FOCUSING ON WORK

In light of my last blog entry on Internet Attention Disorder, I significantly decreased the amount of time that I spent on blogging, using Facebook and following Twitter this week. I also choose not to click on too many links that sounded interesting, when I was on Twitter and just read through my Google Reader articles without following any links, unless it related to directly to what I am doing at work.  While I probably did miss out on a couple of great articles or some information that I would have liked to have learned, I really don’t believe that I missed that much.

I found as a result of my purposely not having Twitter running in the sidebar, attempting a daily blog entry, turning off my mail alerts and minimizing unnecessary windows, that I had much more time and was  more focused on getting what I needed to get done…done.  I didn’t feel as pressured and up against the time crunch as I had been when trying to get “everything” done.

As much as I enjoy my PLN and all the information available that has helped me grow as a relatively techie teacher, sometimes it seemed as if I was trying to do too much too quickly since I returned to teaching.   I have finally realized that l am still in my first year as a teacher in a new school and am learning a different culture which has new or different ways of getting things done to me.  So while I may not actually be a first year teacher, in many ways I still am and have some of the same learning curves.  I know that I have to slow down and prioritize what I am doing, instead of attempting to do everything or learn everything at once.

Therefore, my online presence will decrease quite a bit.  I have decided to focus on what I am doing which is my job and get to know the in’s and out’s of that (in other words get to know my job better) before blasting off into the Blogosphere, Twitterverse and online techie heaven.

How does this relate to Special Education? How many new and even experienced Special Education teachers try to do too much?  We have all the classroom responsibilities and in addition to all the Special Education required paperwork.  If a Special Educator does not focus on those two things first, they will not be successful at school and will burnout.  The siren’s call of the internet to participate with other like minded teachers and learn so much that we could use to help our students, can lead to information overload and not getting what actually needs to get done – done.

Presently, I do feel a bit overwhelmed and need to re-focus my efforts more to meet the needs of my students and paper work requirements.  I know that am not where I was two years ago, with over eight years in a teaching position, pretty comfortable about how the school worked, who my students were and having the ability to participate fully in the Edutech world that is taking place online.

I will continue to follow my PLN because I value the information and support that they provide me, and some online activities, but it will be more sporadic than continuous.

I think that I will be that turtle on the rock by himself for a little while, then I will swim back over to be with the other turtles who love techie stuff.