productivity – In Pursuit of Great Mathematics Teaching

Productivity: Never Wait Again

Waiting is a great pain of my work life. In my day, I regularly wait: for the bus, for the photocopier to finish, at the printer for my documents, by the microwave for my lunch to heat, for a doctor’s appointment, for someone who is late, for my tea to brew, and many other things.

I have decided that I will wait no longer. No, I can’t hurry up the photocopier or tardy person, but I can use my time more usefully.

When the waiting is a bit longer (like for an appointment or the bus), pull some reading out of your briefcase. Could you always carry an article or book or your eReader? While at the hospital this week I made it though this article about promoting deep learning (pdf).

When the waiting is a minute or two (like for the microwave or tea to brew), do a little job. Could you refill the tea canister while you are waiting or wipe down the countertops? Is the shared work fridge in need of a little sorting out? While making hot beverages in the staff room I usually wash my hands and tidy the dishes.

When the waiting time is unknown (like waiting for a colleague or queuing), try to do a few discreet stretches. Calf raises are easy; while standing, push up onto your toes for a few seconds, then release down again. Tense and release muscles up and down your legs and arms. Or, if there is anyone nearby, use it as a chance to catch up and build a stronger relationship.

And even if there is nothing to do when waiting, thinking is something you can do! Plan and visualise how the rest of your day or week can be successful. You could think ahead to the next lesson you will teach, or mentally run through the next series of lessons to see if one will lead to the other successfully. I often think ahead to my next meeting in the week and make notes about how I want to prepare.

This also reminds me about research years ago that figetity people burn more calories, which is reported on here. I think doing something while waiting is a mental version of fidgeting. It keeps your mind healthy.

What do you do while waiting?

Email Workflow for Teachers

Our lives are so busy. Teachers are working to a deadline every hour of every working day. Keeping on top of emails is important, but I find that I only have time to read and write emails a few times a day – in the morning, in between lessons, and in the afternoon.

I keep my email inbox empty. Every time I open the inbox, I open each message and read it. A lot of messages just need to be read and filed away. I decide if anything in the message needs further attention. If a message has action that I can do in under two minutes, I try to do it immediately. (That’s a Getting Things Done [GTD] mantra.)

I have three main labels for things that require further action: @reply, @review, and @to-do. I use @ signs in front of these labels because it ensures they always stay at the top of the labels list.

I tag @reply messages and make sure to reply to them before I go home that day. Our school has a policy that we must reply to parents within 24 hours.

The @review label is for information that I know I need to spend some time digesting but I can’t do it in under two minutes. Things like an article I want to read or a link to a blog post. I use the @review items for those times when I have a few odd moments waiting for something or at the end of the day in my reading and thinking moods.

The @to-do label goes on things I have to get done. I go through the messages every morning and afternoon and try to attack the biggest thing that I have time for each time. Or if I’m just between lessons or meetings I try to attack three little things. Usually I keep the list manageable so there is no need for excessive prioritizing. When the list gets too long, I dedicate some evening or weekend time – but this is rare.

After all the label tagging, I archive everything in the inbox. An empty inbox keeps my stress down. And knowing that I have seen all my “open loops” and categorized them allows me to focus on jobs at hand instead of worrying about what else I will need to do later.

What is your email workflow?

Vital Behaviours

It’s orientation week for new teachers at my school and the head of school gave a welcome talk. In it he mentioned vital behaviours for teachers and students for success at school. Afterwards I did a bit of reading about vital behaviours. (Here are two posts that helped me.) The phrase is from a book called Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change. Vital behaviours are those actions that lead to our goals. They are the smallest possible actions that make the biggest impact towards meeting goals.

Our head of school identified three vital behaviours for successful students:

attendance
completion of homework
leadership outside of the classroom

He also identified three vital behaviours for successful teaching staff at our school:

collaboration
use of data and evidence to guide decisions
high expectations for all students

The idea of vital behaviours really stuck with me. And made me wonder if I can generate some of my own. First I would need to think of a goal and then identify the fewest essential actions to meet that goal.

And since it’s goal setting time for the new school year, I thought I would give it a try.

Goal: Coach my grade 9 students (two classes) to communicate meaningfully in their maths portfolios/journals. (I’m not sure yet what I am going to call these books.)

First I brainstormed the steps I might take to work towards this goal.
introduce journals
provide exemplars (I already have some pictures of these.)
examine with students: What is meaningful communication and reflection?
establish thinking routines
provide rich tasks
provide reflection time
give summative feedback on tasks
have students give regular presentations in front of class
peer assess communication
write a rubric of expectations

And then I refined these to a list of vital behaviours:

provide rich tasks
provide reflection time
examine with students: what is meaningful communication and reflection?

I’m sure that after school actually starts I will see if this goal and these behaviours need to be updated or changed.

Have you ever used the idea of vital behaviours in your planning?

What are your goals for this school year?

Procrastination

Late in the afternoons when the maths office is quiet, I like to set aside the emails, form-filling-in, reports, lesson planning, and admin jobs, and just do some reading for the pleasure of learning something. Sometimes I read about maths teaching theories. I like to read scholarly papers. Or I read an article from Mathematics Teaching (the ATM journal) or Mathematics in School (the MA journal). I also usually find lots of ideas for things to read from my Twitter feed.

Is my afternoon reading habit a form of procrastination? I choose to believe that it is not. It is more of a break for my brain and a chance to recharge. I always feel really refreshed by learning something new. I often pick up a new idea about how to teach a tricky topic. Quite often I read about productivity and gain a bit of motivation to work more efficiently and effectively. Recently I have been reading about leadership in connection with my Links course.

If I’m honest, sometimes I do procrastinate by reading. It’s a chance to avoid things I don’t like doing for a while. At least I get something good out of it at the same time.

Today I stumbled upon this article about 15 things that good leaders do automatically every day. One of them was that they don’t procrastinate! I was really struck by the idea that good leaders are proactive and keep their progress moving by not avoiding jobs, even unpleasant ones. Good leaders know that “getting ahead in life is about doing the things that most people don’t like doing.” I feel a renewed sense of purpose after reading that. I want to be the kind of person who approaches life with determination, from the most important jobs (planning for great lessons) to the most mundane (administrivia). I’m glad I took my late afternoon reading break to gain that sense of momentum again.

Do you procrastinate? Do you have any procrastination tips?