Tag: time

The Secret of Success

“Once you decide on your occupation, you must immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with your work. Never complain about your job. You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill. That’s the secret of success and is the key to being regarded honourably.”

~ Jiro Ono

I just finished watching Jiro Dreams of Sushi; a fascinating documentary about renowned Japanese sushi chef Jiro Ono. His opening words (above) sum up my lack of writing here and reduced engagement with social media over the past year. Work has consumed my time, or rather I have dedicated my time to work.

On Chasing the Right “Zero”

Yesterday, Merlin Mann shared his most recent thinking on ‘Inbox Zero’. You should read the whole post, but I wanted to share this bit in particular…

“Put to best use, Inbox Zero is merely a philosophical practice of learning to be parsimonious about which and how many inputs we allow into into our lives—and, then, to responsibly but mindfully tend to those inputs in a way that is never allowed to hinder our personal commitment to doing the work that really matters to us.”

Learning to “tend” (manage) multiple “inputs” (inboxes) effectively is important. However, it should not become “the work”. Anything that vies for your attention is an inbox: RSS, Email, your todo list, Twitter. With so many inputs it is not hard to see why the idea of ‘Inbox Zero’ captures people’s imaginations. It is a goal and a tangible one. However, the truth, as Merlin so eloquently explains, is not so rosy. The time and attention that is often given to achieving such a goal directly reduces the time and attention given to the things that matter.

I have been guilty of tweeting with glee when I have emptied my email inbox or read through every item in my read later list. However, in listening to Merlin talk about time and attention on his podcast Back to Work, I have come to understand that there is a better way to achieve ‘Inbox Zero’. I have learned to live with keeping a few items in my email inbox; I have learned not to fret as I keep adding items to my read later list; and I have also learned not to get stressed out if I have to keep putting off a job in my todo list.

You see, most importantly I have learned to “tend” my inboxes less frequently. I think it still panics some of my colleagues when they ask me “Have I read this or that email yet?”, and I answer “No”, explaining that my email has been closed while I have been teaching. During my lessons I am giving “zero” attention to my inboxes and 100% attention to my students. After all, that is why I am there right? So, why would I put my time and attention elsewhere?

To do “the work that really matters” you have to find focus. You have to give it the time and attention it deserves. So, please close your other inboxes and take a moment to read Merlin’s post… there is much to be gleaned from his words.

[#ukedchat] Starting with a blank piece of paper: Design the school of your dreams.

uked11

Next Thursday, I will be hosting #ukedchat for the third time.

During my previous session, I asked:

Are schools (as physical spaces) necessary to facilitate learning in the 21st century?

The resulting discussion was a thoroughly engaging one, which raised more questions than provided answers. It was apparent that most of the educators who got involved, felt that schools as physical spaces still have purpose. However, it was also clear that schools in their current state are not 100% fit for purpose. Be it the learning space itself, the infrastructure or the curriculum, a number of areas for improvement were recognised.

In this next session, I want to pick up where the previous discussion left off and explore what a school should be like in the 21st century. In order to do that, I thought it would be useful to provide a premise:

Starting with a blank piece of paper: Design the school of your dreams.

In considering this, I wish for us to focus on the following areas:

Curriculum

What should be learned? How should it be learned? How should learning be structured? Subjects? Skills?

Assessment

Should learning be assessed? If so, how? Is there a place for grades? How can we accredit informal learning? AfL? Badges?

People

Who is to be involved? How will they be involved? Teachers? Students? Parents?

Space

Where will the learning happen? Classrooms? What role for libraries? What about virtual spaces?

Time

How long should the school day be? Should it be the same for everyone? How would lessons/timetable be structured?

Technology

What technologies should be utilised? Wifi? Tablets? BYOD?

—

To provide some further provocation, the following series of videos feature students from the Santa Barbara Middle School interviewing Sir Ken Robinson about his dream school; his answers are, as usual, well considered and challenging:

And so, if that has suitably whetted your appetite, I hope that you will be able to join me on Thursday at 8pm.

[Update: Saturday,  21 April] This was the 94th instalment of #ukedchat. You can read a summary of the discussion here and read/download a PDF archive of all the tweets here.

Absence, Priorities, Focus and Reflection

Some of you will have noticed that my presence online, both here and on Twitter, has been significantly sporadic since September last year. This extended absence (for want of a better word) has been a choice. One that was predicated by my need to prioritise specific jobs, projects and interests over others.

While I will not be naive and proclaim that I am back full time blogging and tweeting, it is my intention, over the next couple of months, for normal service to resume. In light of this I felt it pertinent to give an overview of how I have been spending my time and what you are likely to be reading about in future posts.

The main reason that I have not been blogging and tweeting regularly is that I have been putting a significant amount of my time, outside of the classroom, into the MA in Education that I am studying towards. I am currently editing my final Module Assignment on Independent Learning, and have begun in earnest the preparation for my dissertation.

The current modules I am working through will be familiar to any of you who have completed an MA in Education.

As I plan to write my dissertation publicly online, I have also opted to write the multiple assignments (related to each of the above modules) publicly as well. The documents at the moment are in very rough form with ideas, notes and links being gathered as I research and complete reading.

I am thoroughly enjoying my studies. I did believe that I was already a highly effective learner in terms of research, reflection and criticality however the academic process has opened up a number of new approaches to learning for both myself and by proxy for my students. The impact my studies have had on my students is something I definitely plan to write about in future posts.

Moreover, I am particularly excited about the prospects of completing my dissertation and the depth of academic study that it is going to involve. I have tentatively begun to work on drilling down my research question. Currently it is too broad but as some of you may be interested, here it is in its current form:

Are schools (as physical spaces) necessary to facilitate learning in the 21st century?

In addition to committing more time towards the MA, I also felt that I needed to focus on two specific areas of my teaching. I am both Leader for Media Studies and Key Stage 4 English. Balancing the two roles can be quite difficult. They both demand my time cut come with very different levels of pressure.

While our A2 Media Results were excellent again, they were not up to the standard that I have come to expect. Having completed closer analysis of the results I found that the exam module was the weakest area. I decided that I would take on the teaching of this year’s A2 group on my own, in order to re-develop both the content of the exam module and to re-evaluate the learning structure that we have had in place for A2 students for over five years now.

The most significant change has been the development of the new exam module. I decided to move away from ‘Media Regulation’ and tackle something a bit more theoretical in the shape of ‘Postmodern Media’. While it has been time consuming, it has been a throughly enjoyable process completing the necessary reading and research before piecing together a scheme of work and resources. You can get an insight into how this is going (as well as copies of various resources) at: Media @ CCC.

I also wanted to focus on the continued development of the new KS4 English curriculum. It has been a significant (and welcomed) change for the department. Not only due to new texts and the introduction of the much discussed ‘Spoken Language’ unit but also, due to some restructuring in terms of Controlled Assessment and the timing of exam modules. I now feel that we are coming out of the back of that process far wiser and ready to develop it further in the future.

Finally, I am an avid reader of Patrick Rhone’s writing:

As a Minimal Mac patron, I have been fortunate to get a direct insight into writing of his upcoming book: Enough. As part of the research process for the book, Patrick would spend time evaluating his use of various tools and services – sometimes by not using them at all. I wished to get some perspective not only on my blog but how I organised/used my online life and the impact it was having (positive and negative) on my day to day life. To do this it was helpful to stop/tinker with the various facets of my online self. I am still reflecting on this and drawing conclusions. Sufficed to say that this will be something I will be writing about in future posts. One thing I am certain of. Blogging (reflecting) as a process is very important to me and is something that I plan to continue to evaluate my use of in the immediate future.

The time away from blogging/tweeting has been useful and allowed me to re-align my time and energy with what I believe to be my priorities. With that I will close. If you questions about anything I have discussed above please don’t hesitate to comment below or get in touch via Twitter @jamesmichie.

Why I Became an Early Riser

During the past academic year I have become an early riser. No mean feat for someone who loves the warmth and comfort offered by a well-constructed frame, firm mattress, cotton-fresh sheets and a plush duvet.

I have trained my body to rise at 5:30 every morning. What have I gained from this you might ask? In short: Time.

Time is perhaps the most important commodity that exists. I call it a commodity because in 2011 it is just that. Something that we can choose to value and savour or as with many things something we can easily waste and fritter away. The thing is, you can’t replace time like you can replace wasted food or damaged goods. When time has passed it is gone for good. People, say I’ll make time but that’s a fallacy, you can’t make time. The truth? You need to make the most of the time you’ve got.

I try to savour every moment. The time that I get to spend with my wife is precious; the time I have with my students when they enter my classroom is so important – why would I want to waste it? The hour I have gained in the morning is as precious as any other time I can define. It is my time… a time when I find focus.

My routine is simple. I pick one thing to do and use the hour to do only that. I drink a glass of water, make a cup of tea and sit down at my MacBook Air. I then decide what I want to achieve that morning and set to it. It could be to write; it could be to catch up with RSS/Instapaper; it could be to achieve Inbox Zero (or get as close as I can); it could be to read from whichever book I am reading at that moment; it could be to update my Calendar and sort my ToDo List.

It does not matter which activity I choose, as long as I dedicate the time and energy to doing that one thing. I know that I will do the task and do it well because I have the time… free from distractions, free from noise (I love the early morning quiet), free to focus my mind.

Using that hour in the morning has not only improved my productivity but it has made me a happier and healthier person. I start the day with far more oomph; not sluggish from over-sleeping. Having had that quiet time in the morning, I am ready and raring to go… ready to get on with the rest of my day knowing that I have already accomplished something and it’s only 6:30.

What I felt was going to be a tremendous struggle has become the most important feature of my day. Occasionally, I slip… those days where I didn’t manage to get up and out of bed, those are the days where I get little accomplished, where the ills of procrastination take over. I’ve learned to not beat myself up about it though. Those days serve as a reminder of how much I gain from all the other days where I did get up, where I did make the most of my time.

Getting to this point did not happen over night though. It took effort and still does, particularly during the holidays. I found this advice from Leo Babauta helpful as I strove to become an early riser.