December Reflections

December is a time for reflection on the year past, and even though I'm retired, this has been an amazing year of professional growth and challenges. My OneWord for 2017 was 'stretch' and I vowed to stretch myself, personally and professionally, out of my comfort zone. I've continued to 'stretch' this year as well.

Rather than list all of them, I've selected four instances that pushed me out of my comfort zone professionally this year:

1. Finished my doctorate! I began this journey before I retired, knowing that I would need a continued intellectual challenge in my retirement. Boy, was it challenging!  But I did it - even though it was difficult and there were times when I wanted to quit, I did it!  Walking across the stage at Western's convocation and meeting all of my online classmates and professors in person was a real thrill. My doctoral work explored Enacting Self-regulation Expectations in Kindergarten Programs Using A Distributed Leadership Framework, and I have published a few articles based on this work. I hope to continue publishing in 2019.


2. Speaking of publishing, my book, Lab Class: Professional Learning Through Collaborative Inquiry and Student Observation became available in August 2018 and it was chosen as Learning Forward's Summer Book Club selection. What a thrill to hold a copy of it in my hands!  It is based on work that we did in our board, engaging as co-learners with educators using a collaborative inquiry approach to professional learning. Going through the publication process with the team at Corwin Press was exciting and scary at the same time - lots of revisions, lots of questions - but totally worth it in the end.

3. I was a guest on not one, but two podcasts on voicEd.com.  I'd never been on a podcast before, and they are kind of challenging.  You're talking with other people whom you can't see. I've read that over 90% of communication is non-verbal and in a podcast you don't have any of those visual cues - head nods, eye gaze, etc - to support the conversation. Luckily the others with whom I was chatting were very experienced podcasters and the hour flew by.  Thanks to Stephen Hurley & Doug Peterson for inviting me to join them on This Week In Ontario Edublogs, and to Stephen Hurley & Susan Hopkins for allowing me to join them on the Voices of Self-Regulation podcast.

4. I have presented at lots of conferences over the years, both locally and provincially, but this year I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and did something different.  Instead of presenting a workshop, I facilitated a conversation which is much more open and fluid.  And, to make it even more challenging, it wasn't at a Kindergarten conference or a self-reg conference (which are my strengths) but at the Bringing IT Together Conference, which is a technology focused conference with lots of intermediate and secondary teachers. I was worried that no one would attend my session, or that the people who did attend wouldn't have much to say.  I needn't have worried - I had a great group and they engaged in a very fulsome conversation.

Here's hoping that 2019 offers many more opportunities to continue to stretch and grow!


Thanks to Lynn Thomas for inspiring this blog post, and to Doug Peterson who posted the link to her blog in This Week in Ontario Edublogs.  I always get so inspired by the blogs he shares!

Don't Tweet the Keynote - A Reflection

Sue Dunlop blogged earlier this year about a conference she attended where the keynote speaker requested that no one tweet or share the content of his address on social media. Aviva Dunsiger replied that she was at a conference where the keynote speaker had made the same request and the internet was blocked in the conference room to prevent online sharing.

Wow!

What a difference from conferences I've attended in the past.  For example, at the Self-Regulation Summer Symposium (SRSS#2018) in July, social media use was in heavy use.

• the keynote addresses were recorded and broadcast on voicEdradio 
• people were tweeting throughout the conference
• in the main conference room, a projector ran a scrolling display of tweets from the conference so those who don't usually use twitter could participate in the online sharing
• at the closing address, Susan Hopkins' final slide was a tweet that a conference attendee had shared on twitter about our resilience in the face of the fire ban in Peterborough

The organizers recognized that not everyone who wants to attend is able, so they ensured that people were able to access the information.  They also recognized that twitter was a way for those in attendance to share their learning with one another. The purpose seemed to be information sharing and online dialogue, not monetization.

Some of the ways I use Twitter at a conference are:

• sharing key learning from sessions with colleagues 
• reading tweets of others to see which ideas they found most salient 
• summarizing my thinking
• sharing highlights of the conference, which may encourage others to attend
• reading tweets of others to get key ideas from sessions I can't attend - like when two great sessions that I want to attend are both scheduled at the exact same time
• reading comments from attendees at sessions that I've presented (instead of waiting for the feedback forms)
• sometimes through twitter I've discovered someone I know or follow on social media is attending the same conference; I can send them a message and meet up with them for a conversation in real life!

I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to be at a professional learning event and being told not to tweet. Both Aviva and Sue said that they felt it impaired their learning. 

There was also some discussion as to why a speaker might make such a request: their ideas are their livelihood so they don't want to give them away for free; they don't want someone else telling their story; they don't want others in the industry 'stealing' their ideas.

In an era where we have made great strides in deprivatizing teacher practice and we encourage educators to share their professional learning and their wonderings, this approach of 'don't tweet the keynote' seems to be taking us backwards.

How do conference organizers deal with such requests? Should they book keynote speakers who don't allow their ideas to be shared? How would you feel if you weren't allowed to tweet at a conference? 

seeklogo.com

(Thanks to @dougpete for mentioning Sue's blog post. I find such great inspiration on his blog!)

Saying Yes

I'm not great at New Year's Resolutions.  I always resolve to eat healthier and exercise more - while sitting on my couch having a glass of wine on New Year's Eve.  This quote from blogger Kristen Armstrong sums up my resolution for 2017:

It's not too late to get off the fence if there are things you have wanted to do or say but have held back or played small.  Do it. 

Say no to fear, hesitation, and indecision and say yes to your life.

In the past, I was sometimes afraid to challenge myself but I find as I get older I am getting braver.  I started my Doctorate last year and the thought of defending next spring is terrifying, but I'm going to do it! I've prepared a book proposal to submit to a publisher for consideration; right now I've sent it off to a critical friend for review.  And, so far, I've submitted two articles for publication, and I've also applied to present at three upcoming conferences.  For some people, submitting articles or applications might not be an act of bravery but the fear of rejection is kind of scary.  Promoting my writing and my blog on social media makes me feel uncomfortable, like I'm saying "Look at me!" However, pushing past these fears opens up opportunities for exciting experiences, so my resolution this year is to continue to push myself.  I can't wait to see what opportunities this year will bring!