Adventures in Administration

Photo Credit People reflect and write a lot about how much they love their #PLN.   You can set up an IFTTT  recipe to thank new followers on Twitter, the hashtag #FF is a popular tag on Fridays to recognize people you respect and want to acknowledge publicly for great contributions to your learning, and Twitter provides analytics that allow you to review and track reach and followers.  All of this is great.  And I know many people who are as data-driven in their personal lives as they are professionally.  In this day of social media, if you want to grow in any field, you have to put yourself "out there".  I understand that, and honestly, I work at it in spurts.  There are many a night when you can find me marveling at the Google analytics for my blog.  Hey, who doesn't like to see a new country pop up on your map of readership? But reach and data are not what I want to write about.  For me, my #PLN has become something much more persona...

Photo Credit The last couple of weeks have been really crazy.  So crazy that I had to come in on a Saturday to actually catch up and clear off my desk.  We have all been there, I know.  The challenge for me these past few weeks has been that the further behind I got, the more challenging it was for me feel effective in my job.  People would come in to chat and ask "Do you have a minute?" and while I was saying "Sure" or "Of course", I was screaming in my head "No, I don't have a minute!  Get out and see my assistant to make an appointment!"  Not an effective mode to be in when having a conversation that is really important to that person seeking you out.  I also was really putting myself out there collecting data from the staff about a recent PD day that had been a stretch for me to put together as well as a stretch for many to participate in.  Needless to say, as the feedback came in, I was still feeling so invested in the day that I cou...

Photo credit: http://goo.gl/2Ssfhp This past weekend I did something I honestly don't remember the last time doing: I used vacation time in the middle of the school year!  My son had a four day weekend.  Our school had a three day weekend.  I took a four day weekend.  And WOW!  What a difference it made. We can always make an argument for staying at the office another hour.  We can always justify working into the wee-hours to catch up on those last few emails or finalize tomorrow's meeting.  But that can take a toll.  And it was taking a toll.  I was not as productive, tasks were taking twice as long, things were falling off my radar, causing the infamous "fire drill" every day.  On top of that my son was making comments like: "I wish you would just go back to teaching so I could spend more time with you."  Ugh!  How do you argue with that one? So this weekend I made a conscious decision to lighten up on my connect...

Day 22 of the @TeachThought Reflective Teaching Blog Challenge "What does your PLN look like , and what does it do for your teaching?" My #PLN is one of my favorite topics to discuss with just about anybody who will listen.  Having this as a blogging topic?  Are you kidding?!  How long do I get, again?  Oh, right, a paragraph.  OK, just the facts, then. My PLN is a collection of educators, authors, colleagues, and professionals from other fields.  They are geographically spread out around the world.  Some I follow regularly while others I pop in and out of their stream as the mood strikes.  I follow leaders from many professions as well as peers because I think that it is important to listen to many voices.  Some of my favorite "go-to's" for inspiration include regular writers for Forbes Magazine like @HenryHartDoss and leaders in our armed forces like @JohnEMichael, as well as edu-allstars like @E_Sheninger. However, the...