TM4T Barriers to Success - Lifestyle

OK. I hate writing pages like this. Everything that I'm going to write is pretty much a re-hash of what has been written elsewhere on the site, sometimes more than once. So: why do I do it? Because it seems to be necessary, based on the evidence available.

When teachers look at the reasons why their time management initiatives are not proving as effective as they'd hoped, then frequently they come up with a startling insight. (that was irony for the benefit of less-intuitive readers). The insight is that however many Ticklists and Plans you have, you cannot use them efficiently if you feel like crap all the time.

The overwhelming majority of TM4T's proposals are self-perpetuating: Ticklists are obviously helpful, so people keep on using them, Plans and schedules become a routine which sensible teachers follow. The lifestyle advice, on the other hand, just doesn't seem to stick; not without regular reminders, and this is it - your periodic reminder that lifestyle is important in being efficient and effective in school.

Of course, I could just add a link to the Web pages you probably read when setting up your system, of course, instead of waffling on. In fact, I think I'll do that. Here.

At key times in the year, many teachers have one particular problem: sleep.  The problem begins because the start of term is invariably frenetic.  We put in extra hours, after dark, to get ready for the new teaching year, and we do it at a time when our sleep patterns are already set to holiday-mode and haven't adjusted to a school routine. Therefore it's worth specifically reviewing our Teachers Help Sheet. This is shown below, or you can download a copy here. A new window will open, the document will be displayed, in all its glory and wonder, then click File/Download in the top-left hand corner of the screen.