Last week, I suggested that a good way to do some work without really doing any work is to take digital photos wherever you go. That way, you can enjoy your vacation and assuage any guilt you may be feeling over not thinking about school.

I think it's quite important to wind down properly. It's one of those things that's an investment: rest now, and enjoy even more productivity later.

However, one thing I would definitely recommend is going into school one or two days early, if you can. In my experience, especially if you hold a prominent position like Technology Coordinator or Technology Director, getting in a day or two early is just enough to give you an edge when the madness starts again, but not enough time to completely undo the benefits of having relaxed for several weeks.

So, what sort of thing might you usefully do in that time? Here are the sorts of things I would personally check out, although of course not all of them may be relevant to you.

• Does the new school intake have usernames and passwords for the school network? If not, that needs to be addressed. If they do, how will you tell them? My preferred approach is to use mail-merge to produce one sticky label for each student, that they can stick into their school diary or whatever. The label should contain their name and username, but not their password. But in that respect, I would suggest giving everyone the same password to start with, but the efficacy of doing that is debatable. Your choice.
  
• How about new staff? They will need a username and password too. I don't believe in the practice of some establishments I've worked in, where new staff are kept waiting for 2 weeks while the "gatekeeper" sorts them out. They should be up and running from day 1 -- if not before.
  
• That brings me on to the next important question: do new staff and students know how to access the system? In some schools, there is an induction program for new staff, in which week 3 is about using the school network. That's fine if you want to encourage the belief that it's acceptable for a new teacher to not use the system for the first 2 weeks! You're better off making sure that they know straight away.
  
• Here in the UK, things change quite rapidly. So one thing I would definitely make sure of is that the teachers in my team have access to the latest official documentation, and that it is accessible to staff.
  
• I also suggest making sure that the network and internet access work OK. If there's an issue, it's better to know about it so you can proactively tell people and also arrange to get it sorted out.
  
• Finally, I would recommend making sure your main teaching room is nice and tidy, and that everything is where it should be, so that you can walk in and get going right away.

I also suggest that you resist the temptation to work 10 hours each day. A couple of hours should be fine. I used to go in for a morning, say from 9 to 12, having promised myself that the afternoon would be spent doing something for myself. For example, I'd arrange to meet a friend for lunch.

That, I think, is a good idea for two reasons. Firstly, it gets kinda depressing being in work, knowing that your co-workers are all on a beach somewhere! Secondly, the law of diminishing marginal returns dictates that you will probably get less done in the second 3 hours of Day 1 than you will in the first 3 hours of Day 2. So, even when gearing up for the start of the new semester, try to do so in a way that keeps you wound down at the same time!

I'd be interested to know what you think of these tips. Have I left anything out? Do you have a different approach? Do let me know by leaving a comment!

Terry Freedman is a U.K.-based education technology consultant and publishes the ICT in Education website at www.ictineducation.org, and the electronic newsletter “Computers in Classrooms.

POSTED ON HOTCHALK.COM

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