Not a massive fan of videos like this but do feel that this really shows how teachers are feeling at the moment: [fb.watch/3oUxh5Wux...](https://fb.watch/3oUxh5Wuxb/)

I’m really struggling to concentrate at the moment.  Everything is so reactive rather than proactive.  Another lockdown starts on Thursday (supposedly for 4 weeks) and despite Boris saying that school’s will remain open I question if this is going to be another U-Turn with little - or no - notice! #mbnov

Buying a daily planner

I bought a daily planner today. I’m a big fan of doing everything electronically but since I’ve returned to work in September I’ve struggled to get more strategic activities completed at work.

As a Headteacher of a primary school work has been a rollercoaster since September (actually since the start of March). The constant fear that we will have cases of COVID-19 in school took up every minute of my day in early September. Each time the phone rang I wondered if this was going to be the ‘call’ that meant children needed sending home immediately. Luckily - and it is luck - this hasn’t happened yet despite a few close calls when parents have tested positive.

I’ve spent the last half-term being hyper-vigilant (which is so tiring) and this has meant I’ve struggled to focus on anything other than the operational side of school.

One example of the difference in my role is bringing the children in and letting them out at the end of day. This has turned from a two minute job for the whole day (pre COVID) to 30minutes in the morning and 30minutes in the afternoon. This is to ensure that parents and children enter the playground at the correct time to enabling a staggered start and greater social distancing between children and parents.

I’m hoping that planning out my days more as well as physically writing it down will give me more structure that I need next half term to strategise.

202006261534 Microblog - Exploring a Zettlekasten

Exploring a Zettelkasten

I've spent the last few days enjoying time away from work in a Worcester cottage. While there I came across storing your notes and research in a Zettelkasten which has piqued my interest.

Currently my notes from courses, books I've read etc, are stored in notebooks, the books themselves and in online software such as Evernote or Bear. However it's rare for me to go back to a particular 'note' because I find it difficult to find the exact piece of information I need - it requires more effort than it should!

A “Zettelkasten”, coined by Niklas Luhmann, can be broken down into: “Zettel”, which means note or slip of paper, and “Kasten”, which means box. A Zettelkasten is therefore a box of notes, properly called a slip box or card index in English. Sounds the same as any other note storage? It's the next stage that I think will help me.

Luhmann didn't rely on tags or categories alone, he linked his notes together. Ideas organised by tags and interconnected by links

Using the Zettelkasten method your notes become part of a larger web of ideas. The more you add to it the better it becomes.

I'm currently using iA Writer and Obsidian to manage my Zettelkasten - I'll let you know how it goes.