Welcome to The Flourishing Teacher’s Field Guide. Sit back, grab a cuppa and soak up some life-changing content!

We believe that teachers achieve extraordinary things under challenging circumstances and that we all deserve to be valued, supported and celebrated.

That’s what this newsletter is all about.

If you haven’t subscribed yet, why not join the Marigold community? You’ll get weekly strategies for sustaining your wellbeing, avoiding burnout and flourishing as a person, not just a teacher.

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This week, we’re thinking about how we can learn to work smarter, not harder, regardless of workload, responsibility and class size!

Let’s go…

Being Busy Equals Burnout, Not Brilliance

We’re teachers.

Being busy is hardwired into our professional DNA.

In fact, I can’t remember a teaching day that wasn’t full-on, fast and frantic.

Working fast, working hard, balancing the thousand and one demands that teaching brings… you’re good at it.

Forget that. You’re not just good. You’re phenomenal.

But here’s the thing…

I used to think that being busy meant I was doing a good job and that working all hours made me a better teacher.

I used to think:

How did that look day to day?

I used to spend hours preparing resources so that they looked extraordinary.

Honestly, though, my students didn’t need that. They needed me to be awake, happy and engaged.

And I wasn’t.

So, how did I stop being so busy, boost my effectiveness as a teacher and save my sanity?

I learned to do less to achieve more, embrace the Pareto Principle and eat the frog!

Let’s find out how…

How Great Teachers Make Hard Work Pay Off

I really struggled with bringing clarity to the huge amount of jobs I felt I had to do as a teacher and senior leader.

But these three strategies genuinely saved me from myself…

1 Embrace The Pareto Principle

The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, is a theory that states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes.

In other words, around 20% of the work you do accounts for 80% of your student’s successes.

This principle can be applied to many different areas of life but works brilliantly for teachers looking to minimise their workload without losing their effectiveness as educators.

A small number of inputs can have a large impact on outputs. The secret is to focus on the right 20%.

Here are some examples of the Pareto Principle in action:

What it took me a while to understand was that teachers can use the Pareto Principle to aid in their workload and improve their wellbeing in a variety of ways…

Prioritising Marking

The Pareto Principle can be used to prioritise marking by helping you focus on the tasks that have the greatest impact. Once I’d identified which 20% of my student's assignments were the most important in terms of learning, statistics and progression, I knew what marking to prioritise in terms of depth of feedback, time and effort.

Managing Classroom Behaviour

Classroom behaviour can be a major source of stress, but if you need a fresh way to look at it, how about this? The Pareto Principle can be used to identify the 20% of students who are causing the most behavioural problems. You can then focus your attention on these students but also recognise that 80% of your class is behaving well. By getting some perspective, you can reduce the amount of time and energy you spend on classroom management and improve the overall learning environment for all students.

Email Management

I would often receive a large number of emails from students, parents, and colleagues, and I’m guessing you’re the same. The Pareto Principle can be used to identify the 20% of emails that are the most important and require immediate attention. You can then prioritise these emails and respond to them first. I’ve also found that setting aside specific times during the day to check and respond to emails helped me from feeling overwhelmed.

It took some discipline though!

You can also use the Pareto Principle to:

Don't be afraid to experiment.

The Pareto Principle is a general guideline, but it won’t apply perfectly to every situation. Experiment with different ways of applying the principle to your work and identify what works best.

2 Learn To Eat The Frog

The "eat the frog" approach is a time management strategy that encourages people to tackle their most difficult or important task first thing in the morning.

The idea is that if you start your day by completing your most challenging task, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment and momentum that will carry you through the rest of the day.

The term "eat the frog" comes from a quote by Mark Twain:

Now, I know that isn’t always easy for teachers, but following this principle has made a big difference to the way I approach my teaching days.

I do the hard thing (or the thing that I’m least interested in) first, and although it’s not always fun, I feel so much better for having got it out of the way.

It’s not always about getting it done in the morning - it’s about not putting the difficult things off.

Here are some tips for using the "eat the frog" approach:

We’re big fans of rewards here at Marigold HQ. Stickers, chocolate bars, new stationery…

3 Prioritise Your Productivity

This is where you take a risk. And it won’t be easy. But sometimes you have to do less to achieve more…

If you really want to prioritise your productivity, check out these 5 tips that will make you a workload wiz…

• Prioritise tasks. Not all tasks are created equal. Some tasks are more important and urgent than others. It’s alright to focus on these at the expense of others.

• Set realistic goals. When setting goals, it‘s critical to be realistic about what you can accomplish in a given amount of time. Don't set yourself up for failure by setting unrealistic goals.

• Take breaks. It’s essential to take breaks throughout the day, even if it is just for a few minutes. Space, movement and breathwork are all strategies that will help you stay focused and avoid burnout.

• Delegate tasks. If you can delegate tasks, do it! This will free up your time to focus on the most important things.

• Say no. It’s okay to say no to requests from others, especially if you’re already feeling overwhelmed. It’s your responsibility as a teacher to protect your time and energy so that you can be most effective.

There you have it. Three strategies that transformed me from busy to productive.

I really hope they work for you too!

It’s Podcast Time!

Guess what?

We’re launching the imaginatively titled Marigold Teacher’s Podcast in December.

Want to see David and Rebecca chatting about teacher wellbeing, interviewing awesome guests and getting to the bottom of some of the most important issues around emotional wellbeing and burnout?

Of course you do…

So, in the next issue of The Flourishing Teacher’s Field Guide, we’ll share a super sneak preview and show you where to sign up for the most positive teaching podcast on the planet!

Thank You For Everything

You’re owed a huge thank you.

Not just for subscribing (although that’s awesome) but for giving your energies, education and emotions to inspire the next generation.

It’s a job that doesn’t get a lot of credit.

But in our eyes, what you do is priceless.

And we hope you feel that way too.

If you’re struggling to stay positive, remember the key takeaways from today’s issue…

In next week’s issue, we’ll share the secrets of our favourite fired-up teacher wellbeing strategies.

Until then, remember, you’re more than your marking, your lesson observations and your planning.

You’re you. And that’s all you need to be.