Little and often

I loved reading this blog post at http://jamesmichie.com/blog/2011/03/little-and-often/ by Jamie Michie. 


He includes some real practical advice for trying to gain a work-life balance. I love the idea of doing things 'little and often'. Here is what I am going to try to do next year:

1. Keep a note book (or folder) of lesson ideas, activities and homework; keep it with you to jot down ideas on the fly. I have a note book ready and have already started jotting ideas down.
2. Mark and assess work in small batches avoiding the dreaded “marking pile”. This is the biggest thing I need to do next year. I will be 'experimenting' to find out what works, but I know I can't go on marking 60 books each evening (plus homework) and I need to reduce the amount that I do whilst maintaining its effectiveness.
3. Make feedback short and precise to make it meaningful and to keep it manageable for yourself. I can go on a bit with my marking. Keeping it short and precise will work better.
4. Take 15-20 minutes to reflect on your day: what went well, what didn’t, how can you do better tomorrow? I need to build this into my day, but it is often easier said than done.
5. Collaborate with others but make meetings short and emails brief; instead get on with the doing, focussing on the outcomes instead, evaluating as you go. Making meetings shorter is everyone's dream. Can we do it? We'll see!
6. Share ideas, resources and useful links via email, Twitter or Facebook immediately; don’t wait, don’t stock pile. I need to build some time to 'discover and play' new resources, web-based or otherwise, into my week so that I don't stockpile.
7. Don’t let things become untidy. Fix displays, put away resources, tidy your desk when you see that it needs doing. I'm going to do a 'sweep' of my classroom each day to keep it looking fresh. In fact I'm going to take a picture of it every day at www.myclassroom.posterous.com. I hope to keep this up-to-date!