November 2020 – Happy Schools

Epic Ideas for Ending the Year Well

November 26, 2020

One of the things we don’t do well in schools is celebrating. Even when we achieve success and have clearly made progress, the celebration tends to be short lived. We can almost be flippant as we deflect the glory and then eagerly look for the next problem to solve. I think this happens for a number of reasons: 1 We are always busy in schools with a lot to do, especially at this time of the year. 2 We are constantly working at improving our schools. We look for problems or issues as they highlight potential areas for improvement. Even if our school is doing great things, we tend to be on the lookout for where they “could be even…

Learn to Manage Your Most Important Resource: Energy

November 12, 2020

Stevef

Effectiveness

Your motivation at work is directly related to how you spend your personal time. If you don’t do anything after school that is re-energising, you are going to go back into the classroom the next day feeling even more depleted. The job will take even more out of you and you are going to get sucked into a downward spiral. I try to do something that is inspiring and energising for me as a person on a daily basis. Even though I’m busy, this is the choice I consciously make because I know that the way I choose to spend my evenings makes a tremendous difference to my creativity level, attitude and productivity the following day. I can’t afford not…

Using Time Well

November 5, 2020

Stevef

Efficiency

Often in schools we have too much to do and not enough time to do it in. Time is a precious commodity. It is vital that we use the time we have available well. One of the challenges of working in schools is that much of our day is FIXED. There are classes to be taught, duties to be fulfilled and meetings to attend. This makes it even more important that we use any flexible time effectively to do the things that are important. With so much to do and so little flexible time available it is essential that we prioritise ruthlessly and do the most important work; the work that makes the most difference in our role. We need…