Here we are on another Friday afternoon. I’ve taken care of an apple for my afternoon snack and I’m ready to reflect.
I’m finding my most difficult challenge to be the part of the job that I also like the most. The constant change of attention that comes from staff stopping by for help, emails for assistance and the tasks that I’ve set myself for each day. I do pretty good first thing in the morning. I knock through some emails and solve the simple problems, set my list of to do for the day and get things rolling.
Then the Plinko game begins. I’m always headed in the right direction, but I feel myself bounced around on the way there. Its just going to be that way I guess and I’ll get used to it. Here’s my plan for smoothing out the road just a little each day.
- Only necessary windows open on my screen at a time (I currently have 11 tabs open on my desktop while I should be focused only on my work on this one.)
- Limit email checks to a to be determined time frame
- Respond to my emails during that window and then close it again
- Take time to breathe
- De-clutter my desk
I’ll report next week on how I do with these. I’m making myself a little reminder to go on my desk.
Speaking of my desk, my office is coming together quite nicely. I acquired some upgrades this week. I got two standing desks with stools for workstations when colleagues come in for help. I’m hoping this will eliminate the awkwardness of them trying to put their computer down on my cluttered desk. (just added that to my tasks above) So far the feedback from my visitors has been positive on those.
I added some small plants and have a few framed pictures that are queued up for going on the wall. Next up is a fresh coat of paint to cover this fresh coat of dirty white that was applied over the summer. It feels good to be creating a space where not only I feel comfortable working, but also that will be inviting to my colleagues.
This week also marked the official beginning of our quest to have our entire staff become Google Educator Certified. I’ve set up half hour sessions for training that run 4 times during the school day on Monday and Tuesday and a one hour session after school on Thursday. Participation this week was sparse, but it was advertised as a basics introduction to the process. Next week we’ll start working our way through each of the primary GAFE tools with a look at increasing productivity using Gmail. I’m excited about the initiative and think it will provide a positive boost for our staff. I see it as a way to boost confidence among our more challenged users, create a sense of community as we work together and of course, boost the appropriate use of technology in our classrooms.
Ryan Harwood 