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?

On your marks...

I may have underestimated my students (again..must remember to be less over protective that way).

Before the end of last term I wrote about my concerns and reservations regarding the rather ambitious (aka stupidly new) project I'm launching with my Drama students next week (Leaping into the deep end..).

A couple of things have happened during the last two weeks to have me peeking my head out from behind the storm shelter door with a little bit of hope in my eyes.

First of all I was checking all the Project Rooms and came across this:

A few things made this find exciting:

For starters, MY Project Rooms look like the rather boring example to your right. Which means I have no idea how to do what they've done...and I'm jealous...and so, so proud. This is what teachers need to learn to accept - we don't know more/better some times and in fact there's a heck of a lot we could learn from our students.

Continuing in this theme of pleasant surprises I logged in to do a daily check of school email (hey, I limit it to once over the hols...that's a break :)...isn't it?) and had an email from a student in a different cyberdrama group. I've asked them to carbon copy me any organisational emails between group members so I can assist/guide them as they need and keep a finger on the pulse, so I was pleased first of all that this group remembered. But more than that this student had emailed his group with a reminder of the things they discussed and organised in our last Drama lesson of the term and what each of them is responsible for next week when we're back at achool. So many things about this impressed me:

• How often do teachers dismiss students as disorganised/unmotivated/slack/forgetful? Here I have a student taking the initiative and being RESPONSIBLE enough to PLAN AHEAD...he got ahead of me this time...I'm not sending out reminders till the end of the week.
• In his email he has also accoutned for our access issues when it comes to technology - over the hols he's purchased his own webcam for the group to use to get a particular "feel" for certain aspects of their cyberdramas. Again, this is so much more than I ever expected.
• Finally - we're still on HOLIDAYS! A similar thing happened last year with the cyberdrama unit I tried then too, students logged in and engaged over the hols - a sign that elearning spaces and projects have potential to remove the borders of our classrooms? I think so!

My only concern now...will I have the energy to keep up when I let them loose next week?