The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA
Education:How To
This week I want to talk about your work space and why it matters that you love it.
Do you remember having a locker in middle school? Remember taping pictures all over the door, adding one of those rectangular magnetic mirrors, maybe a little pink plastic basket with gum and lifesavers?
Setting up my locker was so important to me those days, and I really haven’t changed much.
When it comes to my workspace, I want to love it. And recently, as I listened to Ali Abdaal’s book, “Feel Good Productivity,” I got some insight into why that’s so important. There’s a key section in the book that talks about how much more productive you are when you are feeling happy. Abdaal suggests coming back to a question when you’re struggling to accomplish a task - “What would this look like if it were fun?” For him, the answer often meant listening to inspiring music while typing up paperwork as a young doctor. For me, it often means I put a vase of flowers in the window behind my desk as a step toward accomplishing my daily work goals. It means putting George Winston on the wireless speaker, clearing away clutter, lighting a candle. It means changing out the cute little postcard I bought in Vienna that sits on my windowsill for one of the other ones that fit my mood. It means filling my water bottle and jotting my big plans in a beautiful planner that is always right next to my computer.
But enough about me - what about you? What would some of your daily tasks look like if they were fun? What can you do to make the place that you work feel GOOD?
Would photocopying be more fun if there was a lovely bulletin board and twinkle lights next to it? Maybe you could make that happen.
Would grading feel better if you had a mug full of flair pens next to your computer and a cozy teal-colored blanket on your desk chair that felt like a hug?
Would notes home to parents feel enjoyable if you had a stack of lovely postcards you printed and kept in a little basket in your windowsill?
Would changing out your bulletin boards feel better with Taylor Swift blasting from your wifi speaker on your desk and a peppermint life saver in your mouth from your secret snack drawer?
These small things may seem frivolous at first. But actually, the research supports them as productivity boosters. So you don’t have to feel guilty for taking time to make your space pleasant, comfortable, and inspiring. And this week, I want to highly recommend that you make a quick list of work space changes you can make ASAP so you can enjoy your work more AND, as a result, get more done.
Go Further:
Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast.
Join our community, Creative High School English, on Facebook.
Come hang out on Instagram.
Enjoying the podcast? Please consider sharing it with a friend, snagging a screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you!
250: Fire up your Choice Reading Program, with Abby Gross
248: A Simple Solution To The First Day Back
247: Highly Recommended: This Book Project Kids Like
246: Inspire Winter Break Reading with a Book Tasting Now
245: Highly Recommended: "Sketchnote Fever"
244: Creative Winter Poetry Activities for ELA
243: Highly Recommended: The Chunk-and-Schedule Method
242: Building Better Book Clubs, with Martina Cahill
241: Highly Recommended: Reframe Argument like This for Students
240: Easy Ways to use Performance Poetry in ELA (and why you Should!)
239: Highly Recommended: Use One-Pagers as a Creative Gateway
238: Let me Plan your ELA Lessons the Week before Thanksgiving
237: Highly Recommended: Don't Grade it All
236: When your Students just... Don't Care
235: Highly Recommended: Gene Luen Yang's Ted Talk
234: Closing the Opportunity Gap, with Reid Saaris
233: Highly Recommended: Teach Living Poets
232: Building More Inclusive Classrooms with Dr. Mark Gooden
231: Highly Recommended: Try using your Whiteboard like This
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Navigating Life After 40
LifeBlood
The Minimal Mom
Science of Reading: The Podcast
The Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast: Pass the Bar Exam with Less Stress