Just get it done!

So, for the first week of our two week spring break I largely languished on the lounge and reconnected with my non-teacher self by knitting prolifically and watching some seriously trashy television and DVDs.

After the first three days of being nearly comatose (btw, I do NOT recommend shopping whilst in a state of brain drain, you will spend too much and the top you thought looked great really won't - however, you will end up with enough pretty shoes to make that easier to cope with) I began to emerge and spent some serious time reflecting on the last 9 months. I processed what I needed to and I started to move on and accept the lessons I had been offered:

• Priotise
• Ask for help
• Stand up for yourself
• Have a back up plan
• Have a support crew
• Say 'No' more often
• "Don't let the turkey's get you down" (sorry couldn't resist the Mao's Last Dancer quote, loved the book months ago and saw the film last night - highly recommend it)

During the second week I did teach "summer school" for students with identified literacy and numeracy support needs, and had the pleasure of working with hubby (@gravy77) with a group of 11 students for the week. Even though it was only 3 hours each day it was draining and took a big adjustment for me. This year I've taught only senior students and these students were years 6 and 7, a BIG age difference! As challenging as it was, it was rewarding and kinda fun. It let me reconnect as a teacher - without the added responsibilities that comes with being in a leadership role. It helped me remember what it is I love about teaching - working with the students, helping them make their own meaning and express themselves, and collaborating with someone who's teaching brain is very different from mine with a whole multitude of new strategies and activities.

Summer School also helped ease me back into thinking about the final term for 2009 and what needs to be achieved. There's a tad to get done and after the first couple of hours trying to pretend I wasn't phased about it, I did have a minor freakout and began preparations for the end of the world. However, since then I've calmed down, written a list, crossed a few things off said list and have begun to feel a bit more positive about it all.

One of my big priorities this term is completing my Digital Pedagogy Licence (Advanced) portfolio. I started this months ago (it feels like years to be honest) and sadly it got bumped after I developed an attitude problem towards it and conveniently got snowed with other "more urgent" things. So what's done and what's yet to do for it?

1. Context statement (done)
   
2. Belief statement (thanks to @jeni_wren for making me grin every time I see "grief" statement)
3. Item 1
4. Item 2
5. Item 3

Hmm, seems I've got quite a bit to do... ;)

I did start my belief statement (an interactive wordle) ages ago, but it wasn't quite working for me. It felt too disjointed, too messy and I got disheartened and too busy to fix it. After spending a few hours reading over drafts from others in the course I think I've come up with a solution (which is not the "I give up" one I immediately had when I read how great they all are!). I still want it to be interactive and to incorporate multimedia, but I'm going to structure it more simply and instead of the 20 odd "nodes" I had I'm streamlining to four:


From there we'll see where I get too...hopefully somewhere more productive than before!

Big thanks to @shanetechteach and @jnxyz who introduced me to the SimpleMindX app for my ipod touch, I've been using it to brainstorm all holidays and it's so easy!