Making Daily Pages a Habit

I've been thinking about doing something like this for a few months now. I started a blog, Reinventing Class, over three years ago with the goal to publish a post every month. I've only been averaging a handful of posts every year - 3 to 4 if I'm lucky.  Recently, I read a blog post by AJ Juliano, "How to Make Writing a Habit" which got me thinking about why I haven't met my blog goal. Habits can be hard to come by. I'm busy right?  I am; I have two kids involved in sports, one of whom practices every day. I live in the mountains so I commute 30+ minutes to the school where I teach science, my son swims in a town 30 minutes away from home and from where I teach, my daughter plays soccer and is a referee, I like to run most days, I have 2 dogs to take care of, I have a husband that deserves my attention as well, I’m a dedicated teacher who likes to be innovative and creative and likes to give timely, honest, helpful feedback.  I can make the list go on and on and the list is accurate. But, at the end of the day, my list is just another set of excuses.

If I want to write, if I think that it is important enough, then I just need to do it.  A few days ago,six to be exact, I read Will Richardson's post about the 750Words.com site, "Writing Every Day".  I found the purpose of this site really intriguing.  Basically, the underlying idea is to log-on and write at least 750 days everyday.  

Based on my blogging history, or lack of, over the last 3 years, I need to conscientiously develop a writing habit. This might be a great tool to encourage me as I try to develop and refine this new habit. I started last Friday, the first day of summer vacation. I just finished my fifth round of daily pages.  This is my first blog post to come out of my daily pages but I have about 3 more posts in the works.  It’s fun, it’s encouraging me to consistently capture my ideas and my reflections and it’s helping me begin my journey as a writer.  

Photo Credits:  Facts Evasion via Flickr, Writer Friend via Flickr

Ignite: A New Learning Experience

Last summer I decided to participate in an Ignite session at the InnEdCO 2015 conference.  The Ignite motto is “Enlighten us but make it quick”.   An Ignite is a fast paced, 5 minute talk where the presenter must use a pre-timed, 20 slide presentation.  In math terms, this means that each slide automatically advances after 15, very short, seconds.

My motivation to participate in the Ignite session was simple; I wanted to push my comfort zone and try something new.  I had presented at numerous conferences, but as a presenter, I had never experienced anything like an Ignite before.  I felt passionate about my focus and wanted to share my ideas and thinking with others using a non-traditional format.  Despite a minor technical glitch about midway through my allotted 5 minutes, my slides decided to stop automatically advancing, the Ignite went pretty well.  I walked away from the Ignite stage that day feeling like I had accomplished my goal.  I then spent the next few days debating if I should blog about the experience.  Standing up and sharing my Ignite with a couple hundred people was one thing, but sharing it publicly on my blog, well that, in one word, was just scary.  I thought about the post, I started a Google doc and titled the post, I even tracked down a video of my Ignite, but then July and August came and went, school started, life got crazy again, and I didn’t write the post.  If I’m honest, I didn’t write the post, not because I didn’t want to write about it, but because I was scared to post the video.  Silly, but true.

Fast forward ten months.  Today I finished “The Innovator’s Mindset” by George Couros (@gcouros). I found Mr. Couros’s book inspiring and so many of his ideas resonated strongly with me. In the later portion of his book, Mr. Couros emphasizes the importance of sharing our reflective thinking about our learning and our practice.

So, thank you George Couros, for convincing me that it’s not enough to think about and put into practice our ideas and our learnings. If we truly want to help move education forward, we must also share our honest reflections on our experiences and our learnings.  If you have 5 minutes, check out my Ignite: What If? by Erin Mayer.

Ignite Photo Credit: goo.gl/3MKcEW