Learn, Think, Write

Organizing myself online

Is Boredom the Answer?

Cross-posted on the PLP blog

My contract with AT&T is up in a few days, and, because of all the dropped calls I seem to have in my house, I swore I would switch back to Verizon as soon as I could. (We don’t have a land line.) I figured I would purchase the Verizon iPhone and simply change services.

But I also recently bought an iPad and carry a monthly data charge for that. So I’ve been wondering…should I carry two devices with data charges? Yes, I know. The iPad is big. Who’s going to pull that out when a smaller phone will do the trick? And I need to be connected all the time, right?

I’m not so sure anymore.  My focus lately has been learning how to balance my time, be more in the moment, and less “on.” My tendency to click, click, click means I don’t pause to reflect as much as I should. And, even more, I don’t allow myself to be bored.

Standing in line at the grocery store, I check email. Waiting for the vet to come back into the office, I pop twitter up to read and respond to the latest. Riding along in the car to Richmond, I click on my iPhone Kindle app and read the next chapter in “The Social Animal” by David Brooks. Like one of Pavlov’s dogs, I am becoming conditioned to respond to the rewards of consuming information wherever and whenever I want it.

In a post on BNET by Laurie Tarkan, Genevieve Bell, the director of interaction and experience research at Intel, said engaging with mobile devices  “is the promise that you’ll never be bored again, you’ll never have to be anywhere without something to do.”

And, yet, there is a downside.

”Boredom is linked to creativity. You have your best thoughts in the shower, when driving, painting fences, and weeding the yard,” she says. Other researchers have stated that boredom is central to learning and creativity.

On the flip side, when you’re constantly consuming information via your devices, you stop processing the information and developing your own ideas. You have less time to think about what you’re consuming. To be effective in most jobs, you need to stop and reflect……

Tarkan lists several ways to be bored, and they make sense. For example, she says “stop being obsessed with doing,” and ”be bored with others.”

But, sadly,  I’m thinking I may need a more disciplined approach, and that may mean letting the iPhone go. It’s not that I don’t find value in all my curating and consuming. I do. But I’m wondering if spending less time with my face in a device will ultimately yield deeper, more reflective thinking and create sharpened connections to what I am learning.

Anticipating some sense of loss, I am trying to prepare for this. And then I think, “Geesh, it’s just a phone!”

Does any of this resonate? Do you allow yourself to be bored?

 

In a Moment

I went to my first meditation “class” the other night and learned how powerful a moment is. A moment can win a race, change an argument, burn a pie, or cause a tragedy. In our daily lives,  we so often look to the future or analyze the past without focusing on what is in front of us.

In our classrooms, we search for bigger meaning, attempting to shift our entire teaching practice, or achieve higher scores on a random, ineffective standardized test. The quest for rigidly following the curriculum and getting to the end of the day makes us move through life in anticipation of –what?

Instead, imagine what we could do with a moment:

  • smile at an unruly child
  • give a second chance
  • write a positive affirmation on a struggling student’s essay
  • take the class outside for a break on a gorgeous day
  • share a personal recollection from your own childhood

I am learning to slow down and breathe deeply. The breathing allows me seconds more to focus on the moment and take it all in. The days will take care of themselves if the moments count. Be present.

What would you do in a moment?

 

image credit: By jesse.millan

More on Fear

And while we’re on the topic of fear, check out BrendaDee’s post that makes great points about teacher innovation vs tradition:

Once in practice, educators discover that preparing students to be design thinkers, tinkerers, creative problem solvers, leaders etc can be highly abstract and that many of today’s teachers are uncomfortable with the pedagogical changes needed to shift from traditional teaching practices to the education reform required to “make schools places that cultivate creativity” (Florida, 2004).

She also references Nancy Stuewe’s post on teaching and innovation. Powerful questions to ponder:

1. What opportunities do teachers have to make sense of their experiences with innovation and change?

2. We do not make it easy for students to be innovative by making it difficult for teachers to be innovative. Can we describe clearly what is standing in the way of teachers becoming both creative and innovative?

3. Technology changes quickly, teachers regularly come into contact with technology they have no experience with. How do we help them gain this experience and reduce their frustration?

4. To become an architect of learning requires teachers to teach differently than they were taught (we can not give what we do not have). How can we support teachers to build their own profession learning networks during working hours?

5. Given that People not technology will be the solutions to problems, how do we adjust the structure of the working environment to allow for the free flowing exchange of ideas to support their personalized learning?

 

I’ve been wondering about how to make these changes more feasible within the constraints of our working hours as well (though I recognize that traditional “working hours” will be another necessary change). This may be the heart of the matter:

…how do we shift a the system that once discouraged participation to now encourage teachers to engage in mindful, thoughtful interaction with why we have school?

 

image credit

Being Creative

The word creativity has always made me squirm. That’s because I don’t think I am creative.

Not in the sense of being an artist, which is how I had always defined the word. I can’t draw. Or paint.

But last summer, I realized I had limited myself by my own definition so I set out to try to become more creative. I read “Thinkering,” by Michael Michalko, started following Creating Brains, read Fascinate, by Sally Hogshead, and bought myself a Livescribe pen to practice taking notes in a graphic format that I could upload to my blog.

I’m not there yet, but I’m making progress. One idea that resonates with me is the way we need to take two ideas not necessarily connected and find a thread. Reading The Heart of Innovation this morning, I realized this method would also yield good results. He suggests:

WHAT TO DO
1. On a piece of paper, create three parallel headlines — the first, “What Fascinates Me,” the second, “People I Admire,” and the third, “What I Would Do If I Had More Time.”

2. Jot down at least five responses under each headline.

3. Look for connections between your various responses.

4. Write down your inspired ideas. Then circle your favorite.

Read Mitch’s post for a better explanation, and then try it. I’ll post my results and hope you’ll share yours, too.

Mind Over Matter

That phrase has been around for a while. I believe it, and this research helps cement that.

I’m trying to take care of myself this year–focus on good eating, exercise, and meditation. I’ve had good luck with the first two: I am trying to eliminate sugar and processed foods; I am also starting Boot Camp next week. This isn’t just a new resolution. I do this periodically because it makes me feel better.

But I struggle with the meditation, the mindful visualizations that are so important. The Cleveland Clinic lists these benefits to mindful thinking (which is different from positive thinking):

  • Decrease anxiety
  • Decrease pain
  • Enhance sleep
  • Decrease the use of medication for post-surgical pain
  • Decrease side effects of medical procedures
  • Reduce recovery time and shorten hospital stays
  • Strengthen the immune system and enhance the ability to heal
  • Increase sense of control and well-being

That’s where the meditation comes in. I am going to take five to ten minutes each day to sit, eyes closed, music playing in the background, and breathe. We all need time to regroup, and I am starting today.

Wouldn’t it be great to help students find the time to meditate each day? What benefits could we accrue by taking a few minutes with our kids to stop and breathe?