[Offtopic] Facebook and staff productivity

[Jim Maunder]

At 09:21 AM 08/04/2008, you wrote:
>Thank you very much, Geoff.
>
>In one way it is annoying that tech staff make judgments on teaching
>staff productivity.
>...
>In the end, we should all be able to choose how we use our 'free' time.
>As Ros succintly put it -- should be ban newspapers, sudoku, visiting
>domaindotcomdotau or doing email activities?

I've already sent this - just added a bit to clarify things.

Ohhh - I can't let this go by without a comment (even though it 
impacts on my productivity)!
Adding: I write this a 'tech staff' person who sits in a workshop 
next door to the office of my boss, who the finance manager often 
pops in to visit unannounced (I can't see him until the workshop door 
opens). I have a fairly constant stream of customers (I'm the only 
laptop tech for 500 laptops) and a small pile of lappies needing my 
attention. Fortunately I do have the freedom to organise my own work, 
but I suspect many tech staff do not, and could be somewhat envious 
of the freedom teachers seem to have.

My guess is that many teachers have never had to work in a normal 
office in a typical non-school enterprise - they have not had to sit 
within sight of 'the boss', waiting like Bristow for the dreaded 
yell: 'GET BACK TO WORK!!!'. A typical office worker does not have 
the freedom that teachers have to organise their own time. I once 
worked in a drawing office where to even raise your head to think 
about a design problem would invite a comment from the Design Engineer.

Do you permit your students to read the papers, check their MySpace, 
sit around drinking coffee and chatting in class like teachers might 
in a typical staffroom?

rgds
Jim



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Ruyton Girls' School
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Jim Maunder
Ruyton Girls School
Melbourne, Australia