined two great questions to ask yourself at the outset of a school year:
- What's Everest for my work in education this year?
- What's one area of professional practice I'd like to improve in this year?
This morning, I went and spoke with teachers in Linden, CA, and their energy was just… wow. So much enthusiasm for this work, freshness for this vision of promoting the long-term flourishing of young people by teaching them toward mastery all across the school day. It was really phenomenal.
And it got me thinking on the first theme of this month's “Teaching Simplified” series. In the series, each day's post is meant to point your heart and mind toward the kinds of things that will set you up for a strong and impactful year.
But I also want to develop some clear through lines as we go — some categories that will be clear for us when we zoom all the way out upon our entrance in to another year of our good and hard work.
And here, colleague, is through line number one: the inner work of the teacher. It's a thing. It's a skill. It's a muscle. Grow it, and delight. Neglect it, and pine.
Yesterday, we looked at the inner work of:
- focusing our intentions (Everest); and
- focusing our improvement (lumpily).
Today, let's look at setting a strong foundation for managing our time this year.
This is going to help us get wiser, faster.
And it's going to keep us sane.
Simple Rules, Visualized
I'm going to let a video do the talking on this one. It's one of the lessons inside my Time Management Course, but to make it publicly available I posted it on YouTube today (my channel for educators is here).
But if you're in a rush or just need a refresher, here's the gist:
- Set simple rules that place boundaries around your working hours this coming school year. Here are mine.
- Monday through Friday: I can work from whenever I wake up until I need to be home from work, which is 5:00 or 5:30 pm depending on the night's agenda. And do no work at home!
- Saturdays: On rare occasions, I can talk with Crystal to arrange a Saturday morning work session, where I get to work from whenever I wake up until 11 am. Typically, this happens for something writing- or professional development-related, but during heavy essay times (spring) I'll sometimes use a Saturday morning for essay feedback.
- As I discuss in the video — these work for me and my family. They're not better or worse than yours. Whatever your constraints are, my encouragement to you is to accept and embrace them.
- Visualize those rules so that you can see the boundaries for work that you need to keep this year. Here is my visualization.
And, if I might add two additional pointers, they'd be this:
- Communicate these rules with someone who will hold you accountable.
- Be prepared for these rules to cause you problems, and please — let these problems help you!
Any questions or clarification needs, just email me.
Best,
DSJR
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