Under the guidance and advisement of our University of Michigan School of Education Teaching with Technology professors, my fellow classmates and I attended a conference of the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning, more informal identified as MACUL.
The three-day conference was held at the Cobo Center in Detroit, MI, and it drew over 5,000 teachers, administrators and faculty from all around the state. Ranging in age and experiences, each speaker and attendee was there for a common purpose: become a better teacher for the benefit and growth of our students. I had never been in a space so densely concentrated with educators. The experience that was initially overwhelming changed throughout my time there to become both a memorable and inspiring.
The theme of the conference focused on equipping educators with the tools and knowledge to develop a culture of collaboration within classrooms, schools, districts, and educators across the state and nation.
In the spirit of collaboration and sharing, below are some of the takeaways granted to me from one of the speakers during this conference.
Work Smarter, Not Harder: Time for Less Doing and More Being
Speaker: Derek Wheaton, Consultant
Description: Wheaton, an experience educator, principal, and teaching consultant presented numerous technological opportunities to decrease our work load so that we can focus our finite mental energies on the subjects that are the purpose for this career: out students.
In order to maximize out time for creative thinking, he encouraged us to reclaim our time and minds by optimizing, outsourcing, and automating.
Takeaways:
- 4C's to reclaim our time and minds
In the spirit of collaboration and sharing, below are some of the takeaways granted to me from one of the speakers during this conference.
Work Smarter, Not Harder: Time for Less Doing and More Being
Speaker: Derek Wheaton, Consultant
Description: Wheaton, an experience educator, principal, and teaching consultant presented numerous technological opportunities to decrease our work load so that we can focus our finite mental energies on the subjects that are the purpose for this career: out students.
In order to maximize out time for creative thinking, he encouraged us to reclaim our time and minds by optimizing, outsourcing, and automating.
Takeaways:
- 4C's to reclaim our time and minds
- Control your calendar
- Set priorities and write in your vacation time (otherwise, you won't go on vacation).
- Cluster your work
- Set specific times to work.
- Change the culture
- Educators and administrators should be there for their students, not stuck in the chaos that is overloaded email inboxes unnecessary time-consuming tasks.
- Use of 21st Century tech tools
- Tap into the help that technology is offering.
- Click here for a listing of the technology applications presented in the seminar and access to the presentation slides (given freely by Wheaton).
- In addition to accepting the help that technology can provide, you can make an impact in the lives and stress levels of your fellow teachers, faculty, and students in other ways. Giving space for gratitude in your day or classroom can have psychological and culture-changing effect.
- Commit random acts of affirmation
- Each day, identify one thing you are grateful for.
- Go on "gratitude walks", which means to go on a physical walks through the school for the sole purpose of expressing gratitude when an opportunity arises.
- Five Coping Strategies
- Set priorities for your time and focus on the situation most at hand.
- Use self-statements that are positive, uplifting, and empathetic
- "Delegate, Dump, Do, or Digitize it! (organizational skills that will free your mind and time)
- Only set attainable goals with appropriate time limits.
- Schedule your work according to your physical energy periods.
- Ex: If you're more productive in the morning, use that time to complete more mentally demanding work.
This seminar in particular left a great impact on me, and it presented me with many tools to aim the preservation of my time and mind as I continue developing as an educator.
I hope these notes are both inspiring and thought-provoking to you as well.
Thanks for the beautifully detailed account of Derek Wheaton's presentation, Jesse. I'm sorry that I missed it (though I am grateful for the link to the info that he shared).
ReplyDeleteI have been happy to see that in the last couple of years there seems to have been a growing emphasis on teaching (with or even without technology). I feel like this has brought some needed spirit to the conference, like the lightning session that I saw and some others that your colleague spoke about, some needed heart as well. I'm glad that you had a good day at the conference, Jesse.
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ReplyDeleteJesse, what a polished account of this presentation! Of course, I would expect nothing less from you! Unfortunately, I was unable to attend this presentation, but luckily I have you to fill me in. It seems to me that all of us MACers should read Derek Wheaton's advice. I know I get overwhelmed at times and I can tell it takes away from my teaching. It is nice to hear some practical advice to prevent this from happening, so we can alll focus our energy on our students and not on menial, unnecessary tasks. During the conference, I began keeping a list of all the cool tech tools I wanted to research further and incorporate into my lessons. I remember thinking, however, about how I would find the time to actually look into these tools. What good is it to be exposed to all these wonderful teaching and learning tools and then not be able to use them? After reading Wheaton's advice, I am hopeful I can make better use of my time and actually put to use some of the tools I discovered through MACUL. In my opinion, this type of presentation was much needed and I am so happy you were able to attend and share with the rest of us!
ReplyDeleteHey Jesse - I also wish I could have been at this presentation; seems like it was inspiring and uplifting and relieving. I think skilled time management abilities can absolutely have a huge impact on quality of teaching; when the teacher is well (well-rested, calm & at peace, and fulfilled in other areas of his or her life), he or she can access his or her best self (most creative, most empathetic, most passionate).
ReplyDeleteAs I work on my teaching, I absolutely want to work on my ability to maintain perspective and manage my time so that I can remain low-stress and fulfilled in more areas of my life than just teaching. Hopefully I'll continue to find ways to use technology to help achieve this.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this recap, Jesse. I was at this one, but it's nice to get your perspective and a proper list of what was talked about. It's really about being strategic, as they say. We really can't do what we need to, much less have some time for what we want to, without serious optimizing and prioritizing as a way of life. Inertia works against such optimization often. It's hard, at least for me, to identify what I'm doing inefficiently, isolate a behavior or a thought that's behind it, get a plan to rectify a time- and energy-wasting habit, and practice that plan until it becomes a more efficient habit. Where I crash is after the second or third repetition of a rational, optimized behavior correction. I've only failed to repeat a good practice about sixty-eight million, forty-four thousand and nine times, right when it would have started to become a habit and not so crucial to keep in the forefront of my consciousness. Habit. It lets us do things that we don't need or want to concentrate on with our direct attention. But it also means you don't just flip a switch and the ingrained pattern is all gone. We need an app to fix that...