I Will
I’ve never written down goals before (well, not these type) and I’m a little reluctant to start now. What if I don’t make any of them? What if they are in conflict with the goals of my workplace? What if they make me look like a luddite, or if they are just plain ordinary?
However, I want to have a set a goals so that I can keep track of where I want to go, where I want to direct the teachers I work with, so that I can say at the end, these are the things that I achieved or have tried to achieve. What do I need to do next to get there? What has happened throughout the year that will make me edit or re-think my goals for the following year? Deep breath . . . I will:
- encourage the staff in my workplace to use Yammer as an alternate form of cumminication and to see that it has many (and different) benefits over email;
- run a Web2.0 course for the School administrators and have them use a blog and other web tools on a regular basis;
- run a Blog Course for interested teachers – along the lines of 30 days to be a better blogger (which I really want to do myself) Coincidentally, Sue Waters has just blogged about a new 30 Days Project starting up;
- encourage the teachers (that I worked with during 2008) to use a variety of web tools in 2009 eg VoiceThread, Blogging;
- blog regularly and keep commenting on blogs that I read
- create a portal for my maths class so that there is an online presence and support for learning
- be a better father;
I’m sure there are more goals, and I hope to add some over the next few weeks.
January 10th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Hi Colin – welcome to the 31 Day Project.
Thinking about your teachers I’m wondering if the 23 Things program might be the way to go with them. Slightly less intense than the 31 Day Project but also achieves your other aim of introducing them to a variety of web tools. Each week they have to learn about a new tool and write a post about what they learnt. Would you like me to give you a link to information on the 23 Things?
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January 10th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Hi Sue,
Thank you for commenting – very much appreciated.
I have a link in my delicious for this 23 things http://plcmcl2-things.blogspot.com/#23 – is it the same one?
You may be right – less intense might be more supportive.
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January 11th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
There are lots of versions of the 23 Things program – suggest you check out the Murdoch University version. Here is a link to all the different ones I’ve saved in Delicious. People still find 23 Things intensive and I recommend including workshops with it. Kathryn who runs the one for Murdoch University has seen a gradual increase of skills after 3 years of running the program – so it is one of those things it takes time.
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January 11th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Thanks again, Sue.
This journey is going to be bigger (=longer) than I first conceived, for both myself and others I’d like to encourage. Reading through some of your blog (or was it the wiki) the notion that good blogging starts with commenting on other people’s blogs, really grabbed me.
I have commented on occasions on blogs (quite a few), and do see it as a valuable task. Something that I will be doing more of for a while (at least).
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January 30th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
I am really interested to see how you go with your goals Colin, especially getting your staff to use an alternate form of communication. I still have trouble with some of my staff checking their emails regularly!!! Some of your goals have a similar bent to what I would like to do with my staff this year. I think it is a great idea that you have put them on your blog, it gives you some accountability in trying to achieve them!
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Colin Becker Reply:
February 1st, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for dropping by. I think it will be a huge challenge to get staff to use Yammer to communicate. I have two staff interested in working with a school in Memphis. I emailed them instructions on (1) how to create a wiki, (2) how to join Yammer – I have created a group within yammer for the project and a request to send me a message in Yammmer when they had done both of these. Haven’t heard anything yet, so I imagine I will need t prompt and possibly rescue.
Having them on my blog does make me feel like I need to be accountable, but on the other hand, I’m not sure that anyone at my school would know they were there. I’ll hopefully keep updating progress with blog posts.
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