Navigating the Hub #Eisenhour time
“You can’t do a good job if your job is all you do.” — Katie Thurmes
Lately, the whole idea of a 4-day work week has been bouncing around in my head. It got me thinking — how could we possibly make something like that work in a school setting?
So, naturally, I threw the question out to our awesome G4 students: “Hey, what if you smashed through all your main school stuff in four days, and then had a whole day to work on whatever you wanted? Sound good?”
Every single hand shot up. You just love to see that kind of enthusiasm, right?
Now, rewind a couple of months, and you might remember we introduced the Eisenhower Matrix to our G4 crew. It was all about handing over a bit more control and helping them get their tasks sorted. (You can catch up on that here). That got us wondering… what if we took that idea of control a step further with their time? If our students were really good (yeah, “fidelious” — it’s a word!) with how they used their learning time, could we carve out a chunk — maybe 20%, maybe even a whole day — for them to dive into their own passions, personal goals, you name it?
And that’s how #Eisenhour (or maybe #Eisenhours, if we’re being super precise, but hey!) was born.
We already have this slightly “off-kilter” Wednesday afternoon. You know the drill — early finish at 2 pm for the whole school for staff PD. We usually layer in our SEL sessions and student-led Advisory meetings, but up until now, we’ve tried to keep the rest of the time feeling pretty similar to the other days.
But we thought, why not shake things up a bit? So, the usual Wednesday schedule is getting a little makeover. We’re keeping the SEL and Advisory — those are gold — but the rest of that time? It’s now dedicated to #Eisenhour Time. Think personal projects, finally getting around to that thing they’ve been wanting to explore, maybe even the gardening club getting together.
And you know what? It’s looking pretty good for us teachers too. There’s no formal teaching or small group work happening during this time because the students are independently working their way through their Eisenhower Matrices. That frees up some space for those one-on-one chats, maybe a bit of marking if it’s piling up.
Of course, we’re not expecting everyone to just magically become independent learning gurus overnight. Some kids will need a bit more scaffolding in this space — a quiet spot to focus, maybe some gentle reminders about time, or their headphones to help them concentrate. We’re ready to offer that support.
So, this is our first go at it — our prototype, if you like. I’m genuinely curious to hear what you all think of this approach. Pop your thoughts in the comments below — let’s have a chat!
