marginal gains
A collection of many tiny changes that on their own do only a little,
but which together add up to a huge difference
It’s a philosophy
The teachers’ planner and teachers’ calendar are two big time-saving features of my life as a teacher. However, if you think about it you’ll be able to make a surprisingly long list of small repetitive actions/tasks/routines that you carry out in a normal day or week. Each one might take only 5 or 6 minutes, but if it occurs every day, that’s half an hour a week. If you can think of six such short daily tasks, that’s getting on for 3 hours a week…which is probably more than your protected time on your timetable. Often, however, a little technological helping hand can turn 5 minutes into 2 minutes…and suddenly you’ve got yourself an extra couple of hours a week off the work you were maybe taking home with you. If you’re serious about maintaining a healthy work-life balance, the secret is in the minutes, not the hours.
If you have technological time-saving tips of your own (and you will!), please share them with others in the comments below.
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Embrace flexitime!
Teachers don’t actually finish at 3.30pm and they don’t actually get 13 weeks holiday…but they do get 20% flexitime, which can be a powerful psychological game-changer.
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Automatically turn scores into grades and residuals
Learn how to add formulae to your spreadsheet to turn scores into grades and compare them to targets, for quicker identification of students in need of intervention.
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Devolve homework to your students
Guiding pupils to choose their own homework tasks transfers ownership, promotes autonomy and increases buy-in. It also reduces workload and increases enjoyment for the teacher.
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Tame your email: turn on multiple inboxes
Take advantage of display features in Gmail or Outlook to triage your unread emails into prioritised lists. You’ll be more organised and less stressed.
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Record a cover lesson or two
Use narrated PowerPoints to create personal, rich, reuseable coverwork, saving you time for years to come.
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Use the Windows Clipboard
Use the Windows Clipboard to speed up repeated copy and paste actions, saving valuable time not switching between different windows.
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Make your browser your own
Use these simple customisations to streamline your time when using internet browsers like Chrome and Edge.
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