One of my favourite things to do during the various Lockdowns that we faced in the UK a few years ago was to watch those Monthly Favourites videos by various YouTubers. I was really into those by Ali Abdaal; they were so much fun and really felt like they offered a personal connection with him and his content. Better yet, they gave me an idea of things that might actually be worthwhile spending my time and money on.
Recently I’ve been wanting to share something similar. I come across so many things that I want to talk about on my blog but they’d never really fit into a normal blog post, since each post would maybe contain about 100 words. Posts like that don’t tend to do so well in search engines and, if they’re not being promoted by Google, nobody’s going to read them – which means that nobody’s going to benefit from them even being created in the first place. So, what better way to share them than by collating them in a Monthly Favourites post? And how knows – if I enjoy the sharing process, I might start sharing these once a month.
This month in reading
The Rivers of London, by Ben Arranovich. A newbie Met detective starts seeing ghosts and is quickly introduced to the world of magic, which he has to learn to use to help him solve crime. Readable, engaging and pacey. I’m trying my best to read 30 minutes a day before bed to help me switch off without the use of screens. I received the first 6 books in the series as a birthday present late last year, and it’s been such a nice change of pace from The Two Towers, which took the better part of 3 months to get through.
Though I did love every step of the journey.
Pick up The Rivers of London from this link.*
This month in writing
A while ago, I started working on a Sci-Fi-Fantasy novel. I’d refer to it as being part of the Sci-Fantasy genre, if that’s even a thing. I meticulously planned it during the UK Lockdowns and wrote a fair chunk, but stayed too inconsistent. Anyway, I was working on that bit-by-bit in April but, with exam season taking off, I’d taken a little break in May again.
Once I’ve finished this blog post, I’m signing onto my massive Google Doc and taking the rest of this train journey to do some dedicated writing.
This month in planning
Pre-pandemic, I was working at my local library and trying to decide what to do with my life. Turns out that I wanted to go into teaching, and this part-time job gave me the perfect opportunity to explore my options. I’d then decided to save up pretty much all of my money to go on a solo trip to Japan.
Only, that never actually happened.
This year, it is happening. Flights are booked and now I’m fully into the swing of planning. Who’d have thought that the 13 weeks off per year in teaching would be a blessing? Expect lots of writing about my experiences across the other side of the world.
This month in savings
I’m writing this on a 6th Gen iPad from 2018. It still works fine, but it’s starting to show its age. Even this Google Doc is taking a couple of seconds to display the words that I’ve tapped out. Recently, Apple put together one of their big events and announced a new generation of their mid- and high-tier iPads, the Pro and the Air, complete with landscape cameras and bigger screen sizes.
These two factors are the two things that I’ve been waiting for to upgrade for at least two years now. I’ll keep you posted on whether I upgrade, and whether it ends up being worth the price.
Here’s the tablet that I’m after.*
And here’s the case I’ve got my eyes on.*
Productivity hack of the month
This sounds too simple to be a legitimate hack but, as a teacher, I have the freedom to work at school once the kids have left, or to take books home to mark. That freedom is fantastic, but when I work from home, I’m often unfocused.
I’ve been trying to stay at work until all of my work is done recently, and I’m finding it a lot easier to stay on-task for longer. All about separating work and life for a healthy balance!
Monthly insights
I read this post the other day and, although it was ridiculously simple, and nothing I’d not heard before, it was really great just having seven clear tips to overcoming procrastination laid out in front of me.
Monthly prompt
I use Jetpack with WordPress to write, publish and share my blog posts, and it often gives me prompts for writing that I rarely use. However, the one from when I was writing today asked to share a story about someone who’s had a positive impact on my life.
That would be the History teacher that I had at A-Level. Without his passion and knowledge, I don’t think I’d have ever been so keen to study the subject to University-level – and to teach it to KS5. If he hadn’t been in my life ten years ago, I doubt I’d be where I am today.
If you liked this, let me know by liking the post and I might make this a monthly thing.
Here are a few extra bits to read if you fancy supporting the site:
- Automating Google Classroom: 8 features that save teachers hours each week
- What I learned from tracking my food intake for a month
- Google Sheets for Teachers: How to automate your classroom
- The top 5 note-taking mistakes that every student makes (and how to fix them)
- Stop Wasting Time: A Teacher’s Take on the Best Note-Taking Tools for University
Follow my socials while you’re here!
*If you purchase something using one of my affiliate links marked with an asterisk, I may earn a small kickback at no extra cost to you
Hardly Hamilton 