Producteev

I live by To Do Lists. I've always been a fan of Toodledo. However, on getting my Nexus 7 at Christmas and discovering that Toodledo doesn't have a compatible Android app, I've been forced to look at alternatives.

For me, there are some criteria for any to do list tool:

• It must have a website version, a compatible Android app and an iPhone app.
• It must have recurring tasks.
• It must 'feel' right.

I eventually settled on Producteev. This seems to meet all of my criteria. I like the way I can create different workspaces, so my home tasks don't appear at school. Although I don't take advantage of the facility, you can collaborate with other users. Adding subtasks and notes is easy too.

It could be improved by allowing tasks to repeat from the completion date, not just from the due date. But for now I'm happy with it.

Parkinson's Law

Parkinson's Law states, "Work expands to fill the time you make available to it."

This means that the longer you are prepared to push the boundaries of work into the rest of your life, the more work will spill into your personal time.

This is why it is important to limit the amount of time you set aside for your work.

Files Not Piles

Here's a simple phrase to help you to keep a tidy classroom: "Files not Piles."

Planning: Never leave planning lying around - it instantly sends a message to anyone in your classroom that you can't keep track of things. It should always be filed. Of course the file can be open and used in the classroom.

Distribution: If you have things to be given out, keep them in letter tray.

Collecting things in: If the children need to hand in homework or anything else, make sure that you have created clear routines for the children to follow. Make sure homework or anything that needs marking does not hang around - show that you intend to action it.

Things to action: You're bound to be given things throughout the day that need attention. Consider organising these into files - things that need doing today, this week and sometime in the future.

Reference: Keep a file of data about the class. You might want to keep in there anything else that's relevant to your role.

Recycle: Don't let things accumulate - if it's finished with, put it straight in the recycling bin.

Always tidy up before you go home. It sends a message to your class that you want things to be tidy. It also means you get to stay on top of things!

Managing Workload 5

I recently read The Managing Workload Pocketbook from the brilliant Teachers' Pocketbooks series. The book was written by Will Thomas. This is the final post in a series about my learning from the book. The book includes some really practical advice for how to stay healthy and avoid stress.

REST

Refuel - eat and drink properly for maximum performance

Exercise - take regular exercise for posture, health and stamina

Stop - take stimulus-free time

Time to reflect on your successes and plan your next steps to aid work-life balance

How to minimise stress:

• Plan ahead for the long, medium and short term
• Block out planning and relaxation time each week and take it
• Be realistic with your plans
• Be flexible towards your plans and build in enough margin for coping with unexepected demands - a teacher will always have them!
  Make lists and tick off things you achieve - praise yourself!
• Take time out during the day - even a few seconds without stimulus can help psychologically
• Eat and drink healthily, especially water
• Create time for exercise and mental space
• Do something for you each week, something you enjoy and look forward to
• As a teacher, manage your stress because it affects your students too
• Seek help from others if you feel you are suffering from too much stress.

I can honestly recommend this book. I think it's rare to find a book about working and productivity which is specifically for teachers. The fact that it's in an easy to digest pocketbook makes it even more impressive. I'd recommend that you take a look!

Managing Workload 4

I recently read The Managing Workload Pocketbook from the brilliant Teachers' Pocketbooks series. The book was written by Will Thomas. This is the fourth in a series a posts about my learning from the book. This time I consider his excellent advice for marking, feedback and working with parents.

Until reading this book it hadn't occurred to me that the way you handle your communication with parents, and the way that you mark and give feedback, can make a huge difference to managing a workload. Of course, I knew that they added to your workload; but the way they are managed can reduce the effect on a workload.

Marking and Feedback

Some evidence shows children pay little attention to written feedback where a grade is given. Effective feedback encourages children to reflect and is surprisingly smart in terms of teacher workload. Consider using the following techniques more of the time:

• Set clear criteria for work - students with focus make fewer mistakes - less to correct.
• Set some work as concept maps - you can get a good overview of understanding.
• Use dots to indicate an error, but write nothing else - encourage reflection.
• Use peer feedback which identifies a 4:1 ratio of strengths:development points.
• Mark one piece of work in three, and use peer feedback for the others.
• Students share their work before they submit it and correct their own mistakes.
• Speed-mark by marking a question at a time rather than a whole test paper at a time.

Working with difficult parents.

When complaints or concerns are dealt with sensitively from the start, satisfaction is maximised and time spent in resolution is minimised.

1. Listen and acknowledge - allow them to express themselves uninterrupted.
2. Ask them what they think they need in order to resolve the issue.
3. Agree to reasonable requests. Consider when and who with action them.
4. Add any further elements to the solution you feel are necessary.
5. Give a clear and realistic date when you will contact them and tell them about progress.
6. Ask them how they are feeling now and allow any further expression - take any further action needed to reassure them.
7. Thank them and remind them you have their child's best interests at heart.

This is all great advice! The book goes into much more detail to clarify the ideas further.

Managing Workload 3

I recently read The Managing Workload Pocketbook from the brilliant Teachers' Pocketbooks series. The book was written by Will Thomas. This is the third in a series a posts about my learning from the book.

The author goes into good practice with managing your diary.

He writes that, "Setting up your diary properly involves recording in the main body of the diary all dates and commitments including meetings, holidays and special events."

He suggests, "Once a deadline is upon you, carefully break more complex tasks down into steps. 

For example: Setting up end of term exams: (write the steps in your diary)

• letter to parents by date z, 
• needs to go to tutors by date y, 
• therefore needs to go to reprographics by date x, 
• therefore needs to be written by w, 
• therefore need information by date v."

For longer term tasks, write in a series of reminders on the days or weeks, before the deadline.

A diary is not just for recording commitments; it forms the basis for your planning as well. You will need to:

• Keep a written copy of the goals you set for the next 12 months.
• Keep a rolling record of the key tasks/projects you are working on.
• Each week, from the goals and projects, plan the priorities for the week into your schedule.
• Action plan complex goals and tasks into smaller units, breaking them down and giving them interim deadlines, allocating time to work on them in your diary.

Staying organised involves spending some time each week assessing your priorities. Once the new week is upon you it is too late to plan it. So setting your priorities for the following week is best done within the previous week.

You can read more about weekly reviews here: http://lifehacker.com/5908816/the-weekly-review-how-one-hour-can-save-you-a-weeks-worth-of-hassle-and-headache

I urgently need to employ weekly reviews as a way to plan my week. I organise my diary(ies) in a way which works for me. However, I must plan my long term goals much better, using my diary for deadlines, rather than leaving it all for my to do lists. I often leave deadlines for subtasks to memory rather than put them in my diary.

Managing Workload 2

I recently read The Managing Workload Pocketbook from the brilliant Teachers' Pocketbooks series. The book was written by Will Thomas.

The book is full of excellent ideas for how to manage your school workload more efficiently. This is something that I particularly struggle with and so I was keep to find out some ideas. In this second of my posts about this book I will consider the idea of prioritising tasks.


Parkinson's Law: "Work expands to fill the time you make available to it."

Thomas suggests for each task you consider the urgency and the importance. By organising your tasks into the categories in the diagram, you can quickly see which tasks need to be tackled first.

Thomas writes, "Get into the habit of considering the urgency and importance of each task. If it isn't a UI or a NUI, then lower it in your priorities, or strike it out altogether. Tackle first the thing on your task list you most want to avoid."

I think this is a really quick and simple way to examine tasks, and therefore prioritising them is much easier. It is important to review the tasks carefully as, of course, some tasks become more urgent and more important over time. This could be done as part of a weekly review.

I like the look of the Any To Do app for the iPhone which sets task lists out in this way. It will also sync with Evernote which would be very handy.

Some general rules suggested for Paperwork and e-work:

• Have a tidy desk.
• 'A place for everything and everything in its place'.
• Be ruthless with paper.
• Treat emails as you would paper.

Managing Workload 1

I recently read The Managing Workload Pocketbook from the brilliant Teachers' Pocketbooks series. The book was written by Will Thomas.

The book is full of excellent ideas for how to manage your school workload more efficiently. This is something that I particularly struggle with and so I was keep to find out some ideas. Over a series of posts I will share my learning from the book.

There are five key steps to bringing greater balance and managing your workload more effectively:

"Evaluate now - evaluate the current position and plan regular review slots, celebrate your successes, plan your next steps."

I will be building a regular review into a weekly routine. I think this is a major part of managing my workload which I have failed to do.

"Choose your future - identify in detail what kind of balance you would like."

I need to consider what I believe 'balanced' looks like.

"Identify habits - identify the habits which waste time and energy, and replace with winning approaches."

I procrastinate too much at times. Could there be other things that hold me back and cause me to waste time and energy? I'm pretty sure there are.

"Plan your strategy - identify the strategies that will move you towards the future you wish for."

I will come up with a plan for how I can achieve a fairer work/life balance.

"Act now - take action now to start that process of change."

The start of the new school year seems like a good opportunity to get started with this. I've got lots to do at home during the summer but I need to manage this with my family time.

"With their dying breath, a teacher never says, 'I wish I'd spent more time with my school work'."

Setting goals

I recently read James Caan's book, 'Get the Life you Really Want'. There were a few good pieces of advice in there about setting goals, targets and getting where you want to be in life.

"It is your mindset, not your ability, that shapes how high you will go."

Setting goals

"Asking questions and working out what needs changing is great. But then you have to move from thinking about things to actually doing them. To start moving forwards and get some traction, it is important to set targets. Otherwise you go through life like a pinball, being bounced around by other people telling you what to do."

"Try to get the balance right between positive ambitions and what is realistic. You want to feel forward movement, not frustration."

"Make sure there are short gaps between each of your milestones. Then you can see where you are going."

"You don't have to change your life all by yourself. In fact, involving other people and telling them your plans will be life-changing in itself."

Time Management

"Time management is about looking at your diary every morning. Ask yourself whether each task or activity is crucial and critical to what you are doing. Decide what is essential and what is simply 'nice to have'."

"Managing time is all about working out how you can be in control of your time, not the other way around. You are in charge."

"Don't forget to make sure you are building in time to enjoy yourself, time to relax with the kids. It is just as crucial to your well-being. Build it in to your diary and stick to it."

Disengaging staff members

There was another great post on the Leadership Daily blog. It's all about engaging staff on a daily basis.

In order to prove how spot on the advice is, I wanted to consider how staff can become disengaged:

• Facilitate progress. Staff members feel engaged when they make headway toward objectives. Provide clear goals and resources to support their progress.

When staff aren't given clear objectives they can quickly become demotivated. Without objectives their impact isn't measurable. How can they show their worth? They could start to drift and lose interest in their job. Without goals, and the little milestones achieved each day, it's hard to find success. Without clear goals, resources will not be provided meaning that processes can become stilted.

• Make work meaningful. Your school/organization doesn't need a lofty mission to make employees care. They simply need to see how their actions contribute to the value provided by the work of the school/organization.

'Singing from the same hymn sheet' is a phrase that is often used in schools. We want all staff understand the importance of their work, and how every thing they do contributes to the success. If they don't they begin to steer away from the school's agenda and do their own thing.

• Reward and recognize. Don't wait for milestones. Show appreciation every day for the work your staff members do.

This couldn't be truer. Without acknowledgement, without recognition, without appreciation, morale falls, staff members no longer feel valued and de-motivation sets in. They will often want to move on to find rewards and recognition from somewhere else.

Week 9: Your Favourite ICT Tool

My absolute favourite ICT tool is Dropbox!

I'm sure that most people who read this blog will be aware of this excellent file syncing tool, but just in case anyone who isn't, the best place to look is here: https://www.dropbox.com/tour.

The idea of Dropbox is that a folder is created on your computer. Anything placed inside this folder is automatically synced online so that you can access it via the website. The brilliant thing is that if you download the software on another computer, that same folder appears with everything synced inside it. You can also access the documents using an app for smartphones.

I used to take my laptop home with me from school each day. Thanks to Dropbox I haven't done this for ages as everything I do at home is saved in my Dropbox folder and I can use it in school, and vice versa.

If you use this link you can get an extra 500MB if you join Dropbox.

Keeping staff meetings brief!

I loved this post from Leadership Daily:


"As a leader, how do you regulate the amount of time for meetings in order to be efficient?


People often set meetings for an hour because their calendars default to that time period. But you may need far less time to accomplish your work. Try these three measures to shorten your meeting:

• Stand up. Most people won't linger on an issue if their feet hurt. Remove chairs from the room. When standing, people are often more attentive and engaged.
• Use a time. Designate an allotted time for each agenda item and set a stopwatch or the time on your phone. Or make it more personal and have one the members of your group do the timing. When time is up, determine next steps and move on.
• Show the cost of the meeting. At the top of the agenda, show the calculated hourly cost of having the group together. When people realise how much a meeting costs the school/organisation, they are more apt to be efficient."

The second tips in particular are ideas I like. I think that teachers often forget that the school is a business, and there is a cost of having staff meet together. 

Productivity Mistakes

I love this post at http://www.dumblittleman.com/2011/12/are-you-making-these-7-productivity.html

"You want to get things done. You're keen to be efficient and effective. "Productivity" is your favorite word – and you're working really hard at it. The problem is, if you're going about being productive the wrong way, you might just be setting yourself up to fail.
These are seven common mistakes that people make when they're trying to be more productive. Do any of them sound familiar?"

Mistake #1: Cutting Back on Sleep
Yep. By shaving off a few minutes of sleep at either end of the day I think I can get more done. In the end, it makes little difference overall as it makes me less productive elsewhere in the day.

Mistake #2: Multi-Tasking
I'm getting better at single-tasking. People boast about being good at multi-tasking. I'm of the opinion that do be productive I must do one thing at a time, well.

Mistake #3: Doing Everything Yourself
Delegating is easier said than done. Too often I remember the phrase, "If you want something done well, do it yourself." But the sign of a good leader is that you can trust people to do the job well - even better than you can do it. I need to try harder with this.

Mistake #4: Focusing Solely on Numbers
As a teacher I believe that data results can mean just as much as quantitative data. I think I'm good at not doing things more just to show higher numbers things achieved. I would rather achieve less but do it well.

Mistake #5: Eating at Your Desk
It drives me mad when teachers say they haven't got time to eat in the staffroom. Sure, it does happen occasionally. But I believe it is important to spend time with your staff. It's also important to switch off for a while. If we don't display our own social skills, how can we expect our pupils to?

Mistake #6: Checking Email Frequently
Luckily I don't get too bombarded with email. My worst problem is emailling things to myself to remind me to do things. I now set time each day to respond to emails rather than check them every few minutes.

Mistake #7: Pushing Yourself Hard
I'm afraid that I do this all the time. I need to do better at this. My body seems to give in as soon as term is over. All of the germs I fight off in term time take advantage of a less frenetic lifestyle during school holidays, and I invariably begin to feel poorly. Lucozade gets me through.

"Of course, it's good to be productive – to achieve things in both professional and personal life. But don't try to be productive at the expense of all else, and don't adopt measures for short-term gain that are going to cause problems over the long-term."

Multitasking

People brag about being able to multitask.The latest newsletter from nanoTasker says:

"Multitasking is actually an illusion, as we do not actively think about 2 or more items simultaneously in our conscious mind. Multitasking is really about how rapidly we can switch tasks, recall the details of each and be effective. This puts a lot of strain on our minds and in the short term causes mental fatigue and leads to burnout. Every time you switch tasks you are losing your momentum and causing a 15-45 minute transition period to the new task."

This would explain a lot about why I find it hard to multitask. The newsletter contains some good advice which I am doing my best to follow:

• Try to carve out large periods of time to focus on a single larger task and avoid switching to another task until it’s done.
• Try to batch like-tasks together. For instance make all your calls at once, or work on writing tasks for a while.
• Instead of constantly handling new items as they come in write them down and handle them when the time is right. Very few actual emergencies really exist.
• Take notice of how often you are switching tasks, the cause for switching and be creative on how to combat switching them.

This next half-term is a frantically busy one. I have so many appointments, courses and meetings that I'm not getting the chance to concentrate on what I need to do. If I organise my time like the advice suggests I think I will be productive.

NanoTasks

I signed up for free beta access to Nanotasker. It sounds ideal for helping me to manage various projects. Whilst I'm waiting for the site to fully open, I'm loving the productivity tips that they are sending me each week:

"What are NanoTasks?NanoTasks are when a task is broken down into the smallest tasks or steps possible and can’t be broken down further. For instance you may need to create a new training guide for your office. You can break it down to the following tasks are involved, “research best practices, write first draft, have Person X review it, edit draft, have 20 copies printed.” Those can then be broken down such as with “Research best practices” which can become “Google general practices for understanding, find 4 experts to contact about it, call person 1, call person 2, call person 3….”  The task “Call Person 1” can be considered a NanoTask as it’s an action that can be accomplished on it’s own.

Actions
Actions

• Think big picture steps on how to accomplish your task with high level broad steps.

• Then look at those steps and break them down further into smaller steps.

• Do this until each step is a small actionable item that is no longer feels overwhelming in nature on it’s own.

Thought To move a mountain you must do it one stone at a time."

I love this approach to project planning and I intend to break down all of my projects in this way.

Zzzzzzzzzz...

Since our baby arrived back in April, I've quickly begun to see the importance of sleep. It's not that I never knew it before. It's just that seeing the difference a few minutes' snoozing can make to a baby is fascinating to watch.


It's amazing to watch our baby get herself upset and worked up seemingly for no reason. Then she goes to sleep, sometimes for just a few minutes, and then she wakes up happy and smiling! Powernapping seems to be the way forward then!

It's helped me to understand why children can sometimes underperform in class. If they've not had enough sleep their body and brain can't cope. I wonder if schools should have a nap room!


I'm more guilty than most people for not getting enough sleep. One of my new year's resolutions was to go to bed at 11. It's proving to be impossible. It's more like 11.30 each night. I set my alarm for 6 each morning but I'm struggling to get up and the snooze button is both the best and worst invention ever. I realise that many people get far less sleep than I do and cope just fine. But personally, I'm finding that I need at least seven hours!!

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!

Three Word Branding

Duncan Bannatyne writes in his book, 'Wake Up and Change your Life',

"Branding is basically about conveying your values to your customers. You might want to indicate that your product or service us honest, fun, upmarket, ethical or fast. Values are not always easy to pin down and they can be quite abstract, but once you've worked out what they are, then it becomes easier to establish a brand that means something to your customers. The best way I know to do this is to come up with three words - just three words - that you want your customers to associate with your company."

Three words to describe yourself. Blimey. That's not very easy! But such branding is quite important. When people think of me I'd like them to say that I'm x, y and z.


In interviews that we had in school a few months ago, we asked our candidates to describe themselves in three words. It gives a quick snapshot of that person. Thinking of three words on the spot is not easy though, so I've been thinking.


I think the words that best describe me are: dedicated, motivated and responsible. 


Dedicated because I always follow through with what I believe. I have values which I try to uphold through everything I do. Once I start on a challenge I always see it through. I can be relied upon. I am loyal and will support people when I believe they deserve it.


Motivated because I am always active. I get quickly frustrated when I can't get on with things. I have plans for the future and I reflect upon things and try to develop and improve when I can. I am ambitious in the short and long term. I am fun, hardworking and I hate laziness.


Responsible. I believe that I can be relied upon to do a great job, relied upon to be a caring and loving family member, and a loyal friend. I take a responsible approach to everything I do.


Now that I have my branding, I want to ensure that others would use the same words to describe me. This has to be done through my thoughts, words, actions and interactions. 


If I was allowed a fourth word it would have to be a word best explained in this poster, featuring Barney from 'How I Met Your Mother':

Image: http://www.sharenator.com/To_our_sharenator_Veterans/barney_stinson_awesome-174144.html

Bad Day Toolbox

After reading this post at the SimpleProductivityBlog I have put together my own tool box to help me break out of a bad day.


Here is my list of things I can do to make myself feel better in the midst of a really bad day:

• Watch my baby girl and wonder at how amazing life is
• Go for a walk with my wife
• Listen to my favourite music
• Tidy up
• Go for a run
• Go for a beer with one of my friends or family
• Watch a TV comedy programme
• Help someone
• Leave the building/room - take a change of scenery
• Read a book
• Eat some chocolate
• Drink Lucozade (only in very extreme circumstances as I don't want to re-ignite my Luzocade addiction)

Toodledo Vs Teux Deux

Toodledo and Teux Deux are both productivity apps for the iPhone and websites - to do lists. Which one is the best?


Toodledo
Good points

• Easy to add tasks
• Add tags to tasks
• Have due dates
• Easy to create repeating tasks
• Easy to link Toodledo account with Google Calendar
• Tasks can be added on the iPhone without an internet connection - it syncs later

Bad points

• Not the best looking interface
• When a task is not completed it is marked as overdue and I quickly get frustrated at myself when I fall behind with things.

Teux Deux

Good points

• Looks great
• Tasks that are not completed are added to today's list

Bad points

• You can't set repeating tasks
• I can't seem to add tasks without an internet connection

After trying both, Toodledo wins. Whilst Teux Deux looks great, the lack of ability to add repeating tasks ruins it for me. Repeating tasks on my to do list keeps me organised.