Foundations Newsletter

As we stumble out of February and into March, pressures build, deadlines loom, and inboxes fill up with even more things you have to do.  So what’s an HCT teacher to do?  How can teachers manage these pressures and the demands on their time?

We’re all educated people and are probably familiar with the basic ideas of time management, but when we’re lost in a “to do” storm, maybe we forget what we know and need a few reminders about the basics.  Herewith, a few motivation hacks and time management tips:

Big picture:

First and most importantly, to deal with stress and have the energy to get things done and make things happen, you have to get enough sleep.  No matter what you have to do, at 6 o’clock in the morning, the day ahead looks a lot better if you’ve had at least 7 hours of sleep.  This is a personal thing, of course, but here are a few tips on getting a good night’s sleep:

• go to bed early and allow yourself a half an hour to fall asleep
• don’t drink caffeine or alcohol before bedtime
• make sure the room is dark, quiet and cool
• no white lights on while you’re sleeping: night lights, phones, computers, TV’s or bathroom lights.  Research shows that white light affects the quality of sleep.
• if you snore heavily and you’re tired during the day, you may have sleep apnea. Get it checked out.  Sleep apnea isn’t a small thing.

Second, and I know this is VERY personal:  fitness.  Doing some kind of exercise regularly gives you energy, makes you feel better and, hopefully, sleep better.  Walk a little farther than you usually walk, maybe.  Do five minutes of exercise a day and maybe you can do ten minutes a day next week.

Done is better than perfect:

Apparently, there’s a rule of thumb at Facebook HQ:  “done is better than perfect”.  What does that mean?  Psychologists tell us that one of the main causes of procrastination is being a perfectionist:   you don’t start a project because you feel that it won’t be perfect.  Let’s face it, unless you’re a surgeon or a rocket scientist, our jobs allow a certain margin of error and nobody will really notice whether your result is A+.  They WILL notice if it’s late, or if you didn’t do it.  So get started on the darned thing!

To do lists:

A to do list is effective for the simple fact that, if you keep it updated, at least you won’t forget to do something.  There are probably dozens of apps that will do the job, or just put your list on your Outlook or Google calendar and be gently prodded by the “ding”.

Do the easiest thing first:

This turns the old adage—leave the easiest for last—on its head.  Instead it looks to US Admiral William H. McRaven’s 2014 commencement speech at the University of Texas.  McRaven gave ten lessons for life he learned from Special Forces basic training.  The first thing was “make your bed in the morning”.  Why?  Because you have now accomplished something and you’ve done it right.  What can you, an HCT instructor, take from this?  As an English teacher, one part of the job I really DON’T look forward to is marking essays, especially long ones.  So how do I deal with a stack of IELTS Task 2 essays?  Simple:  I start with something that’s easy to mark:  a spelling dictation or a True/False activity.  Now, I’m sitting; I’m somewhat focused; and I’ve accomplished something.  I’m ready to tackle those essays!

Timers 1:

But what if I have nothing to get me started?  There WERE no spelling dictations or True/False activities today.  That’s when I turn to online-stopwatch.com.  Marking those essays may take two hours and I can’t face that…but I CAN face ten minutes.  Just tell yourself you’ll work for ten minutes and start the countdown timer.  When the buzzer goes off ten minutes later, you will have started the job; you’ll have finished a few scripts and, hopefully, your feeling of accomplishment means you’ll want to keep going.

Timers 2:

Pomodoro is the name of a “proper” motivation tool developed by  Francesco Cirillo, an author and entrepreneur, who named it after a technique he used as a university student.  Pomodoro means “tomato” in Italian and refers to the shape of the kitchen timer he used.  The method is fairly simple.  Using a timer, divide your task into 25-minute slots, which are also known as pomodoros.  There can be NO interruptions or distractions.  If there are, you have to start the timer again.  At the end of 25 minutes, you put a tick on a piece of paper and take a 3 to 5-minute break.  When you have four ticks you have completed four pomodoros and can take a longer 15 to 30-minute break.  Download your own Pomodoro tomato timer for Windows or Apple:  http://tomighty.org/