Category Archives: Personal Learning

Finding Light in the Dark

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Oscar E.

Warning…This post gets a little mushy…mushier than usual.

Trying to get back into the swing of things after my dad passed away, I have been thinking about what to write.  Blogging has been something that has been important to my growth as not only an educator, but honestly, as a person.  It has made me more reflective and thoughtful in many aspects of my life, and the time it has taken to just sit down and write has helped me catch my breath when I needed to most.  Writing about dad was one of those times that I needed to use my blog for therapeutic means.  I know it made me really think and appreciate his life, even in his passing.

Coming back after this type of event makes it hard to focus on “education” related topics but it really helped me to continue to think about learning.  When I think of the word “learning”, I don’t think of simply the consumption and creation of knowledge, but I also think of the development of ourselves as people.

I started to reflect on the last week, which had many downs, but some very bright ups.  I really learned a lot about people and how they react to tragedy, seeing both the good and bad.  What I was most proud of in the last week was the strength of my family to come together and make sure everything was dealt with, while also taking care of one another. With my dad looking down on us right now, I know that he would be proud of how he strengthened our love and commitment to one another as a family.  I try to focus on that good, while I push out some of the bad.

So as I continued to think about what I could possibly write today, one of the ideas that kept coming to me over and over again, was how my life is a lot better because of social media.  Many people still do not see the value of this space, but looking back at the last week, I know that the people I have connected with through Twitter have helped to not only make me become a better educator, but more importantly a better person.  I saw “strangers” connect and care for me from both near and far through social networks, many of them that I have never met in real life, or maybe once or twice.  People from across the world that would check in on me and continuously ask, “what do you need me to do?”  Thinking that this was a crazy question from people so far away, it was nice to know that people were willing to help however they could, wherever they were.

Years ago as a new and (what I thought at the time) young administrator, I felt extremely isolated in my position.  Many people that were in a similar position had different interests and families while I was still single, on my own, and away from family.  It was hard to connect with my peers in a personal sense although I always loved connecting with them on a professional one.

Then Twitter.

I honestly felt quite lonely at the time and felt that all I did was work and go home.  Just a continuous cycle.  I started learning with a lot of people that were a lot smarter than me, but I started to find my “tribe” and connected with many people and built friendships with many that at a time when friendships were lacking in my life.

Was that what I set out to do? Absolutely not.

In fact, if you would have told me I would have made friends with strangers through Twitter, I would have thought you were crazy.  But now, some of my best friends in the world are literally from around the world.  Many people use Twitter and don’t necessarily “get it”, but I think that it is easy to not see the value if you are not in the mindset to put yourself out there and connect with people.  If I was just “reading” other people’s stuff, I don’t think I would keep coming back.  The connection to the “tribe” has really been the difference in my personal and professional life.

This is not a “you should join Twitter” post.  I don’t want people to think that at all.  What this is (for me), is the reminder that many people from around the world have been there for me when I have struggled at different points in my life and it has made all of the difference in the (my) world.  In the context of schools, wouldn’t all kids learn better if they always knew they were cared for?  There is a correlation to my own growth and the feeling I get from so many caring people.

What this post is meant to be is a “thank you” to so many “strangers” who reached out, wrote, called, DM’d me, texted me, and cared for me and my family when we needed it most.  Just like a learner needs food in their stomach to be able to concentrate, love and caring is needed for them to excel.

Thank you to so many for giving me just that.

My Dad

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My dad with Kobe. It took him awhile, but he learned to love dogs.

My dad with Kobe. It took him awhile, but he learned to love dogs.

My dad passed away unexpectedly yesterday at 82 years old.

I am still trying to process this sentence.  To many, their dad is someone who is invincible and impervious to death.  To me, my dad was no different.  As my childhood friends can attest, he had the strongest and largest hands that you would ever seen.  As an athlete, I was blessed with my dad’s large hands, but the thickness of his fingers was something that I have never seen.  He literally could put a dollar coin through his wedding ring with ease, yet he could barely squeeze that same ring back onto his finger.  As a joke, he would walk into the basement where my friends and I would be watching TV, and he would grab their neck and give them the “Greek Massage”, which was simply squeezing them into submission.  It was something all my friends were deathly afraid of, but it was kind of a passage into manhood for them as well.  You never avoided it; you simply tried to withstand it. No one could.

Invincible.

My dad cooking was the coolest thing ever. I grew up with a gourmet chef as a dad.

My dad cooking was the coolest thing ever. I grew up with a gourmet chef as a dad.

When I was younger, I was somewhat of an athlete and did very well in the sports of football and basketball.  My dad, owner and operator of restaurant, never saw me play a full game.  I struggled with this as a child.  Why wouldn’t he just come to one game?  As I grew older though, I realized how little my dad came over to Canada with.  As a Greek immigrant, in a foreign land that he did not know the language, he worked his way from dishwasher, to cook, to owner.  He came with nothing, but wanted to ensure that his kids had everything.  That is exactly what he did.  My dad worked his butt off to provide for his family to ensure that we had an education and we wouldn’t have to work as hard as he did and start from zero.  This work ethic is something that has been instilled in my family.  My oldest brother once said to me, “Couros’ don’t do anything half way.”  That was a tribute to my dad.

As I grew older, my dad knew he had missed out on a lot and did whatever he could to partake.  He has met many of my colleagues, as he cooked for many of my staffs that I have worked with as a teacher.  He wanted to share his love for cooking with those that I was closest with.  As a coach, I even brought my entire basketball team home for a tournament.  As we had some problems with accommodations, my mom and dad had 12 boys stay at the house one night and cooked a big meal for them.  My dad made up for missed time, by cheering on my team that I now coached.  One of my favourite moments was my dad coming to watch me referee basketball game, something that he knew I loved.  With all of the harassment that a ref gets in a game, my mom and dad sat in the stands and cheered for everything I did.  Imagine that…a dad cheering for his son the ref.  When I got off the floor, my dad marvelled at how fast I was (which I wasn’t) and the endurance that I had to play the entire game.  He kind of considered the players wimps, as they got breaks, but I didn’t.

As a kid, I just wanted to make my dad proud, and you could see the sparkle in his eyes, yet you could also tell the resentment he had for what he had missed.  He did everything in his later  years to make up for that lost time.  He followed where I was speaking, he read my blog, he looked at my tweets, and he would send me messages on Facebook and email, although he never learned to read and write english formally.  My dad was the most connected 82 year old I have ever known.

My dad with the next generation of the "Courai". He was so proud of his grandkids.

My dad with the next generation of the “Courai”. He was so proud of his grandkids.

With a grade 2 education, my dad was a constant learner.  Any technology he could get his hands on, he wanted to play with.  We had the first VCR in our hometown, and the price tag was near 2000 dollars and it was in two large pieces.  He loved that thing, and would often take the video camera he made and create videos of family events.  He bought a horn that had 99 preset songs for his van, and it was the coolest toy ever.  Anything we had, he wanted, and he learned to use.  He played, learned, and continue to grow.  My dad was 45 when he had me, yet he was never too “old” to learn anything.  A model for students and staff and how we must continually grow.  My inspiration for why I have the mindset that I do.

People loved my dad.  Not only because of the way he cooked, but most importantly, how he connected with people.  He would often come out and talk with people that came to the restaurant and he created a bond with them that made people want to come back. He loved people and him taking jabs at you and laughing was his way of showing love.  As I gave my first “speech” at my university convocation, I was lucky enough to do the “toast to the parents”, and in about five minutes, I had people rolling in the aisle taking jabs at my mom and dad, making jokes at their expense.  When I walked off the stage, my dad hugged me and again, he was proud.  He loved seeing people laugh, but was a lot happier when it was from one of his kids.

My dad was not the most affectionate person when I was younger, but that grew a lot in the last part of his life.  I would often say “I love you”, and receive the response of “I know”.  I knew my dad loved me and had always accepted that was just not his thing. But in the last little while, he had started saying “I love you” every time I got off the phone with him, and when I would leave the house.  My mom was the “crier” in the family, but my dad took this role lately.  He loved his kids more than anything.  The invincible man was the biggest teddy bear you would ever meet.  The gig was up.

This is an email that my dad sent me when I was given a promotion. He was so proud. I have shown this in a ton of presentations as my dad was basically a self-taught "reader and writer". Although the spelling is off, the message and emotion behind it are what inspire me and hopefully others.

This is an email that my dad sent me when I was given a promotion. He was so proud. I have shown this in a ton of presentations as my dad was basically a self-taught “reader and writer”. Although the spelling is off, the message and emotion behind it are what inspire me and hopefully others.

As I sit in the airport, writing this, as I wait to return home, I think of our last conversation.  I told him about my trip to San Francisco this week and he just asked me what I was doing.  I don’t remember much of what we said, but I remember him coughing a very dry cough and sitting there listening.  He told me “I love you”, and I returned with “I love you too”.  For a man that had trouble saying it, he had no problem in our last conversation.  You never want to see your dad go, but if you are going to have last words, there is no other words I would want to hear.

If I know my dad, he is probably reading this blog right now.  That’s what he did.  So this is too him.

Thank you for ensuring that I had every opportunity in the world.  Thank you for modelling what you want me to be.  Thank you for always laughing and having a sense of humour.  Thank you for inspiring me to work my hardest at whatever I do.  Thank you for teaching me to be generous. Thank you for showing me that you can be a tough man that can show love and be affectionate.  

I love you and I miss you.

Dad was famous for the backyard BBQ of lamb. I remember stealing the "skin" off of the lamb as it cooked from childhood to adulthood. I loved this time with my family and our friends.

Dad was famous for the backyard BBQ of lamb. I remember stealing the “skin” off of the lamb as it cooked from childhood to adulthood. I loved this time with my family and our friends.

Learning From the #Twitter Archives

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by petesimon

It started with this tweet:

That was my first tweet ever, using a medium that I had heard about but never really understood.  No Twitter handle, no hashtag, and actually thinking that my brother Alec would be the only “Alec” that I would possibly get an answer from.

Now that many (if not all) people are able to download and learn from their Twitter archive, I took the opportunity to look at some of my progression through Twitter, and to actually go back and revisit some of the things that I shared, and how I shared.

The first month that I looked at, was September 2010, the month that I lost my best friend Kobe.  I saw people rallying around me, caring for me, and checking in.  What was hardest to look back on was how I had the false hope that it might be just a routine visit to the vet that day:

 

With family so far away, I reached out to strangers a lot that month. 1,612 times to be exact. At a time when I wanted both to be close and far from people, Twitter and all of the people that I had connected to were seemingly comfort.

I also look at what I have learned, what never panned out (I got that invite to Google Wave, but I never understood how to use it), and some people I got to help (I actually made sure Jesse McLean changed his handle to something more user friendly).

A few things…

First of all, it is pretty amazing to have these little snapshots of my life saved in this archive.  To be able to go through my tweets and look at how I was when I struggled, excelled, or was somewhere in the middle, is pretty remarkable.  I actually found myself laughing and crying going through my own tweets, just in aww of how I have grown in the last few years.

Secondly, I am quickly reminded of how we all start somewhere.  Over 52,000 tweets later, I am pretty comfortable with the medium and treat tweeting almost like I would texting.  I don’t sit and contemplate what I am going to put out there anymore; tweeting has become second nature to me.  But it isn’t for everyone and we have to recognize that if we really want people to see value in this medium, you have to get them to care about it in the first place, and then work with them to help them to understand how they can use this it.

Finally, I learned that I not only have a voice, but that I have a voice that can matter.  I often talk about how we all live in a world where we all have a voice, but I do believe that we also live in a world where everyone’s voice can make a difference and Twitter is one of those places where our voice can be heard.  Maybe by 10 people, and maybe by a 1000, but it can be heard.  Through my tweets, I saw my confidence and learning grow, while also learning to connect with some amazing minds.  That experience made my voice grow stronger, when I once believed that nothing I said in that space would ever really matter.

As educators, we have to learn and understand that our voice does matter, not only for ourselves, but so that we can properly relay that notion to our students.  If we can teach them how their voice matters from our experiences, can you imagine how powerful their voices might be?

I’m Tired

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cc licensed ( BY SD ) flickr photo shared by Keith Allison

I have been in my 4th city this week, working with educators that have been passionate and have inspired me in the work that they are doing and I am doing.  That being said, I woke up this morning and was exhausted.  The thought of talking to anybody was overwhelming and I probably could have slept for another 6 hours.  My brain has been dead and even blogging, which I try to do an average of three a week, has been tough.  I haven’t had the time to read anything, and usually through reading, I am inspired to write.  I actually feel that I can better connect my learning when I get to write about it.  This week. there has been no writing because I have not been able to read content.  Kind of makes you realize that kids need both content and time to create and connect for true learning to happen; I can’t expand my learning if I have no prior knowledge.  It is not an “either/or” with content and process, but both are needed.

That being said, this is not about content and process.  This is also not a post about how I am tired, and then somehow, there is going to be moral to the story that will reinvigorate me and make people feel good.  One of the posts that I did have time to read was about practices to help people say no. I felt a connection to the following statement:

  …if you catch her in a moment of honesty, you’ll find out that she doesn’t feel so great. In fact, she’s exhausted.

Irene can’t say no. And because she can’t say no, she’s spending her very limited time and already taxed energy on other people’s priorities, while her own priorities fall to the wayside.

It is not that I can’t say no because honestly, I can.  It is easy to say no to things that I think there is someone better to do it or I simply do not have the time.  When I help others, it is more important that they get the right person as opposed to simply getting me.  I do however think teachers are notorious for taking on too much.

Here is my reality right now.  I am tired.  I am ready for bed.  I haven’t exercised as much as I would have liked to this week (or this month) and I am feeling fatigued.  I am getting to the point of trading off sleep for exercise, or vice-versa. Not good.

So here are my thoughts.

I have been through this before.  I have talked to my friends and say that I am going to take a month off of Twitter so I can just get some sleep then I am made fun of when I am on the next day, or emailing people at work on a late Friday night.

It is okay to have terrible days and be exhausted.  Everyone has them but if I have one chill day on the weekend, I am right back to normal.  The thing that I have learned is that I do need that one day (or two, or three, or…).  This is not just teachers but every profession.  I am going to sleep in on Sunday (which I probably really won’t) and feel better.  Then I will be back to normal.  Then again, at some point, I will be exhausted again.

I remember that I used to be embarrassed about this and feel guilty, but I guess that I am getting old enough to say it is totally fine.

Looking forward to Sunday :)

Me in Review

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I am really trying to be reflective about the year I have had and looking back at some of the posts that I have written.  I see many people doing these types of reflections on their most visited or popular posts, but I wanted to look at the posts that have had the most meaning to me.  I am inspired to do this after reading my good friend Summer Howarth’s blog post on the “Year that Was“, which was deeply personal and open.  Personally, I know I connect on a much deeper level to the bloggers that share these stories.  I especially liked this quote from Summer about her future:

* Take a chance. If you don’t like your situation, change it. You aren’t a tree.

So as I look back at my own year, I just wanted to share some of the posts that I go back and read that give me some perspective on how I am doing as a person, not so much as an educator:

1. Fall Apart; Fall Together – This was an extremely tough time for me personally and I like to think that I look back at this time and have become stronger.  As with any person, struggles are never simply “over” but they are something that you continue to look back and reflect on.  As I grow, I know that true strength comes from being able to acknowledge weakness, not by ignoring it. I have to continue to read my own words below:

I have learned to not just dream anymore, but to full on pursue those dreams.  I have learned to refocus my efforts to be the leader that I need to be for those that I serve.  I was at my lowest and I was able to come out of it because others loved me and believed in me.  I need to continue to grow and be that person.  All of those people that stuck by me and helped me have motivated me to do the same for others.

2.  Why I Try To Follow Every Teacher I Can on Twitter – Connecting with people on Twitter has not only been career changing but life changing (seriously).  I have met so many amazing people through Twitter and I am always excited about the next conference or connection that I will make because of how I have connected over this social network.  It has been a great ride!  Here are some of my thoughts on why I connect to so many:

I have learned over and over again, that I have no idea who I can help, who can help me, and who I can be the connector for between two separate parties, so I do my best to follow as many teachers as possible.  You do not have to be a prolific “Tweeter” to help me become a better educator although your sharing does help.  A ton of people trusted that they could learn from something from me a long time ago when I had contributed very little, so I am going to continue to do the same.

3.  Lessons from Shaq -My sweet dog Shaq has been struggling a little bit as she gets older, but she is just as smiley as ever.  Probably one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life was when I first went to the SPCA and got my first dog Kobe, which led to Shaq, and now Odom.  I just absolutely love dogs because of all they teach you and as I wrote about Shaq, she taught me to “ keep giving love, keep giving love, keep giving love.”  As she gets older, she continues to push me to try and get better:

After 13 years with Shaq, she is now crawling into bed and nestling right beside me every single night I am home.  It has taken a long time but I appreciate it a great deal because she taught me that if you keep giving love, eventually that love will be returned in spades.  Dogs have a funny way of making us better and teaching us to be kinder people to all those that we encounter.

I have learned to love blogging because it has given me these opportunities to look back on much more than schools and education, but hopefully, my growth as a person.

The #Georgies2012

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I really believe that great educators share a personal side of who they are, and since I am relaxing over the break yet wanted to keep in the habit of blogging, I decided to share some things that I liked this year.  I also wanted to keep this archive yearly to see if my interests change over time. Things I like this year, I may hate next.

So what are the Georgies?  They are just a random bunch of stuff I liked this year that I wanted to share (note, some of the stuff did not originate in 2012 but that is the year I found it!).  They have little or no educational value, so here goes! (Please don’t take the below too seriously!)

Favourite Album – I love music and one of my favourite bands over the last few years has been The Avett Brothers.  They have recently released the album “The Carpenter“, and right now, I listen to songs off it daily.  If you are looking for some good music to hear from them, listen to “A Father’s First Spring” or “Down with the Shine“, although “The Ballad of Love and Hate” is probably one of my favourite songs ever (from the awesome album “Emotionalism“).

Runner Up – Some Nights by Fun. (You probably know the more popular songs so check out “Why Am I the One” on YouTube)

Best Cover by Some Band That I Don’t Know – This “Little Black Submarine” cove (originally by the Black Keys) is awesome and actually got me listening to the real band.

Favourite Movie – Pitch Perfect was awesome and the soundtrack is extremely catchy. Didn’t expect I liked it but it was pretty funny.

A Book That Really Pushed My Thinking – I loved the book “Humanize” which really made me think of how we do stuff in education. (All time favourite book that isn’t about education but has so much to do with learning is “Drive“)

Favourite Non-Educational Site – 22 Words is a site that I make sure that I look at every day.  It is hilarious yet there is a lot of stuff that I have found there that I have used in presentations.

Favourite Non-Educational Twitter Account – The fake “Stats Canada” site is always good for a laugh. (Tweets – “81% of Canadians will SHOVEL THE DRIVEWAY IN A SECOND, MOM” or “Canada’s highest-rated TV show is “The Weather”)

Favourite Song I Will Admit That I Like and Get Made Fun of For Liking By People Who Know All the Words – Call Me Maybe (You know what I am talking about.)

Inspirational Video That I Loved (tie) – I love the Nike #MakeItCount video and the “How Bad Do You Want It” video (Part 2 is also awesome).  Great videos for yourself or discuss with your class.

Video That Really Made Me Think About Education – Seth Godin asks what is the purpose of school (great video) but I really enjoyed the video “What if money was no object?“.  Both will make you think and again, could be discussed in class.

The Video That Always Makes Me Smile – Flight of the Conchords video for Cure Kids New Zealand is the cutest and catchiest song and it is 9 minutes that I guarantee will make you smile. (below)

If you have any good suggestions for books, music, movies, or videos, I would love to hear about them in the comments!

Stuff I Want To Share

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This has been a very busy year for me and sometimes, very draining both personally and professionally. As a simple as this may seem, I often try to just sit back, and gain some perspective on how lucky I really am (great family, great career, friends all over the world, my dogs) instead of focusing on what I feel like I may be missing.

What has really helped me to take a step back and think about this, was the video below about the year of 2012.  Although there are some very funny moments in the video, it is also riddled with tragedy and heartache.  I don’t know what it is, but these videos usually leave me in tears.

The other video that I wanted to share was this simple one asking the question, “Can Money Buy Happiness?”  It is a simple concept, and many of the simple suggestions could make a small difference in the lives of not only ourselves, but more importantly, someone else.

I often tweet a link with “#YourDailyAwwwwww” and I just wanted to share this little Posterous site that I have used to culminate these little sweet finds that I make in my daily reading.  This may seem a little hokey, but I always think that it is just nice to share things that make me smile if I can.  With all the pressures and struggles in life and in education, it could be easy to be negative, but I think that we have a lot to be thankful for as well; either attitude can become contagious.

Hopefully, there is something of value in what is shared above and can bring you either perspective or a smile. I know it has for me.

 

It has to be accurate.

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Like the rest of the world right now, I am extremely saddened by the school shooting in Connecticut that happened on December 14, 2012.  To have so many that are so young lose their life, is inconceivable.  My heart goes out to all of those in the Newtown community as they will never be able to forget what happened this day.  Writing has become somewhat therapeutic for me, especially when dealing with news that has come out today, so I wanted to share some of my thoughts regarding the media reporting of the day.

In addition to the horrible events of the day, what has stuck out to me is some of the irresponsibility of journalists and news organizations around the world that have been “reporting” the events of the day.  I threw out the following tweet:

Is it just me, or should we expect journalists to get it right as opposed to share it first? A lot of misinformation out there today.

This tweet stemmed from earlier in the day when the shooter’s name was revealed and it was reported that he had killed his mom that was a teacher while in the school.  Later in the day, the name of the shooter had changed and so did the mom’s position and where she was at the time she was killed.

I actually feel disgusting even writing the above paragraph.  Those are not things that should be just thrown out by the media to the world unless they are 100% sure.  Not 50%, and not even 99%.  It has to be 100%.  Those are life-changing statements.

As someone who has been an administrator for several years now, one piece of advice has always stuck out to me was from my former secretary who had said to me, “When you call home to parents regarding something that their child has done wrong, always remember that you are about to destroy their world.  Make sure that you show that you care about their child.”  Now that is when a student has done something wrong; I can’t even imagine what it would be like to share something this horrific.  I watch parents go pale when a lockdown drill is even mentioned, let alone if the real thing happens.  Reporting news regarding what happened in Connecticut is going to destroy lives, and you must realize that people turn to “trusted” news sources during this time.  It has to be accurate.

Social media has changed so many aspects of our lives.  Many educators now realize that kids can learn from many people and have to reconsider how we teach and learn.  Kids now don’t have the luxury of screwing up the same way we did as kids, because it becomes a part of their digital footprint and they are accountable to that.  Even doctors have to be more cognizant of their work (as they should be), because, well, you could go to ratemds.com and see how they are based on a small sliver of information.  There are so many good things with social media, but there are also bad, which is normal with any technological advance in our world.  The rules of the game may have changed, but shouldn’t many of the outcomes be similar? If a news outlet is meant to report the news, then report the news.  If I wanted entertainment, I would go to TMZ.

Maybe, as many schools and educators are doing, journalists and media organizations need to go back and revisit what their purpose is?  I am seeing many in the media now writing “opinion” columns on fields that are not their usual areas.  One hockey reporter now writes on some of the problems he views in education.  As he is a parent, I think that he should absolutely have a say on his child’s education, but is using the newspaper he works for as the platform even ethical?  As an educator,we give up certain things when we go into the career, as does a journalist.  I could force my political views upon a student because I can and have the platform, but that doesn’t mean I should or that I would.  If you are a “journalist” and you want to share opinion pieces, maybe start your own blog.  Many people take what a journalist says as fact whether it is an opinion piece or not and using a forum that has the reach of a newspaper does not seem right.  As an educator, there are things expected out of us and as a journalist, there are things that I expect out of you.  I need to trust that you are giving me the facts.

I looked at my Twitter stream today and saw many of my friends talking about what happened, and I learned a lot of what happened today yet I knew not all of it was correct.  What scares me, is I think that many journalists did exactly the same.  They may have turned on Twitter to get quick soundbites and snippets of information, as opposed to finding out what really happened.

As in any field, there are people that are amazing what they do, and some that aren’t, education included, so I hate to paint this picture with such a broad brush.  All I know is that if I want “quick”, I know I can go to Twitter, knowing that the information is probably not 100% accurate.  Educators and parents are going to be having some extremely tough conversations with kids regarding what has happened in Connecticut, so on days like today, I, and millions of others need journalists to get it right.

Update***

My brother shared the following quote from the Reuter’s “Handbook of Journalism” that shows I am not the only one that expects accuracy:

Accuracy is at the heart of what we do. It is our job to get it first but it is above all our job to get it right. Accuracy, as well as balance, always takes precedence over speed. 

 

Another Reason to Blog; Proactive Through Reflection

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by radical_vamsi

Before I started blogging, I now look back and realize how all over the place I was with some of the initiatives that I was hoping to implement within our schools early on in my school administration career.  I felt that with all of the great things that I read through on Twitter or other social sites, that I wanted to implement all of these in my own school.  I have learned and understood that this is something that is (and can be) extremely frustrating to a staff.  Although I am sure my staff knew I meant well, if we were to jump on every “great” initiative, I know we would never become a “great” school.  Too much energy is expended on implementing too many things, as opposed to narrowing our focus and getting to that transformative stage in our learning.

Then I started blogging and it actually helped me to slow down and FOCUS.  I started to be more thoughtful, critical, and reflective of what I was learning and was not so quick to jump on things like flipped classrooms and BYOD.  As I continue to read the book “Humanize“, one of the quotes that stuck out to me regards what great leaders do:

“There are, actually, plenty of books that can inspire self-reflection, buy nothing beats taking the time to write in a journal. The best leaders we’ve ever met all keep journals, so we think it is a good habit to develop.” Notter and Grant (2011)

So I look back at my own “journal”(my blog)  and see some continuous themes that seem to come up in my writing (“What is best for kids? Narrow our focus. Start with your why. Transformative learning) and how they have led me to actually be more proactive in the work that we do, as opposed to being more reactive to everything we see.  Before I started blogging, I would tend to be much more reactive than proactive.  By looking back, it was much easier to look forward.

But here is the thing when your “blog” is your journal.  I can google what I have learned.  This may not seem like a big deal (and didn’t) when I first started but over 500 posts into blogging, it makes a huge difference.  I have no idea how I would have done this if I would have wrote all of my learning in a book.  Often when moving forward, I literally google search my own work and by effectively using “tags” and “categories”, it has been much easier to find what I have learned before.  (It would also be easy to talk about how I have also developed my digital footprint as a learner but that is for another blog post.)

As I continue to work with groups, I focus on the importance of reflection and how it is crucial to moving forward.  The challenge I have received (as with many initiatives) is that there is no time.  My response has been that reflection is part of your work. It is important that you make it part of your day, as it should be a part of your student’s day.  We cannot just continue to dump information into our (and our student’s) brains without giving or making time to reflect.  It is essential that there is creation and connection along with consumption.

If we do not take time to look back, how will we ever be able to move forward?