The Edutopia Poll
by Sara Ring
Can a teacher teach the ABC's if she hasn't gotten her Z's? In a recent study from Ball State University, nearly a quarter of surveyed teachers reported that sleep deprivation "significantly diminished" their teaching skills. The study also suggests that teachers, who average six hours of sleep per night, tend to get less sleep than those in many other professions. Though a lack of sleep has a measurable impact on one's reaction time, memory skills, and mood, among other things, some people maintain that they can wake up refreshed after only a few hours of shut-eye. Do you see a change in your performance depending on the amount of sleep you get? We want to know!
Sleeping seven hours per
Submitted by Madhu Braunger (not verified) on October 21, 2008 - 16:14.
Sleeping seven hours per night, plus meditating twice a day mean the difference between an effective and ineffective day in class for me. I've been doing both for decades and would have quit teaching long ago without the benefits of regular meditation. I recommend it highly.
Use Common Sense to Create a Win-Win
Submitted by Dan Murray (not verified) on October 21, 2008 - 09:49.
We all know that adolescents suffer from schools starting too early. Now we see the affects it has on teachers, too. We need to break down the barriers and move all schools to later start times.
Lack of Sleep
Submitted by Donna McDowell (not verified) on October 19, 2008 - 08:28.
Not only are teachers often zombies from lack of sleep, students, particularly high school students, who biologically have a late night sleep cycle, come into school half awake. We would see achievement improve greatly is we modified our school schedules to fit adolescent and adult sleep cycles.
Sleep Deprivation
Submitted by Cathy McDonald (not verified) on October 16, 2008 - 12:02.
When I am tired, I don't think as well, and I tend to be short-tempered about things that are normal daily occurrences. If sleep deprivation affects us as teachers, think what it does for our students. Many times there are circumstances at home that interfere with their sleep. We need to be sensitive of what is affecting our students' sleep. It is easy to recognize if there is a community tragedy or a death in a family; but we need to be aware of what is going on at home too. Sometimes their journals which my students do through their blog can be an indicator of a problem.
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