Message and Delivery

This evening, I found myself stepping outside of what I consider to be my professional demeanor. I sat with a group of people I respect and watched a speaker lose control of what he was saying because of how he presented it. He lost his audience, and his audience did not give him the respect that he deserved because of how he delivered his message.

What can we all learn from this experience?

1) While it may be funny at the time, you’ll regret ridiculing the person and the delivery. At first, it was funny… later, I was embarrassed. Embarrassed for him, and embarrassed for us. We’re all better than that. To be completely honest, I don’t feel better about myself for going along with any of it.

2) If you’re presenting, KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. You might have the key to saving the world, but if you fail in the delivery… no one will listen. It’s unfortunate, but it’s the human condition. Your responsibility as a presenter is to ensure appropriate communication of your thoughts. When you don’t effectively communicate and are then taken to task for that error, take your lumps and find a better method to share your message.

Maybe more importantly, do your research ahead of time to know your audience well. If a large percentage of those people blog/Tweet/present about “Death by PowerPoint,” perhaps it would be best to find something other than PowerPoint to aid in sharing your information.

We have all probably made similar mistakes in our own presentations somewhere along the road. Did we judge more harshly tonight because of the magnitude of the event? Because the speaker was paid? Because of who we- the audience- are and what we expect? I’m guessing some combination of all of those.

However, what kind of message did WE send with our behavior? I expect to take some lumps for my “delivery” – in this case, it was behavior. I’m not blaming anyone else for how I behaved – what I said, what I sent out through my network. That’s mine, and I have to own it and deal with any repercussions.

That little voice that’s always in my head reminded me of something– I’ve been talking to a few people the last few days at ISTE about intellectual snobbery and how careful we must be not to look down our noses at our colleagues or students because they don’t have as many letters behind their names or because they are new to what we’ve all been doing for the last 5, 10, 20 (whatever the number) years.  Tonight, I’m thinking I need to practice what I preach.

A Purposeful Reflection

When I changed jobs last August, I thought I would be such a happy little blogger, documenting my new change, all the new challenges, and the daily reflections of returning to the classroom. 

That obviously didn’t happen. I forgot what it was like to move into a new job– all that time it takes to really get into the swing of a new routine and a different schedule. And honestly, I wasn’t sure what I most wanted to post regarding my job change. 

It came down to the fact that I was unclear what my central purpose would be for blogging once my role changed from a teacher of teachers back to a teacher of children. 

That word- PURPOSE– seems to get lost in a lot of what we do on a daily basis. It’s also something I heard over and over today in the sessions at Edubloggercon. Early today, someone in one of the sessions noted that using technology tools is misdirected without a clearly defined purpose. In another session, we questioned the point of having students writing reports. Students need to learn to write with a purpose, and the end result of a report is NOT really a purpose at all.

In yet another session, we talked about learning networks, what and how they should be named- but I kept thinking about purpose again. If I grow my own personal learning network, I’d better have a purpose in mind. How do the people and resources in my network add value to me? What do I want to gain from that network? What do I want to contribute to that network? In the end, does it matter what we name it? It might. But I think the purpose of why I cultivated a learning network is more important than what I call it. 

Purpose. I’m thinking that I need to consider this word more often. I know when I write my lesson plans, purpose is always a consideration. But do I communicate that effectively to my students? I don’t know. When I blog, I need to be more purposeful in each post. Why am I writing the post? Am I considering my audience? What am I really trying to convey to my readers when I post? Or… am I simply using the blog as a reflection tool to help me better organize and understand my own thoughts? 

These are points I’ll need to ponder over the next few weeks.

Learning Through Discussion

I’m sitting in Edubloggercon 2010 in Denver this morning with a few hundred educators from around the world. Together, we have decided what we want to discuss that is relevant and meaningful to us. We have divided ourselves into smaller discussion groups, and our natural seating arrangement is a circle. 

I’m fairly certain the majority of the attendees today will leave feeling that they have 1) learned something new, 2) reinforced a previously held philosophy, and 3) thought of a different way to teach when they return to school. I know I have already, and I’m only just now sitting in session 2 of 6.

This is great professional development. How are you facilitating opportunities like this for your school?

A Good Decision

Today is my last work day of the 2009-10 school year… and the end of my first year back in the classroom. I can’t believe how quickly the year flew by!

Walking to School, Pink Sherbet Photography

Walking to School, Pink Sherbet Photography

Throughout the school year, I was constantly asked if I was still glad about my decision to leave a position in Professional Development to return to the classroom. “Hey, Michelle! Any regrets?” “Don’t you miss working in an office where you get a whole hour for lunch?” “Don’t you miss a more flexible schedule?”

Resoundingly, my answer was absolutely NO REGRETS. Best decision I have made for myself in years!

It was definitely a selfish decision. I missed teaching. I missed working with children. The pay cut was substantial, but my family supported this decision. You know what they say: if mama ain’t happy…

The first two weeks of school were pretty overwhelming. I have a freakishly good memory (you’ll know this if you’ve ever met me), but I had 430 new names to learn. There were skills I had to dig out of somewhere deep inside me that hadn’t been used in almost ten years. I worried whether the kids would like me. I worried whether the staff would like me. I wondered if I was simply philosophy-rich, yet practice-poor.

Maybe the most challenging part of going into this school year– would I be able to walk the talk I’ve been delivering to teachers for the last eight years? Could I encourage and engage and enable my students to think, create, solve problems? Oh, yes… and learn the content of the curriculum?

I hope that I did… no, I know that I did. Sure, I stumbled more than once (okay, a lot), but I can say with confidence that I taught differently this year than I did during my first six years in the classroom. It wasn’t always perfect or pretty, and I still have a long way to go, but I think I did some good things in the classroom this year.

The reasons: I have fabulous kids! I have great colleagues and a supportive administration. I’m in a school district that insists upon excellence from its teachers. I’m lucky to have a Personal Learning Network that is global, accessible, full of resources, and always willing to help!

But for me, it always comes back to the students… they deserve my best everyday. Even when that doesn’t happen (we are all human, right?), those little faces and minds are what bring you back to your classroom with the notion that you’re going to do whatever it takes to help those minds grow! That might sound a little “sunshine-y” to cynics, but those kids are what kept me going every day, week, month.

Most importantly, I remembered how much I love teaching. Not so that I can be the star on the stage, imparting my sacred wisdom to a bunch of children who know nothing… but because I also love learning. What a joy it is to me to watch kids discover the fun in learning! And to be back teaching music again… wow! Is there anything greater than listening to children sing? I’m not sure I’ve found its equal.

Am I glad I returned to teaching? No. I’m ECSTATIC!

I’ll close with this–
Yesterday, our students had a half day of school. One of my 4th graders gave me a gift, and attached was this poem:

It’s the end of the year,
and I thought you should know
part of me cannot wait ’til summer
and a part doesn’t want to go.

It’s not recess or lunchtime
or even time with my friends.
It’s because I will miss you
that I don’t want the year to end.

Thanks for being a great teacher!*

It’s been a great year! Can’t wait for August, so that we can all see each other again and learn some more!

*I don’t know the source… if anyone has it, please share so that I may properly credit/cite. Thanks!

[photo credit]

Image by Pink Sherbet Photography under Creative Commons license: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/234942843/