Gearing Up

So, this is it. The night before it begins...it's going to be a huge year.

The last couple of days we've spent a couple of hours each day at school starting to get ready - hubby's been putting together his middle school classroom and I've been working on unit outlines, task sheets, work programs...all the paperwork behind senior school.

It's really only just starting to dawn on me that as of tomorrow the holidays are over and it's back to work. Honestly, I've got mixed feelings about it. I'm nervous about the new role, I'm overwhelmed by the looming workload, I'm upset about not having certain subjects that were originally on my timetable...but at the same time I'm excited and eager to get started. But I have to wonder, am I ready? I have the necessary knowledge and willingness to learn what I don't yet have; I have the necessary equipment to get through the days (my laptop's charging, as are my phone and ipod touch - I even have pen and paper)...but is that enough? Do I have my sense of humour? My optimisim and determination? The stamina to see through an eleven week first term? Have I got enough sleep stored away that I can live on very little for the next few weeks?

There's no deep discussion about pedagogy or elearning tonight. No push at the frontier of 21st century education. Just this - how do you get ready for the beginning of a school year?

Fighting the Resistance

I procrastinate...a lot. I always have. I have been a last minute finisher since high school, throughout university and in varying degrees during my teaching career. It's not that I don't know what I need to do, often I spend a lot of time thinking and plannning what needs to be done - often writing a "To Do" list anywhere from three to ten times before actually starting it. I will agonise over the thinking processes behind things but then stay up till the wee hours of the morning the night before a big presentation to implement my big plans. A lot of the time this has worked for me, it's challenging and exciting for me to have to think quick and improvise. However, I must admit that there have been times when it's been an appalling failure and everything has fallen apart around me.

For example, the last three days I've known exactly what needs to get done before Wednesday (our first Student Free Day of the year, where I will be thrown into my new role with little to no preparation), I even had a colleague come over and help do some of the planning. I've written my list (three times to the count - once on paper, once on my touch and once on my igoogle page), I've got my random notations and footnotes to remind me what needs doing, I've had time...but nothing's happened so far. I literally sit down, open a word document, organise my notes and sit with poised fingers over my keyboard...waiting. As each day has ticked by I've gotten slightly more internally stressed about exactly how I make my rather long list get ticked off before the deadline.

The thing is this...I know eventually it'll get done but I need certain things to align and fall into place in order for it to happen. For example, the right mix of songs to flick through my playlist is essential to my productivity. The problem is I can't predict exactly which ones will work on any given day...what worked yesterday might not work today, then again, it might. Or I may have had just the right workout at taekwondo training - mind you, to hard a session and I'll be wiped, to soft and I'll have excess energy and I'll be squirming in my seat. Maybe I'm the Goldilocks of productivity.

Image: "Block it out" by dotbenjamin @flickr

In all honesty, I am making excuses. I am not being disciplined, restrained, focused and therefore I am losing a battle with the Resistance. I am resistant to returning to work, I am resistant to accepting a new role (I want the job, don't get me wrong - just nerves starting to hit), I am resistant to the idea of giving up some of the indulgences I've come to enjoy over the holidays (my pyjamas and I have never been so close). The Resistance is strong in me.

This morning as I wrote out my list in increased detail I realised I'm going to loose this battle and miss my deadline if I don't do something about it. So, it is now official - I am fighting The Resistance.

It started simply enough - I sat down and committed two nights a week to writing blog entries. I even have the topics picked out a week in advance with a vague outline of what I could talk about (my touch is synced and will remind me...it's so supportive). Now, I'm sure you'll realise how big a step that was for me - I _planned_ something. Guess what? Half an hour ago my touch buzzed me and I told the cat and hubby I had to go play blogger for a little while, plugged in my playlist and found a song that fired me tonight (it turned out to be Cake's "Going the Distance" tonight) and got on with the job.

I've broken my list down into smaller bites and with shorter deadlines - tonight it's the unit outlines and assessment planner dates (at the very least).

I am determined that I will win this fight. I started 2009 the way I intended on finishing it - ahead of the mad rush of an impending deadline, enjoying the creativity of those around me and the opportunities offered to me and this Resistance cannot be permitted to stop those plans.

So, what do you do to fight your Resistance?

Plans

Two and a half weeks out from the first day at school for 2009 and every now and again I find myself considering the plans for the year. It feels kind of strange to only be planning for two classes and worrying more about the staff side of things - I keep feeling that I've forgotten something.

As thoughts churn over in my head I'm starting to consolidate a few ideas. So, some of the tools I plan to use from day one this year:

Diigo - the more I play with this tool, the more I enjoy it and I find it frustrating when my colleagues do not use it. It seems so...redundant to Diigo it and then have to copy and paste the link into an email for them.

Netvibes - this one looks like a great way to collate information for different topics from across the web, lots of potential for the classroom and working with staff.

Jog The Web - One of the units I start the year with is a media unit (similar to the one I ended the year with in 2008) and one of the activities I'd like to do is create a track tracing how a global issue is reported across the globe so we can look at the similarities and differences it is reported from different perspectives.

I know I mentioned these three breifly last post, but the details are starting to flesh out and I wanted to share. Any other ideas I'm more to happy to hear them!

Starting with the End in Mind

Image: B Tal, "The Symbol of Victory", at flickr.com

How would I like 2009 to finish? I find that question really hard, as I've talked about before I am a terrible goal setter and long term planner (and for me 12 months is long term), but I suppose it's time I pushed that little comfort zone and made an effort to at least try.

So some of the things I would like to do in 2009:

1. Broaden my use of ICT in the classroom - my pedagogical licence portfolio got the criticism that I rely too much on our department's Blackboard. This year I will be looking at my options to enhance that space with others as well. Luckily, my PLN has some great people from my department included to help me bounce ideas off, source suitable sites and talk out the policies. Netvibes looks promising, and jogtheweb and I'd like to figure out a way to use Diigo or Delicious and work within our policy.
2. Work to support more staff to use ICTs more in their classrooms and encourage them to collate their portfolios for the department's Smart Classroom framework. I can't recall exactly who (I'll need to go back and rewatch), but someone in the OZ/NZ Educator meetup a couple of weeks ago was telling us about some tags of web2.0 tools they'd put together and used as part of a professional development programme they ran with their staff - so staff walked out with something to jog their memory, and as they collected more of them their toolbox was obvious. This is something I would like to try with my staff this year.
3. Update (and keep it that way) my digital portfolio. I have still to write up the middle school drama project, the middle school podcast project and cyberdrama project...hmm. That's going to take a while.
4. Continue to participate in and build on my PLN through Twitter, Classroom20, Skype, etc. I learn so much from the blogs I read and the conversations I have - they are a vital source of professional (and personal) development for me. As an extension of that, I want to continue to hone and develop my blog and blogging skills. Where my PLN is a place of inspiration, my blog is my place to reflect and think out loud.

There are other things I'd like to do this year, of course:

• Remember to choose my attitude
• Be in the moment
• Have fun, and smile more
• Stay organised
• Work through the Project 365! challenge of taking a photo every day for a whole year
• Spend more time outside
• Read more
• Knit more
• Play more

Bring on 2009 - it's going to be one full on year!

On the edge

It's been a big year and as tomorrow is the last day of the 2008 school year for my system it seems a good time to reflect on what has been achieved and what opportunities are opening.

Hubby and I moved schools at the start of this year, as I've blogged about before, and honestly when I first arrived our new school intimidated me - it's at least twice the student population of our last placement, it's brand new, and it's determined to be the best.

Surprisingly I didn't die as I predicted when hubby and I did our first drive by scope of the place. Instead this school has been amazing for both of us professionally, we seem to have found our feet and we've both experienced major professional growth here. I've been lucky enough to have found leaders who have trusted me enough to follow my passion for eLearning and believed in my abilities to do what's best for the students - not just something that looks good.

Without the leadership and support of these people I would never have:

• nominated for the Smart Classroom Awards (and been counted as one of the 12 winners from across the state)
• gained my ICT Pedagogical License
• established online learning spaces in all of my subject areas and in both our senior and middle schools
• began speaking and running workshops
• applied for an acting position
• began buying and reading educational textbooks - and actually enjoying them!

It's been a big year professionally for me...and admittedly there have been moments when I wasn't sure I was going to make it - gosh I'm glad I have though! What a wonderful ride!

And now as we wrap up for 2008 we're beginning to look to 2009 and wondering just what may lay in store for us then...especially because for the first six months I'll be taking on a very different role within the school, temporarily replacing someone who is stepping up to another role.

I never thought I'd end my year on this note. I'm scared, nervous, excited and rearing to have a go...really I'm ending the year standing on the edge of a cliff. Will I fly or flounder? I guess 2009 and reveal all.

Picture by: welcometomyisland @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/16923212@N08/1877501979

Podcasting Futures...

Two of the podcasting classes started their recording today - and I must say, I'm happy with the outcomes so far. And even before the files finish saving I'm thinking of the ways to extend these students who have loved this idea so much and ways to use podcasting in my classes more extensively next year.

First of all, I'm now going to have each pair source a short piece of music through Creative Commons and use Audacity to put together a title soundbite for their podcasts (is there some technical term for this?)

And some of my big ideas for next year:

• A weekly podcast discussion of content and topics we're looking at in class each week. I'm thinking of this especially for my senior English and History (fingers crossed) classes. I'm hoping to use it as a discussion starter, a way to deliver the content and free up some face-to-face time for other things.
• Student podcasting assignments for feedback and review, but also to publishing.
• Development of games/flashcards for iPods to help students learn terminology.

I'm sure there's plenty more things for me to consider doing with podcasting next year - what have I overlooked?

Today...

Today I had three pretty cool things happen, and in the interest of making a shorter blog entry (simply for variety), I figured I'd share.

1) YAY! My first ever blog comment! Thanks KGJAMES :)

2) My name on a conference flyer. I was asked a month or so ago if I'd speak at the Queensland Studies Authority's conference on Senior Schooling in 2009 and got the flyer in my inbox today. It's still all very surreal, this idea of me speaking at a conference...or me even having something worth talking about. Which is why I was poked on Twitter till I confessed the whole deal and reason for the speaking invite.

I'm speaking about the importance of teachers to integrate eLearning strategies and components into their senior courses in order to provide the best opportunities for our students...and I really do need to start working on that presentation soon.

3) I was kicked out of the house for some alone time and really enjoyed my time at a nearby cafe reading and knitting quietly in the corner...although I have a confession...I did check my email on my phone...twice...