Work Free Weekend! Timeboxing! Krishnamurti!

I wrote last week about my intention to follow my boss's advice and focus my attention on my "must do" list for work in an effort to work fewer hours and have weekends off. And, I was able to do it this week. I got to school a bit earlier each day, but the main factors were having my must do list as well as shaking up my time management approach a little bit. I've been reading Timeboxing by Marc Zao-Sanders, and it is helping me bring a lot more intentionality to my time. Each day either right before bed or first thing while the coffee is brewing I take about 15 minutes to go through my to-do list and calendar, decide what's most important, and make a plan for the day. A few things that have been great about this:

• Prioritization: I'm in relationship with the constraints of time, and it's helping me prioritize. I know I can't do it all, and taking the time to think about my priorities and goals (i.e. not working on the weekend) really helps me make more effective choices.
• Time Estimation: One of the things I struggle with the most as an ADHD'er is that time estimation is very hard for me. I often don't perceive the passage of time very well, and I generally think that I will be able to do things quite a lot faster than I actually can. Seeing where my estimates are and aren't accurate is helping me a ton. It's so frustrating to be constantly "running out of time" and I have found that I'm getting much better at understanding what fits in a given block of time and how long my recurring tasks take. For instance, I now know that while it only takes me 20 minutes to drive to work, it takes 40 minutes from the time I start putting on my coat to walk out the door until my coat is hung up in my classroom and I'm ready to start my day.
• Cognitive Load: Having a plan and following it has freed up so much cognitive load because I'm not constantly looking at my task list and deciding what to do. I often put a few notes inside each "timebox" so that when the time comes, I can just get going with the tasks. For instance, I have a lot of prep time on Friday afternoons, so in the "conference prep / materials prep" time box, I had a list of smaller tasks I wanted to get done. A couple of times per week I have a "printing / email" timebox, and I have a list of plans and documents that need to get copied that I keep inside the calendar invite.

Yesterday's calendar below. We generally go on fieldwork or have extended project time on Fridays, but on a Monday - Thursday, I have a recurring invite for each block of the day so I can add notes and generally see the flow of the day each day. 

I'm really looking forward to keeping this up for as long as it keeps working! This week we are having family conferences, so it's going to change the flow of the week a bit, but I'm eager to see how this level of planning changes that experience and hopefully makes it easier.

Intentions for the Week: The other book I've been reading is almost 180 degrees different from Timeboxing. I checked out Education and the Signifcance of Life by Krishnamurti from the meditation center I attend, and it's helping me think more holistically about myself and my students. I'm only about 25 pages in, but I'm loving it. Here's a paragraph that really jumped out at me and is helping me reflect on how I handle the moment to moment challenges we experience in the classroom:

Let us not think in terms of principles and ideals, but be concerned with things as they are; for it is the consideration of what is that awakens intelligence, and the intelligence of an educator is far more important than [their] knowledge of a new method of education. When one follows a method, even if it has been worked out by a thoughtful and intelligent person, the method becomes very important, and the children are important only as they fit into it. One measures and classifies the child, and then proceeds to educate [them] according to some chart. This process of education may be convenient for the teacher, but neither the practice of a system nor the tyranny of opinion and learning can bring about an integrated human being.

I need and value structure, and I also resonate so deeply with the negative consequences that come from educating children "according to some chart." My intention this week is to continue to strive to see each child as an individual and to prioritize all of our humanity above all else.