Couch PD - More Hive Summits

This weekend I had the opportunity to catch up on some Professional Development which I had "snoozed"* in my email over the past fortnight.

The presenter I watched today was Lisa Johnson - someone I already followed on Twitter and had heard speak previously.   This session was on productivity, something we all struggle with from time to time.  The key messages from the session were:

• There is no “One Size Fits All” for Productivity 
• Being mindful of balance is key 
• To get started, you need to identify goals It’s important to notice that macro goals are composed of micro goals 
•  Ask yourself: 
•  What do you want to do more of? 
•  What do you want to do less of? 
•  What do you want to finish? 
•  What do you want to do better?
• Visually tracking habits helps to stay on track
• Failure is small mistakes repeated daily 
• Determine your “Value Buckets” 
• Choose the three values that are the most important and relevant to you  
• We live in an era of a lot of distractions - try to minimise these by setting time aside to get through your to-do list
• A “Brain Dump” can help to be efficient 
• Being mindful and realistic with your time will help you to be successful 
• Know what you value -  It is easy to goal-set and to work toward a goal if you have identified what you’re working towards 
• Recognize that time with your family is your most important time 
• Email is an inefficient tool - find a system to address sending/receiving emails

* the snooze feature of Gmail is a feature I used frequently to ensure that emails or work that I can't deal with till a later date is removed from my inbox and pops back up on the selected day for me to action!

Couch PD: Hive Summit Day 1 - 3

This weekend I've chosen to partake in some professional development from the comfort of my couch.   Over the next 14 days the Hive Summit continues and if the first two days are any indication I'm going to enjoy listening to the speakers.

The first presenter on Day 1 was Angela Maiers - a visionary who is passionate about #youmatter!  While the sketch notes for the session are extremely powerful, the messages that related with me are:

Every human has a ​need​ to feel like they matter and are extremely important

We are the face of influence for our students; it’s crucial we notice them - you can do this by simply greeting them at the door each day.

Everyone has a voice that MUST be heard! There is no ego in feeling like YOU MATTER!

The first and last 20 seconds you spend with a human are the most impactful

Kids don’t see problems and think, “Who’s going to solve that? - A child’s default is action “We can change the world...”

The second Hive Day presenter was Michael Matera - the innovator behind the Hive Summit who talked about gamification in learning (not something that I found as useful). 

As I was about to close this blog post I received the email with the Day 3 speaker.  Casey Bell was inspiring.  Her main points include:

• Dynamic learning requires teachers to deliver instruction in a non-static way - be different and unafraid to change things up
• Student-centered learning provides teachers with opportunities to be effective
• Beyond the Bell: learning does not end when the bell rings
• Beyond the Grade Level/Subject Area: our content is not the only content-- technology provides access for anyone to be an expert on anything
• Beyond the Walls: global connectedness can provide our students with authentic audiences
• Beyond the Tools: access to NEW tools allows our students to do NEW things

I'm excited about the learning to come over the coming days!