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Saturday 15 August 2015

Take a proper break… You’ll be much more productive if you do !

As a teacher there is the temptation that come the summer holidays, this is the best time to get work completed such as getting all schemes of work written up, lesson plans, student lists etc. 

During term time we all know that ‘time’ does does not permit us teachers to complete all the tasks above to perfection and detail as marking takes precedence.  


In my early years of teaching, I’d be thinking that being away from looking at the stuff I am responsible for was a dereliction of duty, a lack of commitment to the cause.

Today I am happy to report that I was very naive for thinking like that. My epiphany came after a holiday to the British Virgin Islands, a couple of years ago. I was shocked at how much more productive I was when I came back to work. I felt my energy levels increased and I was more positive and creative at my job.


These days when school closes for the summer holiday, I spend the first 3 days just sorting out my files, doing backups and deleting files and email that is no longer needed. I also make it a point to write a plan of things to do before the start of the new school year. 

A week before school reopens I look at that list and spend an hour each day working on completing items from that list and this helps me to get my mind thinking about the new school year.


After 14 years of teaching my advice is to revel in your time off and chances are that you will be more efficient and effective when you return back to school. And no matter what you teach in a school don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

In the wise words from my ex Head of Department who is now retired ‘ Teaching is a Marathon and not a 100 meter race. Remember to pace yourself and reserve your energy.’

Something that we all must strive to accomplish due at our workplace.

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