It is time for the latest blog post by ‘The Climate Change Collective.’ We set up a group of bloggers who take turns writing lead articles about global warming and being ecofriendly. After each post appears, all of us keen eco bloggers add our own thoughts on the matter, whilst linking to the lead piece.
This month’s thought-provoking article is by the brilliant @MidLifeOnEarth who is considering how we can change our attitudes to travelling locally to work, school and shops.
When I went to University my geography lecturer spoke about the need to replace short car journeys with walking, cycling and public transport. I feel that he was ahead of the times in 1996 as he was consulting on cycling access throughout Europe and leading initiatives for sustainable transport.
Twenty seven years later and we still haven’t made much progress in the UK. It is a struggle to cycle alongside cars on roads filled with potholes. I feel ashamed that the UK government are not prioritising walking and cycling routes as these should be priority schemes.
It will take a huge mindset shift for people to transition to making local journeys on foot or on bikes. The results of such a move would be greatly reduced danger from vehicles, due to fewer cars on the roads. Also, fitness would improve due to increased amounts of cardiovascular activity. It would be a win-win situation.
In A Nutshell
Check out the latest article about the benefits of active travel and let us know your thoughts on this important environmental matter. For my last link post, perhaps also have a look at Why Greener Spaces Matter.
Thanks for looking at my post. Please read through MidLifeOnEarth’s fascinating article and drop a comment with your own ways of reducing vehicle travel.
This is the first time I have written a blog post about my profession but I felt it was appropriate to discuss the issue, especially during current strikes and lots of News posts about education in Britain. The challenges of teaching are real and have grown considerably in the last ten years.
1) Not Enough Hours In The Day
I know a lot of people dismiss teachers as lazy due to the regular holidays and large summer vacation. What people don’t see is the number of hours that professionals put in every week. Teachers teach from 8:45 to 15:15 or thereabouts BUT that is by no means the end of it.
Many articles suggest that teachers spend more time doing admin than actually teaching. An Edweek article speaks of teachers working a median of 54 hours a week. Under half of this time is actually taken up delivering whole class teaching.
A lot of my friends earn a lot more in office based jobs but never take work home or do any admin at the weekend. Teachers have to!
2) Homework Matters!
I hear people talk about homework as if it is irrelevant. It may feel like a drag getting your child to do a school task at home but it is really important. Half of a pupil’s learning takes place out of school.
Life skills and days out contribute to education too. Good conversations with families and friends make a difference to this learning. Homework helps to discipline young people to take control of their workload and enables them to solidify spelling knowledge and mathematical methods.
So, YES teachers spend a lot of time chasing missed homework. It does matter.
3) Parents Make A Massive Difference
It is strikingly obvious that parents can make a huge difference when it comes to education. Supportive parents can be incredibly valuable. They also make a teacher’s life easier.
When parents put effort in to spend time with their children reading, pupils are certainly more keen to interact with books. Those who don’t bother are easy to spot. Kids who never have a book or remember to bring it or who don’t want to engage with books often come from homes where books are not valued.
Similarly, in houses where kids get to do productive things and get involved with informal education, they tend to engage better with the education system. You don’t have to do expensive days out at The Yorvik Museum or visiting the French trenches. Just having sensible conversations about nature, making a bird feeder, talking about what is going on in the world, encouraging questioning… These things help.
4) People Pleasing
The inspection system is flawed. As we know, recently there has been a lot of talk about the lack of value of Ofsted inspections. Giving a school a one word summary is very simplistic and can be very harsh.
Currently Ofsted grades include:
Outstanding
Good
Requires Improvement
Inadequate
We spend a lot of time going through mock inspections and doing extra admin which an inspector might like to see. Teachers are under incredible pressure to perform and it can be A LOT. One visit every three to five years can knock a school down or provide it with a stamp of glory.
Essentially teaching is people pleasing. For me though, the people who truly matter are the pupils. Not inspectors!
5) Who are we doing the admin for?
Another thing that takes up a lot of time in education is the dreaded thing we call marking. Teachers spend lots of time writing in books, ticking, underlining and correcting work. It is a prominent part of the job but can become very tiring.
Fortunately, it is possible to hot mark during a lesson as you provide feedback to individual pupils. This has been a new addition which was gratefully received. But there is a lot of other admin surrounding marking and assessment.
Secondary school teachers know better than anyone how taxing marking tests and exams can be. Any test we set has to be processed in some way. At primary school, every answer in a test is scored and typed into a computer to be churned out on various Excel spreadsheets. For whom I will never know.
SEND
Special Educational Needs are becoming a growing concern. In my twenty years as an educator, the proportion of young people per class with special needs has grown whilst the number of teaching assistants has dwindled. I love that we include everyone in education but the amount of admin surrounding a child with an educational statement is huge and the amount of training in this area is limited.
In A Nutshell
I have always strongly believed that education should be free and widely available. Growing up in a small village in the Fens and then going to secondary school in a market town, I adored my education. Those with privilege seem to get better opportunities at school but I totally disagree. They may get to mix with more rich kids but passionate teachers are widespread.
My friends and colleagues are wonderful teachers and love imparting knowledge, supporting pupils to develop as good citizens and inspiring young learners to strive for their dreams. If parents are supportive then children can learn so much. There are a few obstacles though, such as behaviour and social history.
And Finally…
Hopefully my five challenges facing teachers get you to think about some issues that affect educators. When teachers strike it is because of issues such as these and the incredible work-life imbalance that leads to burnout and early retirement or brilliant teachers switching careers.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog article. For another informative post, have a look at my Why Greener Spaces Matter article which links to The Climate Change Collective. Please also follow my blog for more articles about lifestyle and reviews of books, movies and TV programmes.
Lately I have been trying different ways to relax and unwind. I especially wanted to increase the amount of sleep I got. For me, I often have to do work until later in the evening and find it tricky to drift off. I also hate getting up in the morning and need to catch up on lost hours. This post is all about exploring ways to potentially sleep better.
So, there is nothing radical here but I do hope there will be even more suggestions in the comments below. It is always great to share ideas on a blog article. I learn so much this way and maybe you will pick up some tips along the way.
1) Make sure you do something physical
It sounds fairly obvious but it makes a massive difference. If you get some exercise during the day, you are much more likely to sleep more soundly.
I find that if I do have a sedentary day, catching up on admin and paperwork, I am less likely to sleep well. If I mix in a fast walk or quick gym session, the quality of sleep I get that night will normally be enhanced.
2) Create the right atmosphere
A dark room, with some calm music or a quiet soundscape should do the trick. I had some curtains that weren’t blocking out the sun in Summer. They were letting in that sunrise and waking me up far too soon.
Alongside good curtains, it is worth finding a suitable podcast or app to listen to. I love turning on the Calm app which has plenty of sleep stories, music and a variety of soundscapes. Sometimes I prefer a woodland backing and others I want flowing water.
3) Keep to a routine
Going to bed at different times every day can be disruptive to your sleep pattern. If you keep confusing your mind and body by having late nights and early ones, your sleep will be messed up.
As annoying as it can seem, I have found going to bed at the same time every night really helps. I try to make sure I squeeze in eight hours of sleep but often it ends up being more like seven.
4) Consider a scent
Sometimes having a fragrance in the bedroom can aid with better sleep. Often a diffuser with a scent that is not too overbearing will help to create that sleepy atmosphere.
Alternatively you can buy little sprays that you pop on your pillow before you lay down. They usually have lavender in them and are meant to promote nodding off.
5) Have regular naps
We all have busy lives and sometimes catching up on sleep is tough. Many people opt to have naps during the daytime and this can be very useful in making sure you get the sleep that you need.
I love to have an afternoon nap at the weekend and on Fridays when I work more flexibly from home. It is really beneficial to have an afternoon nap and can make you feel revitalised and fresh.
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Final Thoughts
There are so many things that you could try if you want to improve the amount and quality of sleep that you get. These were my suggestions based on my own experiences and I would love to know your thoughts on this subject.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this article about making sleep better. Please comment any tips you may have and consider following my blog for future similar content.
For another of my lifestyle articles about entertainment, have a read of Read, Watch, Listen which includes a book, TV show and podcast recommendation.
