Written and shared by Kelly-Ann Power
My problem is… I overthink things.
I overthink things to the point of not even beginning something that should be a relatively easy task, if I were to just begin. I am constantly trying to think of an even better way to begin or set things up or roll out a plan. To the point of sometimes sitting very still for a long time.
What’s the best way to organize my garage? What’s the best way to switch my winter clothes out of my closet and start bringing out my summer stuff? What’s the best way to sort out the content on my sister’s Greenhouse website? By the way, none of these 3 tasks have been started. I get stuck.
A few weeks ago, I was quite geeked to be a part of a 4 day professional learning experience involving a “Google Bootcamp” and a “Google Summit”. Many ideas streamed by me for 4 days at lightning speed… people sharing ideas… apps to try… extensions to add to Chrome… and solid pedagogical practices that were shared. For 4 days, I tried to organize it all in my head and figure out a strategic way to implement some of the possibilities with my staff. I struggled with how to “dial it back” a notch to begin at a reasonable speed.
I had a great discussion tonight with a few colleagues as we shared and brainstormed about “what would be the best way” to share ideas with our staffs regarding curriculum, pedagogy, and integration of technology. We shared our ideas of our weekly newsletters that are sent electronically. We shared our attempts at organizing blogs according to strategies we see in our schools. We shared our face-to-face discussions.
And then I started to talk about my vision of how I’ve always wanted to start a separate page on my website that I could begin sharing weekly ideas with my staff, that would be archived online for future access as well. And as I listened to myself say “I’ve always wanted to do that, but haven’t figured out a way to organize it all yet”, I realized that I could be putting it off for a very long time. I stared into space for a brief moment, and I realized… stop trying to organize it all and just begin.
The process just repeats with me.
Learn… reflect… do.
It’s the timing of each that seems to vary with me.
What have you been spending too much time organizing your thinking around? What can you begin tomorrow?
Kelly-Ann Power is a Vice-Principal in the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board serving as a Vice-Principal representative for the WEPVPA Executive. Her previous role for 10 years prior to being a Vice-Principal was as a teacher consultant in the area of Assessment & Evaluation for the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board. As a facilitator of professional learning, she was afforded the opportunity of working along side both elementary and secondary colleagues in the school and classroom settings. Her 12 years of classroom teaching experience, prior to becoming a consultant, in the St. Clair Catholic District School Board spanned Grades 1 to 8, as well as Special Education.
- twitter @kellypower
- slideshare.net/kellyannpower
Photo Credits:
Stuck – Neal. via Compfight cc
Swings – Todd Binger via Compfight cc
OSSEMOOC 
Hi Kelly-Ann… thank you for this post! It was another example, for me, of “just in time” learning.
I JUST had this discussion with my husband with regards to an “office-and-playroom switcharoo” 5 minutes ago. As we walked down the hall I said “yep, it’ll take some time to sort and move and organize and purge, but if we never start it will never be done”
The same can be said of two instances yesterday- one with our 21C visioning group and the other with a colleague with regards to the creation of our collaborative, online, board-wide sharing space.
“You can’t GET THERE if you never start”
You can’t achieve anything without starting SOMETHING..
Here’s what I’m learning-
As educators we think with the end in mind. By nature, we are goal-oriented (because, let’s face it, that’s how we get things done!) But in a culture of learning… Sometimes it has to be about the process.
Blogging is another perfect example for me. I have a vision of what I would like the learning/ sharing space to look like, and get down on myself for not HAVING that NOW.
A commitment to sharing (as you clearly have with your colleagues and staff), is a huge first step. The modelling of it, the mindset that goes along with it, is perhaps more significant than any product that could come from it.
See where I’m going with this?
Lifelong learning and leading is a process, one which I think, we tend to underestimate and under-value.
Your sharing today certainly was timely for me-
as the little people in my home have each come up to me one at a time and I’ve smiled and nodded, as I sit with a towel on my head and phone in hand before getting on with the day- surely there is merit in committing to THIS baby step- no?!!
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I like that fact that you have highlighted the idea that the process of learning is a key element – not always about the goal(s) or end results. This thinking really resonates with me.
~Mark
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Thanks Mark 🙂 A lot of things resonate with me all the time. I like learning with you!
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@hendylou, thank you for sharing your connections. I loved how you said “you can’t achieve anything without starting something”. It is so true. So this week (after my blogpost) I’ve started to save all my things as google docs. And the next step will be to link to them as I share info with my staff, one baby step at a time. I’m not close to having it organized. And that’s not even the goal anymore. The goal is to determine the purpose behind everything I share. So even though I’m not near sharing it yet… I began. 🙂
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