Exercise for mental preparedness

So this post is a shout out to me. Today is my one year anniversary of learning to run.

I say 'learning' because despite enjoying regular walking and swimming, when I started running a year ago I wasn't able to make it far without some unpleasant consequences! For me, learning to run has been a journey of goal setting, of not making excuses, of persevering, and of ignoring others' remarks. To reference the Nike slogan, running has been about "just doing it"... for myself.

I want to share this because although I can honestly say I don't particularly enjoy the physical act of running, I do appreciate the mental preparedness and emotional stability daily exercise gives me.

In terms of my role as an Associate Principal, running provides me with time to plan, to prioritise tasks, to problem-solve or to think through potentially difficult conversations. And sometimes running just gives me time out, time to think about nothing at all, to clear my head of all the leadership challenges I have recently dealt with. But most of all, running helps me view life through a positive lens, to see the strengths in others, to recognise the potential in new ideas and to find the silver linings. Sure, I still have my tough days, even my tough weeks ... but now I have a strategy to help me work through whatever unexpected situations come my way.

So now I start each morning with either a 40 minute run or a walk (I alternate each day). This means getting out of bed early and braving the sometimes chilly, sometimes humid weather but it is worth it.
For anyone interested, I recommend the free iPhone app Couch to 5km. This app takes a beginner (getting off the couch!) to 5 kms (30 minutes) of running over 8 weeks. It starts with intervals of 60 seconds jogging / 90 seconds walking three times per week which is very achievable.

Why not give it a try?

Resource: Digi-Parenting Website

Vodafone have recently launched a Digi-Parenting website with the support of The Parenting Place and Netsafe. It has articles, resources and links to other websites that parents may find helpful.

This resource could be useful to share when discussing e-Learning and digital citizenship with your school community.

https://digi-parenting.co.nz

Student Tech Wizards present at the Burnside Cluster 'Unconference'

Yesterday I took 14 Year 5 and 6 students from Fendalton Open-air School to the Burnside Cluster Learning Community Unconference to speak to educators about "How technology helps me learn." This was a wonderful experience for the children as they had the opportunity to prepare and present a 5 minute talk about a digital technology they regularly use in their classroom and how this helps them be a motivated and successful learner.

The students spoke at two 45-minute sessions which were run speed-dating style. Each small group of educators rotated around the different presenters to hear a short talk about eight different digital technologies. These included Google Classroom for online homework, Google Docs for writing and commenting, Google Drawings for creating posters, flowcharts and visual messages, Google Research tool for gathering data and images from the Internet, Google Slides for creating and presenting slideshows, Movenote for creating short videos, Scratch for coding and details about the Tech Wizards programme.

The opportunity to present at the Unconference was offered the 30+ students in the Tech Wizards group who meet before school on Fridays. Tech Wizards is an optional programme for students who want to learn about new technologies, share their learning with others and give service within the school. Not only did the Unconference presenters present on the first day of their school holidays but each student worked in their own time to write a script, identify key pieces of work that demonstrated their topic, refine their presentation with either with myself or our e-Learning leader, Carmen Dodd then practice their talk in front of the wider Tech Wizards group. 

My purpose for taking the students to the Unconference was two-fold. Firstly it provided an authentic audience for them to share the knowledge and skills they have gained over the last two years. It also gave them the opportunity to further develop their public speaking skills including talking to adults and adapting a planned script to suit their audience. The students demonstrated commitment to this responsibility by arriving well before the session, dressing very smartly (boys even wearing ties!) and nervously asking questions like "Will I need to stop reading my script to answer questions?", "Will it be noisy and will I need to speak loudly?"and "What should I do if I don't get through all my talk?" While the delivery of their first presentations were serious they soon relaxed into a comfortable style, confidently explaining their topic and offering teachers the opportunity to give things a go. 

And this was my second reason for bringing the students to present at the Unconference. I wanted educators who may be new or unexperienced in digital technologies to have the opportunity to find out about them in a non-threatening environment. By learning from the students themselves, educators could ask questions, have a go and seek clarification about what students find useful without the use of too much techie lingo or the assumption that they will know things that perhaps they may not.  

I was extremely proud of the Fendalton School students and feedback received about the sessions was positive. I hope these young people have inspired teachers within the Burnside Cluster of schools to find out more, try something new and look for opportunities in their own classrooms where technology may enhance the teaching and learning experience.