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A Tech Teacher on a Mission

What Am I Doing To Make the World a Better Place?

1/14/2015

4 Comments

 
PictureI'm not there yet, Dr. King, but I'm trying! (Image credit: Emmanual Gonot on Flickr)
**Distractor/Disclaimer: I posted two blog posts in one week! The world may or may not be over as we know it.**

I often get made fun of for never writing blog posts. Now the antagonists will turn their forces - ahem, #EduPressure - elsewhere. At least for now.

**Resume serious post**

This week’s #YourEduStory poses a challenging question. This question is one where I feel that my answer should be incredibly groundbreaking, honourable, or innovative. When someone says “make the world a better place”, don’t you immediately envision some of world’s greatest and most iconic human beings and/or their associated movements?

I sure do. And that’s a lot to measure oneself up to, especially a I’m-only-in-my-fourth-year-of-teaching-and-just-coming-into-myself kinda girl. That’s me. I’m not groundbreaking, honourable, or innovative by those high standards.

So I decided to give myself a break. I don’t have to be those things. I do have to be me. I do have to work with what I’ve got.

What I’ve got right now to offer the world are just little things. Karl says to me all the time, “It’s the little things,” and I am led to believe that those little things can make an impact on little worlds - worlds of kids and worlds of teachers. In turn, my hope is that those little things can have an impact on the big world.

PictureImage credit: guercio on Flickr
Here the little things I offer that might make an impact: 

For the kids:

I have the ability to make small strides in how I support my students. I make a difference by continually encouraging them even when they’re not doing so well. I have opportunities to turn their attitudes around toward an academic concept at school, or to get them to open their views to the world in new and exciting ways. 

For teachers: 

I’ve been working on teaching little tech-tricks to teachers make them more excited about technology. Even when it’s completely about us as educators, we go crazy for new tricks that make us look tech-savvy. And that’s the thing I’m making teachers realize: playing with technology and finding ways to utilize it makes us proud to use it. That, in turn, may motivate us to use it more, to experiment more, and hopefully in new and different ways with students. 

For me:

I’m trying to take better care of myself in 2015. I’ve said NO to so, so, so many opportunities because I need to let myself have more time. I want to dedicate time to my friends and social engagements. I want to watch TV sometimes. Oh, and sleep… that, too. 

So there you have it: I’m not making the entire world a better place by creating massive human movement. But I’m making the worlds of some big people and some little people better by doing what I love and trying to do it well. And I’m glad that I’m taking time to extend that gift to myself, too.

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4 Comments
Dena
1/14/2015 10:59:36 am

I love your voice in this piece and the acknowledgement of the balance we need to remember in our life. For teachers, taking time for yourself, can be tricky but we do need that camaraderie, good TV, and that sleep you mentioned to help revive all that edu-goodness we are capable of doing. Thanks for sharing your perspective. :)

Reply
Victoria Olson link
1/15/2015 12:30:43 am

Dena,

Thanks for reading and commenting. I think there is a part of us that always forgets to rest and recharge. That was certainly me last year and I experienced a solid amount of burnout because of all the things I took on. While a culture of "YES" is so important, it's also important to consider the self and how much one can handle. We can still make a difference even if we say no to certain things. :)

Reply
Steve Brophy
1/14/2015 07:57:00 pm

Hi Victoria,
I had to laugh at your disclaimer because I had just done the same thing. Two blogs in one week, what is happening??? Thank you #youredustory! So refreshing to hear about another person saying NO. It isn't a bad word but a word we can too often be a word we feel bad about saying.

As for how you are changing the world, I keep coming back to Michael Fullan and his book Stratosphere. Two points jump out....one is that peers are the greatest source of innovation and that it you want accelerated change, then use the group. The work that you do helps inspire change in your (global) peers and that a group like the #youredustory group is already accelerating change. Heck, you and I have blogged twice in a week #edupressure

Reply
Victoria Olson link
1/15/2015 12:33:59 am

Steve,

Oh my goodness! You hit the nail on the head. FAR too often, I feel guilty about saying no. I ever feel bad when I have to say no to app developers to try their stuff - you just can't try/do/use it all!

I'll have to check out Michael Fullan's stuff: he's definitely an author that's popped up on my reading list often, but one I've just never gotten to. I agree that the group is necessary to make change but it's all about meeting them where they're at.

We should all continue to support each other through #YourEduStory. I surprised myself when I whipped out this post last night but honestly, I was probably procrastinating doing grad work. :) Thanks for commenting!

Reply



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    Victoria Olson
    A curious and passionate educator in Langley, BC

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