Tag Archives: question

What’s Your Organization Style? SOL25 Day 9

There’s a million books out there professing the perfect approach to organizing your home. You can decide which items in your life bring joy and toss the others. You can work on a zone each day, beating down the clutter before it accumulates. Or you can be like me, and use the pile method of organization.

My piles work…until they don’t. For the most part, I know exactly what is where–as long as no one else touches my piles. In lots of ways they are quite geological, sediment building up over time. The oldest layers are on the bottom, providing the strong foundation for the newer layers. Some piles are piles of reading material: books and articles that I want to read…but cannot get to quite yet. Others are piles of reading I have read, but know I want to refer to or want to share with someone. Some piles need to make their way back to my classroom, some need to be filed away with important papers…

But at some point, the piles reach maximum efficiency and need to be culled. That’s the point where I have to make the hard decisions and either find a permanent place for the item or discard it. I’m at that inflection point right now. It’s time to dismantle the piles, sort them, and get them under control.

Conveniently, yesterday I happened by IKEA–you know the place, where you build your own furniture according to picture-based directions that those of us who are spatially challenged can manage to assemble upside down and backwards. Lucky for me, Geoff is great at reading these blueprints (rightside up) and getting them built in record time! Anyway, while strolling through IKEA yesterday, I decided that a three-tiered rolling cart would be the perfect solution to the teetering piles I need to wrangle. I am limiting myself to keeping only what will fit reasonably in the cart.

Now, I just need to find a bit of time to get started! And find a home for the cart itself! Be sure to ask me about my progress. It always helps to be held accountable.

What’s your organizational style? Does it work for you?

When is it Worth it? SOLC 2019 Day 16

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When is it worth it to fly halfway across the state for a Saturday meeting? Up at 3:45am, driving before the sun has even begun to think about peeking over the horizon, at the airport waiting for a flight before my regular wake up time.

Arriving well before the meeting time–because airlines work on their schedules, not yours. Searching for coffee on a sleepy college campus, a futile exercise on a Saturday morning.

(Luckily a Philz was right off campus…a pour over experience to fuel the day to come.)

When is it worth it to meet face-to-face? Our hunch was right. We needed to be human, to be real, to not only see and hear one another, but to feel each other too. We were in need of an opportunity for a shared experience AND spaces for those small, informal conversations that build relationships and enhance the more public and formal interactions.

A network is a network when we are connected. Today’s long day that spanned hundreds of miles of travel for our group was definitely worth it.

I’m filled with information, inspiration, and hope…for the network, for the work, for the future. And I feel the warmth and comfort of relationships reinforced, bonds renewed, and the tingle that will lead to growth and new ideas.

And the cherry on the top? I was able to change to the earlier flight home!

The Power of Confusion

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I love questions! Not the one right answer kind of questions, but the kind that tickle your brain and keep you thinking in search of possibilities. The kind that operate right at the edge of confusion.

I love questions in my classroom and in my own learning. Some of my favorite questions are, “How do you know that?” “Why do you think that?” “What do you think?” and “What do you notice?” Sometimes a question as simple as, “What do you think?” can open up rich avenues of conversation.

I think the key to good questions is being interested in the answers. If you ask but really don’t want to know the answer, then you might as well not ask. Taking the time to listen is key to the value of questions.

As I was facilitating student-parent-teacher conferences today, I heard some parents who use questions in powerful ways with their children. I loved the mom who explained how she responds to her son’s questions about spelling with, “How do you think it’s spelled?” and then engages in a conversation about what the child understands about the spelling of the word. The parents who ask genuine questions and listen for their child’s response create opportunities for learning.

Figuring out how to ask questions that you are curious about…those right at the point of your own confusion…can be a catalyst for your own learning. I love when students ask the question that suddenly gives me insight and clarity into my own teaching and learning. And I know when I can actually verbalize what is confusing me, and ask the question, that I will make progress in my learning.

Sometimes questions can involve some heavy lifting…figuring out what is confusing, which questions to ask, and how to respond to the questions of others. I love this image I found on a utility box in Oakland, CA–be sure to bend and lift those questions with your legs, not your back!