Beginning my journey to get my transcripts reissued as led me to jump back into school after being gone for 9 years. I am sitting here studying a syllabus for the first time in such a long time and trying to remember how I did this all to begin with.
My first task is to reflect on how my time is managed and where technology fits into that. So here I sit infront of technology reflecting.
Teaching puts an interesting spin on technology throughout the day. On an average day I use my phone as an alarm to wake up. I turn on Pandora in the morning as I get ready and then it's off to work I go. I like to start my work days with time alone in the classroom. I don't feel good unless I know that I am prepared for my day. This also means that when I get to school at 7:00 a.m my phone is put away and I do not look at it again until after 3.
What struck me as I was reading through the selections for this entry was the fact that even though I have a not optional digital break each day I seem to make up for it as soon as I can get my phone back in my hands.
I know that I have the ability to be addicted to technology much more than I am. I am cautious because I am aware of that. In high school my parents went away for the weekend. My sister wanted to have people over. I wanted to watch t.v. ....and I did. I watched 16 hours straight of television and popped a blood vessel in my eye. I have taken that as a lesson learned and I try to remain really cautious of the time suck things can prove to be and how much I love that time suck. I have now lived without a television in my home for 5 years and I don't plan on getting one any time soon.
I enjoyed reading How to Cultivate the Habit of Focus...in an Age of Distraction. I found myself nodding along as I read about how though habits are hard to form they prove to make life much easier. This is a truth I see in the classroom. As the year winds down I can look around and see my students completely independent because they have practiced the skills and know the procedures of the classroom and now how to have a successful day. They have formed habits that make them a successful 1st grader. I then start to reflect on my own personal life and start to wonder if I have created that habits that make me a successful person. The writer quoted Michael Phelps as he said his way to success was to stay in the pool. A simply philosophy not so easy to obtain.
The words that I felt I need to repeat to myself even more was "He did each single thing, as if he did nothing else." This is not me but it is who I have always wanted to be. I do a million things at once. I multi task my multi tasking. I jump from conversation to conversation I talk on the phone while I'm checking my email between grading and watching Master Chef. But I know that I would be a better to myself, a better daughter, a better sister and a better friend if I gave priority to the one thing that I needed to get done.
I walk away from these snippets of dialogue with a couple of things I would like to commit myself to. I am guilty of choosing easy ways to communicate - text not calls. I believe 100% in the fact that this takes away personal contact. I might enjoy it more because it is on my terms. I don't have to get "stuck on the call" and responses can happen when I want them. But rarely do they impact relationships in the meaningful way that I would like. I also believe in a digital detox. I want to commit to one day a week of unplugging and plugging into reading, writing letters, picnics or coffee shop conversations.
....Maybe that once a week will just have to start right after I am done with Ed Tech.
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