I’m writing this as a way to keep myself sane. The past 2 months have been so full of ideas and excitement that I haven’t had a chance to just sit down and describe what has been happening. Much less, to actually reflect on the meaning of these things.
So to that end I’ve decided to do two things:
1. Write this post about upcoming topics
2. Block off time in my calendar every week where I will write for one hour
This is a big deal for me because, while I love to write, I also love to be busy. Taking the time to sit still and reflect, while philosophically I know is valuable, practically… is annoying. So I guess that’s a place to start. I’m a bit annoyed as I write this. I wish I was outside in the sunshine, swimming at UBC’s pool and meeting up with friends who are in town from Australia. I have been very busy these past few months and I guess I should start with listing what I’ve been up to. SO here’s my second list in this posting:
- I co-facilitated 3 workshops at the Canadian e-Learning Conference http://www.celc2009.ca
- I have been honing my Community of Practice Facilitator chops with aiming to connect as many people on campus with visitors who have been in town.
- I’ve been reading an insightful book by Scott Peck – The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace, which I read about 15 years ago. It deeply impacted my thinking then and as I read it again I am amazed by it’s importance in the work I am doing now.
- My co-worker, Emily Renoe and I went down to the University of Trinidad and Tobago to co-facilitate 4 days of workshops on emerging learning technologies and e-portfolios. It was such an incredibly inspiring experience that I cannot do it justice in one bullet point. Much more to come on this.
- I bought my first condo (quite amazing!)
- And through it all I’ve remained relatively stable (this is a big one, relatively is also an important part of that sentence).
After making this list I am struck by how incredibly rich these past few months have been. Struck by how priviledged I am. I feel deeply grateful.
My initial plan with posting was to write a bunch of topics that I’d come back to. Right now I think that might have been a dumb idea. Like those piles of papers you tell yourself that you’ll sort when it’s rainy outside. I think the list would just sit here. Perhaps I can come back to that bullet list above and tease apart meaning to these events.
One thing I want to include is my new favorite community developed resource on reflection. UBC’s Teacher Education Office has a pilot project on using ePortfolios and I am the project manager from OLT for this effort. My colleague, Anne Scholefield worked very hard to synthesize all the information that was out there on ePortfolios. Specifically she developed this site to explain the “Why and How” of ePortfolios. Check it out here: http://efolio.educ.ubc.ca/whyandhow/
What I will do in my next posting is to choose a reflection strategy – crucial because, honestly reflection is a skill – and then write on one of those previous events in the past two months. Or chose the most pressing issue of the week. I feel better already. I have a plan.
Thanks for making it through this rather rambling message as I sort out how I’ll continue with this effort of modeling reflective practice. It’s not always pretty.
Please leave your thoughts and comments! I love to hear from you.