Get control of your schedule with the TIME TAMER
The Time Tamer is a scheduling tool built especially for Students@Work. It is an electronic diary that you can use to keep track of all of your commitments including schools tests and assessments, chores at home, shifts at work, sporting and outside commitments and social events. You can view your diary a day at a time, by week or by month.
If you have a part time job, you can use the Time Tamer to monitor how many hours you work each month or each term. It is a good tool to help you check the accuracy of your pay slip and to compare the amount you are working with your results at the end of term. If you would like help with managing your time, you can email your diary to your parents, a teacher or even your employer. For example, an employer may want to know when you have other commitments so that they can roster you to work only when you are available, or you may find it useful as a discussion starter with a mentor teacher.
Before you begin:
- Register as a user by creating your own username and password.
- From the main home page or from the students home page, click on the planning tool icon.
- Logon and you will be taken to the Time Tamer page.
Entering information into the Time Tamer is a simple four-step process:
- In the "event name" box type the event you are scheduling. For example, you could write "Soccer finals."
- Next, select an event category from the pull-down menu. In this case of soccer finals you would select "sports matches."
- Then, click on the calendar and the clock icons to the right to set a start time and a finish time.
- If you want to ensure that an event remains private, just tick the box indicating a private event. This means that even if you have given permission for your teacher or parents to view your calendar that they won’t be able to see that particular event.
Alternatively, as you become more experienced with the Time Tamer, you can use these shortcuts:
To create a new event, click and drag across the date and time range on the calendar.
To edit information on any event, click on the event block in the calendar, then edit the form fields and click the Edit Event button.
To move any event, hover over the right hand side bar until you get the move icon, then drag the event to the new time.
To quickly shorten or lengthen any event time, hover over the top or the bottom of the event until you get the resize icon, then resize to the new duration.
To delete any event, click the delete icon in the top right hand corner.
Pre-populated dates
For your convenience, the Time Tamer is pre-programmed with all public and school holidays, term start and end dates.
Add your own dates
At the beginning of each term – Enter any holidays or special days that are specific to your school, suburb or region, for example Show Days, local public holidays, or any religious holidays that might apply to you and your family.
When you receive notice of school tests and assessments – Enter the dates of all tests and assessments as soon as you receive them. Be sure to keep them updated.
When you receive your work roster – Enter the dates of all the shifts you are rostered to work.
Enter any other commitments that you have – Don’t forget to include outside activities like drama club or sporting commitments. If you schedule your social commitments too you will be sure to have time for your friends.
Tips to help you balance school and work
If you keep your schedule up to date, you will find that the Time Tamer will provide pop up tips to help you balance all of your commitments. For example, if you schedule more than two shifts after 9 p.m. on any school night from Sunday to Thursday, the Time Tamer will ask you if you are sure you can handle those late shifts on top of your study load. You can turn off the tip reminder after it has been activated ten times but you can still check the total number of late shifts worked at the end of the term if you think they may be interfering with your studies. The tips are based on what working students told us about how to balance school and work.
Use the Time Tamer to check your pay slip
It's always good practice to keep a record of the actual hours that you have worked so that you can compare it with the pay slip provided by the employer. If there is a discrepancy between the hours that you have recorded and what you are paid, you should ask your employer to explain it. It may be a simple misunderstanding or it could be a mistake. You should be paid for all of the hours you spend at work.
You can enter your work hours by clicking on Record Actual Hours. On this page you can enter your actual hours worked for each week and hit Save. On this screen you can quickly go to a particular date to review actual hours and generate reports .
Use the Time Tamer to monitor your school performance
As well as the pop up tips, the Time Tamer can also help you monitor your school performance by keeping track of all of the shifts you work over an entire term. When you receive your report or marks, you can then refer to the Time Tamer to see if you think you are working too much. It may not be necessary to quit your job to improve your results; many employers will give you fewer shifts if you ask for more time to study. Remember there are different expectations for different years. Just because you were able to handle more work previously, doesn’t mean that you should continue to do so. School may become more demanding as you get older, particularly as you approach the HSC. If you have questions about how much you are working, you may like to speak to your year advisor, school counsellor, or mentor. You may also be able to share your Time Tamer calendar with them if they agree. Remember, teachers don’t all have access to computers, so make sure you ask – never assume!
If your teacher has joined students@work, ask them for their email address and you can share your calendar with them.
Click on "Shared Calenders" , under Share your Calendar with other Students, Parents or Teachers, enter their email address.
If the email address is not recognised or they are not a member of the system, invitation link will appear. You can then enter their email address and send them an invitation to join students@work. Once they have joined, can then share your calendar.