The last post was designed to get the beginner started with Twitter. In this post, we will look at four ways to view and compose material on Twitter:
At the the Twitter Website
Simply go to http://Twitter.com and log into your account. You can view your Twitter account from any computer with Internet access.
From Your iGoogle Page
"TwitterGadget" is free and allows you to read and compose tweets right on your iGoogle page. Click here to see a more detailed description and to add TwitterGadget.
From Your Smartphone
I use a free program called "Ubersocial." The program allows me to compose and read tweets on the go. One feature I especially like is the ability to e-mail a tweet. As I am reading tweets, if I see one which will require a little time, such as viewing a link, I e-mail the tweet to myself an handle it when I return to my desktop computer. Another excellent, free, Twitter client for BlackBerry users is TwitterBerry.
The Ultimate Tweet Organizer TweetDeck is a free program that you download to your computer. It is also available for the iPhone and Android. TweetDeck allows you to organize your Tweets into a series of columns.
For example, I have a column of tweets from personal friends, another from people I have designated as "national figures," another for tweets which use the hashtag "#timemanagement," and another for those who use the hashtag"#eyeoneducation." I can create a column for any upcoming conference in order to follow discussions among people who use a hashtag for that conference. One columns holds the direct messages to me. Another one lists all of the tweets where I (@drfrankbuck) am mentioned. I even have a column that brings in my Facebook newsfeed and another with the newsfeed for just my closest friends.
One of the great features about TweetDeck is that you can compose a tweet now and schedule it to post at a particular future day or time. TweetDeck is a favorite with more advanced Twitter users who follow many people, track a variety of topics, and need a tool to organize it all. TweetDeck does a nice job in this arena.
What is the most useless invention you can think of? For me, it is the first fax machine. After all, if you are the only one with a fax machine, just who are you going to fax? And who is going to send a fax to you? When the second machine was sold, it had a little more value than the first. There was at least the possibility of receiving a fax from one other person. Moreover, the second fax machine added value to the first machine by giving it a machine with which it could communicate.
Likewise, the third fax machine added value to both of the first two. And so it goes--every fax machine adds value to all of the others in existence.
So what does that have to do with Twitter? Twitter is dumb, or Twitter is extremely valuable. Which situation rings true for you or me has little to do with the tool itself. It has everything do to with the audience which embraces it.
To illustrate this point, just look at Facebook. When asked if they had a Facebook account as little, as three years ago, most adults would have called it a "teenage waste of time." Now it seems everyone uses it. And everyone uses it because...well, everyone else uses it. Facebook hit the "Tipping Point" somewhere in the last couple of years. Twitter has not, at least not yet.
What's the difference between the two? On the surface, what is striking are the similarities. "Following" someone on Twitter is the equivalent of being a Facebook "friend." You see the list of "tweets" from those you "follow" in the same way you see the "newsfeed" of all of your friends. You can "comment" on Facebook or click "reply" on a tweet. You can click to send a "message" to just one person (which only that person will see) on Facebook, or send a "direct message" (which only the one recipient will see) on Twitter.
With all of the similarities, what are differences? Why would someone have both?
First, to get more familiar with Twitter, here is a a very good introductory video. YouTube is full of similar Twitter videos.
So how is Twitter different from Facebook? To be "friends" with someone, you must send them a request and they must approve it. You are then friends with each other. You see what each other posts. With Twitter, you "follow" whoever you like. You do not need their approval (although they can block you if they like). When you follow someone, they are not necessarily following you.
To me, the biggest difference is the "hashtags" Twitter uses. Hashtags are a way to designate the tweet is for a certain group or about a certain subject. For example, I usually include #GetOrganized! at the end of my tweets. If my tweet relates to a particular conference, such as the ASCD conference later this month, I will include #ASCD2011 at the end of the Tweet.
The advantage of using hashtags is that it allows people interested in a certain subject to find tweets others have written on that subject. It allows people who write about a certain subject to be found by people interested in that subject. People interested in the ASCD conference can search Twitter for #ASCD2011 and find tweets from people who are presenting and learn more about their topics, talk with others who are attending, and share their experiences with people during and after the conference. It's sort of like having a large conference call.
The whole hashtag idea is very informal. There is no formal directory of official hashtags. One gets started, and others simply adopt that. Here is a collection of hashtags commonly being used in the world of education.
As a next step, I would recommend deciding what it is you want to do with Twitter. Do you want to communicate with a certain group, such as the rest of the teachers in your school? On the other hand, are you wanting to use the tool to follow topics of interest?
How will you use Twitter? If Twitter is going to be a tool to communicate with others in your school, the easiest thing would be for everyone to establish a Twitter account one day, exchange user names, and then start following each other the next day. One person "Tweets" and all of the others see it. Used in this way, Twitter would be similar to sending an e-mail to a distribution list. The difference is that instead of you adding people to your e-mail distribution list, they add themselves by following you.
The tweets you send could be announcing that school has been canceled due to weather (replacing the telephone tree many schools used previously), the current score of the basketball game you are attending, or the link to a great article you read that you think your colleagues would like.
In you want to join in the bigger game, you can use hashtags. Create a tweet and include the #edtech hashtag, and others interested in educational technology will likely see it. Create your own hashtag for your school faculty and it will be easy for your colleagues to find tweets related to the school.
Of course the best way to learn about Twitter is to jump in and learn as you go.
In the next post, I will talk about four places you could go to read Twitter.
I look forward to an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft. I look forward to an America which will steadily raise the standards of artistic accomplishment and which will steadily enlarge cultural opportunities for all of our citizens. And I look forward to an America which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its civilization as well.
—John F. Kennedy
A Resolution from the Alabama State Board of Education proclaims March as "Arts Education Month." The Resolution can be read here.
I enjoyed speaking to the Talladega Chamber Ambassadors tonight, a fine group of high school students who are doing great things to make their community a better place to live.
As promised, this post recaps what we talked about:
After telling reQall what phone numbers you would be calling from and giving reQall your e-mail address, put reQall's number (1-888-973-7255) in your phone as a contact and make it a speed dial.
iGoogle
iGoogle is like your own personal dashboard of all of your "stuff" every time you open your browser. You can also log in to your iGoogle page from any computer that has internet access so that you now have access to your tools from anywhere.
How do I get an iGoogle page?
Go to www.Google.com
In the upper right corner, look for "iGoogle" and "sign-in." Click "sign-in" to sign in to your Google account. If you don't have one, create one. It's free. You have to have a Google account in order to have an iGoogle page.
Go back to Google and click the link that says "iGoogle."
You are now at your iGoogle page.
Look for a link somewhere on the page that talks about making iGoogle your homepage. You will want to click that.
Now the fun starts. You get to choose the design for the top of the page and the "gadgets" you will have on your page. Look for "Change theme" and "Add stuff" at the top right.
You can get rid of any of the "stuff" by clicking on the "x."
You can re-arrange where each window is located by clicking and dragging it somewhere else on the screen.
Many of the gadgets have a little down arrow you can click to edit the settings. That way you can get the weather for your specific zip code, driving directions with your home address already filled in as the starting point, etc.
As a starting point, you might want to just add the things I have on mine. If you click any of the links, it will take you right to the spot where you can click to add that gadget to your iGoogle page. Remember, if you don't like a gadget, you can always get rid of it. Here goes:
If you have more than one computer, be sure to log into your iGoogle page and make it the home page on your other computer. When you are in a library or at some other computer away from home, you can go to Google and log into your iGoogle page. There's all of your stuff just like you were sitting at home!
If you are a K-8 administrator, make your plans to attend the NAESP National Conference. The weather in Tampa should be a contrast to the unusually cold temperatures we have experienced lately.
I will be presenting a session entitled "Data That Matters: Using a Balanced Scorecard to Summarize and Organize Data." The data is April 9 beginning at 4:15. Hope to see you there!
It's amazing how many people people still find themselves tricked by "something-for-nothing" e-mails and messages asking for personal information. This short video points out some of the perils and pitfalls.
Throw it on a copier, cut the pages in half, hole punch, and they are ready to use. You will see a place for appointments, ample room for your task list, and a spot for your "Fab 5." The blank facing page is where you will be able to record notes from phone conversations, meetings, and other information which comes to you on the fly.
The page includes reminders to word tasks clearly, to group them, and provides a place where you can answer the question, "How Did You Make Today Count?"
The Illinois Principals Association is spearheading a project to make available a library of educational webinars, each from 15-30 minutes in length. Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin are the states involved.
This video provides some information on the project:
I produced a set of webinars for this project, which is scheduled to roll out on March 1. Presently, one webinar is being featured as a sample, which anyone can access, and that featured webinar just happens to be one of mine.
The description for this segment reads as follows:
Are you drowning in paper? Would you like for it all to disappear and resurface exactly when you need it? Learn how to use tickler files to keep your desk clean and all paperwork flowing easily. Let your system handle the paper. Your productivity goes up while your stress level goes down.
Your teachers may like this for those times children are needing to read from the computer screen but the text is too small, there are too many words across one line, they want a serif font (or non-serif font), or the screen is simply too cluttered.
The post from January 23 spotlighted the seminars for the McGill University Distinguished Educators Seminar Series. I received this e-mail from one of the participants, a teacher from Montreal:
I met you January 21st. Here I sit, February 14th with a completely empty inbox in front of me. It took a while, but for the first time since I started e-mailing (maybe 14 years ago) I have been liberated. Not only is it stress-free to see an empty inbox, but it speeds up the performance time of my e-mail platform.
You were right Frank, and I would never have believed the benefits of emptying my inbox until I actually achieved it!
Thanks a million!
That sort of feedback means a great deal and illustrates how even one concept, used consistently, can make a big difference. I have returned after being out of town for two days. When I left, my inbox was clean. Now, there are 122 e-mails in my inbox with just the critical ones having been handled on the road from my BlackBerry.
One of the tasks for this morning is to get from 122 back to zero. We are all just a few days from being out of control. The good news is that in those times, we are also far from being right back on top...if getting control is the priority.
I always feel better when everything I have to do is visible on one list, worded clearly, with like items grouped together, and with the "fab 5" identified at the top of the list. An empty inbox...it's an sign that we are not just handling that which is screaming the loudest. It's a sign we control the whole picture, that we are giving each responsibility in our lives a little attention at just the right time, and that we are making it look easy.
I love Google's ability to convert measurements. I can enter into the search window "32 ounces in quarts" and Google returns "1 US Quart." I can enter "5 miles in kilometers" and get "8.04672 kilometers." It doesn't get any handier than that for a quick conversion of one number to another.
But what about if you have to do quite a few of those conversions? Converticious is a website which will convert one measurement to another. The advantage of this site is that you are not having to type the unit of measure. Instead, you see your choices and click the appropriate one.
That being said, the site does have its limitations. I can enter "10 dollars in Yen" into Google and get "835.4000 Japanese yen" as my answer. Converticious will not convert currency, or at least not yet.
I have been a fan of Google's translation tools for some time. Recent developments in GoogleDocs includes spreadsheet formulas which will allow you to enter a word into one cell and view its translation in another cell.
Here is one example of this technique:
In Column A of this GoogleDocs spreadsheet, you may enter any foreign word or phrase. In Column C, you it's English translation is revealed. What about Column B? It's there, but I have adjusted the width so it is almost invisible. The formulas in Column B are actually quite important.
You can duplicate this spreadsheet for yourself. After creating a new GoogleDocs spreadsheet, you will need to create two formulas:
In cell B2, enter =IF(A2="","",DetectLanguage(A2))
In cell C2, enter =IF(A2="","",GoogleTranslate(A2,B2))
Next, you will need to take these two formulas and "fill down" as many rows as desired. Finally, adjust the width of Column B so that it is as narrow as possible.
Let's take a look at what is happening with those formulas.
The part of the formula which says "=IF(A2="",""..." is simply saying if the cell if Column A is blank, leave the corresponding cells in Column B and Column C blank as well.
The real meat is in the last part of the formula. The "DetectLanguage (A2)" returns an abbreviation for the language. I am not really interested in that part, so I made the column very narrow. Having that value, however, is important for the calculation which happens in Column C.
The portion of the second formula which reads "GoogleTranslate(A2,B2)" instructs the spreadsheet to look at the value in A2 and translate if from the language indicated in B2 into English.
The advantage of this spreadsheet over the translation tools which have long been a part of Google is that you may enter an entire list of words or phrases and see all of their translations at one time.
I was very honored to be presented the University of Montevallo "Outstanding Alumni Award for Regional Inservice Center and AMSTI." The dinner and ceremony were held in a beautiful setting, and it provided an opportunity to see old friends, some of whom were being honored in others areas. I received my Educational Specialist degree from Montevallo. Davonia graduated from Montevallo and for the next 10 years worked in the music department there.
Thanks to Rebecca Richardson and Deb O'Hara for their nomination and continuing appreciation of my work!
Games using PowerPoint are fun for students yet take some skill to construct. Thank goodness someone else has done the work for us! "Parade of Games in PowerPoint" presents a number of different types of games (flashcards, Jeopardy, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, etc.). In each case, you may download a sample game or download the template. Downloading the template allows you to put your own materiel into the PowerPoint.
In these disparate environments—cockpits and hospitals and IT workgroups—the right behaviors did not evolve naturally. Nurses weren’t “naturally” given enough space to work without distraction, and programmers weren’t “naturally” left alone to focus on coding. Instead, leaders had to reshape the environment consciously. With some simple tweaks to the environment, suddenly the right behaviors emerged. It wasn’t the people who changed, it was the situation. What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem.
The above paragraph is taken from Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard. The chapter is entitled "Tweak the Environment" and the subject is interruptions and their impact on performance. Statistics show that we are interrupted, on average, every eight minutes. Not only do we lose time due to the interruption itself, but the time to recover, to regroup our thoughts, and get back into the flow of our work can often take more time than the length of the interruption itself.
To make the problem worse, we live in a world that gives us more and different ways to interrupt each other. We carry phones in our pockets and whip them out when it is convenient for us. We give little thought to what the person on the other end might have been doing. We live in a culture that looks upon an "open-door policy" as a good thing.
Let's face it, to get anything done, we have to have uninterrupted blocks of time. I talked about this subject and how we can each carve uninterrupted time for ourselves in this post. But what if we are the leader of the organization? What if we are in a position to tweak the environment?
School leaders are in such a position. As a principal, we made necessary announcements at one time first thing in the morning, and then the "all call" feature of the intercom was not to be used again for the rest of the day. Every time the intercom comes on, instruction is interrupted. When a parent wanted to talk to a teacher, going into the classroom to interrupt instruction was forbidden.
Minimizing interruptions was a theme that resonated even during the summer when constructing the schedule. In elementary schools, students leave their teacher for physical education, music, and other specialties, in addition to going to lunch. Where possible, we put two specialties back-to-back, giving the teacher the largest blocks of uninterrupted time possible. the last thing we wanted was for a teacher to get his/her students back and have only 10 or 15 minutes with them before the class had to go somewhere else. Such a situation would only result in wasted time every day.
Every good thing we do for our students is done through the dimension of time. Preventing interruptions helps us get the most out of the time we are given. Protecting the time of our colleagues helps them be more productive. We can and we must "tweak the environment." The right behaviors are then sure to follow.
Thanks to Elaine Vaughn and all of the child nutrition directors from around the state who attended Thursday's session. The weather forced us to cut things short, but thanks to Web 2.0, communication can happen through ways other than face-to-face.
The fifth of the Five Keys to Organization & Time Management is the ability to handle multiple projects. This handout is for those who attended the session and explains the concept. Use the password we talked about during the workshop to open it.
When most people say, "It can't be done," what they really mean is, "I don't know how to do it." In today's world of limitless possibilities, proclaiming, "It can't be done" generally puts one behind the eight-ball. Worse yet, when we settle for "It can't be done," we stop looking for answers.
This poem is for all of those out there who have survived the naysayers and made things happen:
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done, But, he with a chuckle replied That "maybe it couldn’t," but he would be one Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried. So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin On his face. If he worried he hid it. He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you’ll never do that; At least no one has done it"; But he took off his coat and he took off his hat, And the first thing we knew he’d begun it. With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin, Without any doubting or quiddit, He started to sing as he tackled the thing That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done, There are thousands to prophesy failure; There are thousands to point out to you one by one, The dangers that wait to assail you. But just buckle it in with a bit of a grin, Just take off your coat and go to it; Just start to sing as you tackle the thing That "couldn’t be done," and you’ll do it. —Edgar Albert Guest, 1917
What was true in 1917 is even truer today!
While they were saying among themselves it cannot be done, it was done. —Helen Keller
When have you been told, "It couldn't be done" but you did it?
For those who wish to use Web 2.0 tools to let the world know what they have to offer, this book is well worth the time to read. The strength of the book is that it gives practical, easy-to-implement. I found some great ideas for the use of Twitter.
The author's style makes this book easy to read, enjoyable, and at 142 pages, can easily be read start to finish in a day. Don't be surprised if you find yourself consuming it in a single sitting.
Here is a comment from a reader along with my response:
This is a really helpful strategy - I previously used a notebook that was similar, a running log of 'everything'. I was definitely missing the date references and table of contents to make it really work though, and have let it slip for awhile.
I found that I was going through about a notebook every month and half or so. When I go to a recurring committee meetings, I need to be able to review past notes - how would this work best? Use the notebook but add a copy of the meeting notes into the project/committee folder? Most things don't need to be saved in special groups like that, but I'm struggling with project support/meeting notes. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Jen,
A couple of suggestions come to mind. Since you are maintaining a folder for each committee, make a "table of contents" on the inside of the folder. You could simply list the dates and a couple of key words related to the major topics covered. If that folder goes with you to meetings, you can look at that list and quickly flip to the exact spot in your journal.
Another thought is to use colored Post-it flags. Assign a different color to each committee and flag each meeting with its color. That way, every red flag represents a meeting of the "XYZ" committee, yellow for the "ABC" committee, etc.
Both of those are paper-based options. If you use a smartphone that has a section for notes, another suggestion would be to create a note for each committee called something like "Meeting Notes--(Name of Committee)." Within each note, list the dates that committee met and a few key words about major topics. No matter where you are, you have your smartphone and your journal, so you are only a few seconds away from putting your hands on the notes for any meeting or any committee for the last month and a half.
During "Get Organized Month," this is question is so important because it is a scenario to which so many busy professionals can relate.
What are your thoughts? How do you handle note-taking during meetings, phone calls, etc.?
Multitasking is a hot topic in today's society. Some see it as a way to get more done. Others see it as a way to get nothing of substance done. I recently read The Myth of Multitasking by Dave Crenshaw. For the most part, the book argues against multitasking. The take-away for me was that multitasking is OK when one or both of the tasks require little effort or brain power. Listening to music in the background while working on something of substance is an example.
The January 23 post talked about the Distinguished Educators Seminar Series sponsored by McGill University. Here are pictures from our time at McGill University in Montreal and Hotel Mont Gabriel.
I have yet to find anything as efficient and powerful as syncing Outlook to the BlackBerry. All four modules (calendar, tasks, contacts, notes) share information beautifully. But, there are many who use other tools and are looking for a way to input information on their computer and also have it available on the smartphone.This post is for those people.
The following video talks about Google Sync for mobile phones including what you need, what it will do for you, and which phones are compatible with it:
Davonia and I had an incredible time this week in Montreal as a part of the McGill University Distinguished Educators Seminar Series. Welcome to teachers who are visiting this blog for the first time as a result of attending the seminar at the McGill Faculty Club and to the administrators who attended the Wellness and Leadership retreat at Mont Gabriel. A special thanks to Sylvia Sklar for extending the invitation, Donna Wilkinson for the outstanding job of handling the many details, and Mary Stewart for driving us from McGill to Mont Gabriel. To Dr. Lynn Butler-Kisber and Dr. Ted Wall, thank you for making us feel so welcome and being an active part of the seminar. Of course the biggest thanks goes to the teachers and administrators who attended the seminars.
During our time together, we explored ways to handle the papers, the importance of having a "signature tool" to trap everything in one place (with special insight on how to use a digital tool to do the job), how to put repeating tasks on "autopilot," strategies for handling the incoming flood of information, and how to handle multiple projects. We examined setting up a logical filing system on the computer, backing up files easily, how to organize the internet through the use of an iGoogle page, communicating effectively through paper or a blog, using Google Docs to replace paper forms, helpful yet little-known capabilities of Google, and the productivity boost offered through the use of dual monitors.
We enjoyed good food, made new friends, and discovered that we all face many of the same challenges. Pictures will follow in the next several days!
While iPhone users can sync their can sync their calendars with Outlook or Google Calendar. Maintaining a task list on the iPhone presents a challenge in that there is no native task application on the device. ToodleDo offers a third-party alternative. From the reviews I have read, the program works well.
Here is a short video demonstrating this software:
The program is available in three versions: Free, Pro, and Pro Plus.
We all need a comprehensive system for staying on top of all of the commitments we have made to ourselves and others. For the iPhone user, this program may be a very good answer.
How do those who are organized help those who are close to them who are not? Below is a message I received, along with my answer. It might help someone else in a similar situation:
Dear Frank,
As a matter of fact we are both working. He's in the real estate business and I'm an economist in the telecommunications sector. I'm somewhat of a compulsive organizer, with a thing for labeling up everything: boxes, folders, notebooks, envelopes, you name it. Though I'm messy here and there, I try always to develop "methods" to ease up my life and keep my things in order. Shopping lists, to-do list for traveling and so on. I like to plan ahead and make sure there's nothing to be running for in the last minute.
We all have those situations where the responsibility for action belongs to someone else, yet whether or not they follow through impacts us. Consider these situations:
You are working on a project with other people and have delegated certain tasks to them. How do you make sure everyone comes through with the deliverables?
Someone borrows books or other belongings from you. How do you keep up with what you have loaned? What sort of trigger will cause you to mention something when an item is not returned?
You have placed an order with a company. How do you keep up with what you have ordered? At what point would you call to ask about the status of the order? What is the trigger that would cause you to make that call?
As long as we live in a world where our happiness, success, longevity, or whatever else is in part dependent on someone else, we need to have some system that will allow us to hold others accountable.
As a young teacher, my tools were a pocket memo pad and a set of tickler files. When someone borrowed my stuff, I immediately made a note in that memo pad...something like, "Expect to receive XYZ book from Steve. Loaned on Oct. 3." After asking myself what would be a reasonable time frame in which to ask Steve if he was finished with the book, the little sheet from the memo pad would be thrown into the appropriate tickler file.
When I placed an order with a company, I would take a copy of the order and write "Expect to receive" on the top of the form, decide when it should arrive, and throw the form in the tickler file for around that time.
When someone was supposed to handle a task and then get back with me, a little note saying, "Expect to receive reply from John" went in the tickler file for around the time I wanted to check on progress.
Over time, "Expect to receive" was shortened to "ETR," and although the tools have changed, that acronym has stuck. Instead of a slip of paper thrown into a tickler file, so many of those little "ETR" items become tasks in Outlook. When the ball is in the other person's court, "ETR" is going to be in the task line. I select a due date, save, and forget about it. The system does my remembering.
When the due date arrives, I am looking at the "ETR" item, and there is my trigger to take action. What if I want to see at a glance all of the things that I am counting on from other people? In Outlook, I click the Task button and type the letters "ETR" in the search window. I am now looking at a complete list of every task with that configuration of letters. If I am doing the same thing on my BlackBerry, I go to the Taskpad (Outlook 2003) or To-Do Bar (Outlook 2007), enter "ETR," and I am looking at a list of everything others owe me.
By the same token, I could enter the name of a person, "Bill" for example. I would see everything Bill owes me, every phone call I am supposed to make to him, everything I had borrowed from him, etc. all in order by due date.
Our lives are complex. We have a great deal to "keep up with." Keeping up with those delegated items is among them. Three little letters keep me on top of it all.
For around 30 years, I have carried in my pocket a memo pad of some sort. I talked about it extensively in a post called "The Best $10 You Will Ever Spend." I ran across this post, "The Manly Tradition of the Pocket Notebook," which provides illustrations for how people in different walks of life use this simple tool. Over 140 people added their own comments on this excellent post.
The New Year is a good time to make those grand plans and resolutions. This year, make it a time when you will get control of all of the routine tasks in both your personal and professional lives. From replacing the filter in heating/cooling system to buying the spouse’s gift at anniversary time, we all have tasks that come around the same time every week, month, quarter, or year. If you are like most people, those tasks will number in the hundreds. Hoping you remember each one at the right time is an exercise in futility and a huge stress producer.
One of the biggest productivity boosters for me over the last 30 years has been recognizing repeating task as soon as they appear and putting them in a system. Thirty years ago that system consisted of each task being written on an index card. The task was written in the middle of the card and instructions for when it needed to be done again were written at the bottom. The cards were then thrown in the tickler file.
Over twenty years ago, the system evolved into one continuous list of repeating tasks organized by month. It was stored electronically so that adding tasks and reprinting the list annually were easy.
Today, repeating tasks are housed in Outlook. Enter a task, click the “Recurrence” button, and set the repeating pattern, and I never have to hope I remember to do that task again.
The repeating task system keeps the routine aspects of my life running, keeps the stress level low, and frees my attention for bigger things.
The following podcast is one that appeared on the Eye on Education blog. You can also read about your choice of three systems for handling repeating tasks in this post.
Happy "National Clean Off Your Desk Day"! Yes, it is a real event, celebrated each year on the second Monday of January, The photo you see was sent to me by a friend...an actual photo of his desk. Today seemed to be the perfect day to share it.
Just for fun, take a look at these statistics related to the clean desk.
If you are looking for a solution to the paper blizzard, a very large part of the solution for me has been the "tickler file." If this concept is new or if you would like a refresher, here is a very old post from this blog which is right on point. Ask the question, "When do I need to see this again?"and file the paper for that day. Waiting on someone else to get back with you before you are able to move forward? Estimate when the person will be getting you the information and file the paper for the day afterward. When the paper resurfacing, you have the information you need to take the next step.
Do you have lots of slips of paper laying around or Post-it notes stuck to the computer monitor? Use your signature tool, explained in this post from a year ago, holds it all for you.
The picture to the right is the desk of a former workshop participant who put his tickler files to work!
Anyone have a photo they would like to share of their desk? I would love to see the good, the bad, and the ugly!Click here to e-mail an attachment.
Later this week, we will examine the benefits of carrying a small, pocket memo pad. As a prelude, let's take a look at The Pocket Notebooks of 20 Famous Men.
Could a memo pad in your pocket be just the thing to keep things from slipping through the cracks? Anyone presently use this tool and have a story to tell?
Tell me what you think about. Tell me what you focus upon. I will tell you what you are likely to see in your environment. To illustrate, follow the instructions in the following video:
To further illustrate the concept, follow the instructions in this video:
See what I mean?
You can read more about the work of Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons on their website.
What are you looking for? That's what you will see.
What implications does this concept have on your work? On your life? On your goals?
We all want more hours in the day. At a workshop with the faculty of Loudon High School in Loundon County Tennessee, two days ago, we asked the participants to share what they would do if they had an extra hour every day. Here is a sample of what they said...
If I had one more hour every day, I would:
...exercise
...work outside
...clean the window sills and baseboards in my house
...read for pleasure
...play with my kids
...reflect on what I accomplished that day
...learn to crochet
...get home earlier
...learn to play the piano and arrange music
...delete emails
...read to my kids
...develop better lesson activities
...hunt longer
...sleep
...do more grading of papers
...get more done in my classroom
...have fun with my kids
...study more film
...relax
...think of ways to help my daughter learn more
...get to know the people I work with better
...take time just for me
With the tools and strategies we examined during the day, saving an hour a day is a conservative estimate. Imagine a group that now collectively has the time for all of the things listed above!
If you had one more hour every day, what would you do?
The opening loop from the ISTE 2010 Conference Kickoff included famous explorers, artists, scientists, and athletes with their quotes about excellence and exploration. Here is that presentation:
By this time, we have secured our calendars for 2011. Those who prefer paper have made that trip to the office supply store for a duplicate of this year's model or a chance to select one that may be an improvement. Those who organize digitally have all future years available. But this post is not about paper versus digital. It's not even about what may be on the calendar for the coming year. It's about what is on the calendar for the year which now becomes history.
What will happen to that calendar? If it is made of paper, will in go in the trash can, or will it find a permanent place on a bookshelf? Of what value will it be in the future?
I firmly believe the types of things which go on a calendar for the future are not the same as those which adorn a calendar from our past. The calendar for tomorrow houses every entry about where we are to be and when, regardless of the lasting value of that appointment. If we are supposed to be somewhere, then we are supposed to be there, and the calendar is the trusted friend that takes the responsibility for keeping up with it.
Look at your calendar from 2010. If you are like most people, it is a patchwork quilt of things that mattered and things that really didn't. When the significant is hidden amongst the insignificant, the calendar from the past has little value.
A the end of every day, I ask myself the question, "How did you make todaycount?" That one question stares me in the face every evening. That one question forces me to think back over the events of the day and be honest about the way I used a very special gift. That one question helps me focus and compare how my day was spent in contrast to the vision I have for the future. The answer to that question goes on my calendar. From a mechanical standpoint, the question appears as a daily repeating task on Outlook and my BlackBerry.
What about the mundane entries on the calendar that I would not care to see again? I erase those, so that what is significant stands out. Please do not get me wrong. I am very much in favor of keeping records and documenting those events and conversations should I have to produce such information. I have written documentation on that sort of thing and the use of a digital "table of contents," described in both books, so that I can put my hands on it years later.
My calendar for the past serves as a sort of "mini-diary." It also serves as a compass.
How did you make today count? It is a sobering question indeed, at least for me. Perhaps the knowledge that I am going to have to answer that question when the day ends works on my subconscious from the time the day begins.
As we begin a new year, I ask you to "fast forward" to the end of it. What will the calendar for 2011 look like when we usher in 2012? Will it be a reminder of the trivial pursuits of the past year? Or, will it be a story of how you took 365 special gifts and turned as many as possible into gold. I invite you to join me in a daily journey to ask yourself:
Jott offers another alternative to Dail2Do, discussed in the last post. I had used Jott back in the days when it was free. When they began to charge, I switched to reQall. Here is a video which highlights the features of Jott.
There are two plans. The free plan allows you to record reminders to yourself and then receive them in e-mails. the "Pro" plan, at $3.99 per month, adds the features you see in this video.
After visiting the website, I do not see anything that would cause me to change from reQall. However, it does offer me an option in case reQall should one day go away. But I hope that day never comes.
A celebration of Christmas from the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge. The simple story of the Nativity is told in the familiar words of the King James Bible, and in poetry by Henry Vaughan, John Milton and T.S. Eliot.
Here is a rendition of one of the season's more beautiful works performed by a truly spectacular group. Enjoy the King's College Choir.
Latin text
O magnum mysterium,
et admirabile sacramentum,
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum,
jacentem in praesepio!
Beata Virgo, cujus viscera
meruerunt portare
Dominum Christum.
Alleluia.
English translation
O great mystery,
and wonderful sacrament,
that animals should see the new-born Lord,
lying in a manger!
Blessed is the Virgin whose womb
was worthy to bear
Christ the Lord.
Alleluia!
Written in 1963, this was one of its composers
earliest pieces. It was published in 1967
with organ accompaniment, and later
scored for strings by the composer.
Nativity Carol
Born in a stable so bare,
Born so long ago;
Born neath light of star
He who loved us so.
Far away, silent He lay,
Born today, your homage pay,
Christ is born for aye,
Born on Christmas Day.
Cradled by mother so fair,
Tender her lullaby;
Over her son so dear
Angel hosts fill the sky.
Far away, silent He lay,
Born today, your homage pay,
Christ is born for aye,
Born on Christmas Day.
Wise men from distant far land,
Shepherds from starry hills
Worship this babe so rare,
Hearts with His warmth He fills.
Far away, silent He lay,
Born today, your homage pay,
Christ is born for aye,
Born on Christmas Day.
Love in that stable was born
Into our hearts to flow;
Innocent dreaming babe,
Make me Thy love to know.
Far away, silent he lay,
Born today, your homage pay,
Christ is born for aye,
Born on Christmas Day.
I have always been a Karen Carpenter fan. As a band director, I closed my first Christmas concert with "Merry Christmas Darling." Little did any of us know that Karen Carpenter would pass away shortly thereafter. Throughout my career as a band director, closing the Christmas concert with this beautiful selection became a tradition.
Update:
After posting this video and making mention of it on my Facebook page, I received this comment on that Facebook entry:
I love that song. Dawn and I were background singers on that recording, vocals on September 17, 1978 and video for the first Carpenter's Christmas Special on Sept. 24 (four days before Erin was born).
The comment was left by Dr. Brad Logan, a good friend from many years ago when he was choir director at the University of Montevallo. Brad has been the director of the Bemidji State University Choir since 1998. It's amazing how relationships intertwine. It is also amazing how much time you can spend face-to-face and then learn something new once you are separated by hundreds of miles.
Automobiles get out of alignment. When this happens, left to their own devices, they drift to one side. Without intervention, the car is soon in the ditch. We would never sit by and simply let a car drift off the road like that. We make little corrections along the way, little corrections which bring the car back to the center of the lane.
People get “out of alignment” as well. The negative forces in our lives cause us to drift to the negative side. Pretty soon, the “ox is in the ditch.” We all need those stabilizing forces in our lives to move us back to the center and remind us of the direction in which we are headed.
Several years ago, a great friend got me hooked on The Daily Motivator. Both then and now, I never ceased to be amazed at how often its simple message is right on-point with a current real-life situation. This site gives me a slightly different perspective, and a more positive perspective.
Education is a "people" business, and when we are dealing with a variety of personalities, the possibility of veering to the negative side is ever present. Pretty soon, the ox is in the ditch. A proactive approach, such as the message of hope this site provides each day, helps keep us going down the center of the road.
I know there are those who say motivational sayings and talks don't last. Of course, neither does a bath. That's why you take one every day!
For Outlook users, Google Calendar Sync provides a superb way to view your calendar from any computer with internet access as well as a way to allow selected others to be able to view and even edit your calendar. I had written about the topic in this post.
The only problem is that those who have upgraded to Outlook 2010 found that Google Calendar Sync did not work with that version. That problem is no more. If you have Outlook 2010, read this post from Official GMail Blog which explains the solution.
Those who write, and from time to time, need someone with specific expertise to provide input on their area. Some of us have expertise in certain areas, and our input would be valuable to authors whose work dips into our corner of the world.
Whichever your camp, HARO may be for you. Simply go to http://helpareporter.com and complete the free registration.
Every weekday, I receive three mails from HARO (one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening). Each e-mail gives a brief sentence summarizing what a particular author is looking for. Clicking on the link reveals more information. The list of links are grouped by general topic.
When I was writing Organization Made Easy!, I used HARO to gather input on several topics within the book. I received more information than I could use, and what I was able to use indeed added to the quality of the book. So, whether you are a writer or someone with particular knowledge and skills in your own corner of the world, HARO may be for you. Give it a try.
If you ask Americans their #1 concern about our country at this time, the answer is likely to be "the economy." For our children, our concerns become their concerns. Our fears become their fears. That which stresses us ultimately stresses them.
The National Academy of Pediatrics has produced a sheet entitled "Talking to Children About the Economy: Tips for Parents and Other Caregivers." Click here to download that handout. The sheet provides some very practical suggestions that may help to lessen unneeded worry and stress on our young people.
You have just finished a book, really enjoyed it, and are looking for another good book. Need some help? You can ask the Book Seer!
This amazingly-simply site allows you to input the title and author of a book you enjoyed. It will return a list of recommended books for your next reading.
I first explained the concept of Delicious in this post called Del.icio.us is Delicious. Later, we examined the concept of "tagging" in this post.
Today, we look at how Deli.icio.us can be used to make the teaching profession easier for all of us. To illustrate the concept, imagine you are a teacher who has a SMART Board. Little by little, you come across excellent Internet resources related to the SMART Board. How can you save these for later reference?
The last post was designed to get the beginner started with Twitter. In this post, we will look at four ways to view and compose material on Twitter:
