Got a minute?

ProfHacker introduces a series just for you: one-minute body/mind hacks.

Feeling frazzled? stuck? sluggish? confused?

Here’s a one-minute tune-up for your nervous system:

• Set your timer for one minute.
• Sit up straight in your chair, with both feet flat on the ground. Let your hands rest loosely in your lap.
• Close your eyes.
• Breathe.  Just breathe easily. Don’t hold your breath, don’t count your breath, just let it flow in an even circle, in and out.   You may find that your breath naturally deepens and slows, but don’t try to force it. Don’t even think about it. Just breathe.

What this does, besides giving you a restorative break, is encourage your brain to produce more alpha waves, moving you out of a predominately beta wave state of stress. An alpha state — a more relaxed brainwave state — is the optimal state for learning and doing almost...

Productivity gurus of all sorts, ranging from Merlin Mann to the Flylady (aka Marla Cilley) recommend using a timer.   You probably already have one, or two, or more timers easily to hand (in your wristwatch, PDA, or cellphone; on your computer; or on your kitchen counter).  But knowing how to use it can make all the difference in really maximizing its (and your) potential.  So, this is a roundup of some different ProfHacker-tested timer strategies.

Productively Using Your Timer

Just 15 minutes (or 10, or 5). One of the best uses for a timer is to help you take small steps towards a large, difficult project or goal.  Whether it’s a project you’ve been procrastinating on because you fear being overwhelmed by its monstrous size, or it’s a task you just loathe, plain and simple, you can chip away at it in small increments.  The key here is to promise yourself that when your 1...

Learning your students’ names quickly is a crucial element in building rapport, creating community within a discussion-based course, and facilitating many classroom management tasks like grading participation or attendance.    Even if you do not consider yourself to be naturally “good at names,” you can improve your recall by following a few simple tips.

1. Commit to the goal of learning student names, ideally within a set timeframe.  I even announce my goal to my class, so they understand my efforts (see #3).
2. Prepare before the first day of class.  Review your class roster several times, noting in advance names that might be difficult to pronounce if you call roll aloud.  If you are an auditory learner, read your roster aloud.  If you are a visual learner, you might try looking at it with a “soft focus” gaze for short periods in between reading sessions.  If you are a...

The best syllabus hack I know is really, really simple, but sometimes hard to commit to.

In the schedule of readings/topics, clear at least one day of all readings, assignments, discussions, etc., and label it a “catch-up day.”  And don’t wait until the last week of the term — that’s a wrap-up day, which is not at all the same thing.  Stick your catch-up day somewhere around midterm. Or immediately following the Big Difficult Book you’re planning on teaching.

But, you say, I can’t possibly fit in a catch-up day, as I have too many readings to cover as it is.  Well, that probably means you of all people really need the catch up day.   Go ahead, trim something from your reading list.   Because stuff happens, to the best planned syllabi: your brilliant students take the discussion in an interesting direction you want to respond to; the novel you’d never taught...