Time. It’s sensitive.

I hit a bit of a bump in the road when I started out on Twitter. And while I still have questions, many of which are silly–such as what really is the difference between the @ and the #–I feel like I can use TweetDeck, attend a Twitter Chat, and sometimes even contribute (if I’m fast enough to respond before the moment has passed — and I’m referring here not to a lack of typing skills, rather that need to think for too long about a response before sending/publishing/posting/etc.) to the discussion.

I was expecting this hurdle though, as I knew coming into this Cohort 21 experience I was that slightly off-beat, zany, technology-teaching-technological dinosaur who needed a good kick forward into certain aspects of the 21st century, and I now really love Twitter. I’m getting better at tweeting, and I check my account everyday, even if it is just to see what is going on related to education and/or the news.

 = 🙂    <– super tiny happy face

(note to self: must learn how to change font size!)

Contrast this with my blogging (or clearly evident lack there of). Oddly enough, I was not expecting blogging to be an issue for me. I have used Word Press before (I am the VP of my masters swim team’s executive/board and our club’s site runs off of Word Press), and so, I thought to myself ‘Check! I got this.’. I decided I didn’t need to watch the videos about Word Press that Garth and Justin so kindly referred me to well in advance of even the first F2F (given that I knew I was going to be away), and that I could just get around to it later. I assumed (and this is never a good plan, seriously, what was I thinking?) I would just be able to pop back onto Word Press and in no time generate a series of awesome blogs.

Again, what was I thinking?!! How arrogant of me–and let’s clarify again, it is not like I thought for a moment that I had exceptional blogging or Word Press skills–I’ve really only updated/created a few new pages–it’s more that I assumed I could figure it out easily enough and well in time for the next F2F…

There’s that word ‘time’ again. Coupled with the phrase “I’ll get around to it” — it can be a tricky combination. There is a finite amount of time. But, I find, there are an infinite amount of times one can say “I’ll get around to it”.

(Anyone thinking this parallels many of our students??? I sure have been… one of the things I’ve enjoyed already about being a part of Cohort 21 is the amount I now think and re-think about my classes, student impact, student habits, student learning, student <insert choice education related word>. I mean I thought about it before… but I didn’t really THINK about it… and definitely not with research and collaboration in the meaningful way I’ve only just started to get a taste of this fall.)

So normally I do get around to it. I generally am a high functioning adult who can multitask with the best of them. Never fear, I make sure my report cards are in on time, lessons are planned, everyone else is taken care of… but then I realize I haven’t taken care of my own learning, arguably one of the most important things to take care of, and I end up back at the drawing board. I don’t ever feel like giving up, but I do feel like I failed. It is the eleventh hour, and I actually need a Round Tu-It because I’m out of time.

At least then I can say I got a Round Tu-It….

(See the rest of the poem and the ‘original’ Round Tuit products at http://www.quantumenterprises.co.uk/roundtuit/traditional_round_tuits.htm.)

And yet, then I pick myself back up… re-read the slides from the first F2F, and focus on the rainbow infographic/word slide titled “What can I say to myself” and start saying it (and not the left column… the right one)

And as I’m practicing shifting my mindset much like a psychologist/psychiatrist uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to help master ‘Mind Over Mood‘ (not a bad read for anyone, educators included), I also realize I’ve used the word fail. And, although I’m embarrassed and a bit irritated with myself that I had to reset my password to access my dashboard <again> tonight, I did it, and I’m moving on from my F.A.I.L to my second, third, and so forth.

There were so many things I was hoping to research and blog about. I so enjoyed listening to the hangout on hangouts and wrote pages of notes about it… but I didn’t post them. Fear? Maybe a little. But, moreso time. I suddenly felt like there was an expiry date, and once a day passed it was probably still ok to post, but when a week passed… well would you eat the leftovers in the fridge at that point?

Not to mention the smart logic Sarah Bylsma of Ridley College imparted upon us at the first F2F when she said “Don’t bite off too much” — clearly I should have listened to her advice “to take baby steps” as instead of the giant steps I envisioned, I almost ran the risk of taking no steps at all.

But, much like my hurdle with Twitter, I know I will get over this one too… and that is actually exciting. Just like it’s exciting I am going to get to meet all of you tomorrow (quite possibly today by the time I figure out how to post this properly with the embedded add-ons, and likely before you read this) in person.

Until then, here were 4 edutopia articles I really enjoyed a few days, I mean a week (or 2 weeks) ago…

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/4-tips-for-flipped-learning-joe-hirsch

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/does-spelling-count-shira-loewenstein

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/stem-and-writing-super-combination-heather-wolpert-gawron

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-citizenship-need-to-know-vicki-davis

(I had them bookmarked in Chrome, and really enjoyed being able to drag and drop them into the editor environment in Word Press)

…and an update to my About Me page.

On a final note, as it relates to my students — this current lesson (or series of lessons) I’ve just learned directly applies to my students and their struggles with getting around to it. I know I might think I have a better reason (I’m sure we’ve all had those moments), but that’s what they’re thinking to. And while some students are lazy, just like some educators (none of our awesome Cohort 21 group, of course), many students are in a constant state of overwhelm as it relates to their use and management of media and technology. It is not something I originally thought I would explore through this opportunity, but I think it might be something I focus on now at least in part… helping my students better manage their use of media and technology tools through the educational lens of my math and/or tech classes. And while I still think time IS sensitive, I’m well aware that most often, it’s just that the situation is time sensitive.