In thinking about the pledges for the coming year I think I need to include an equal share of big picture, more strategic aims, alongside some more measurable smaller targets.   I think this should provide a balance between things which will be easier to assess in terms of achievement at the end of the year, alongside aims which are much broader, more challenging but also equally more difficult to evaluate come the end of the year.

So lets get into my pledges for 2023…..

Podcast

I last did some short podcast episodes in 2021 with a plan to build on this in 2022 however other priorities meant this didn’t happen.   It is definitely something I want to progress and something I have been in discussion with a colleague about, however have so far not managed to progress.    For 2023 it would be good to get maybe 2 seasons of podcasts produced and shared, with hopefully at least 6 or 8 episodes in each.    My thinking would be focus on cyber security, digital citizenship, data protection and technology in schools as the key themes of the podcasts.

Time management

The last few years have felt as if time has been flying by, with weeks, months, terms and years flying by in what seems like the blink of an eye.   I think therefore, in the year ahead, I want to look at how I manage time particularly trying to ensure I allocate specific time for reading, for exercise, for relaxing, etc, building up appropriate habits in relation to how I use the finite time available in each day, week, month and year.    Part of this will likely start with some long term initial planning at the start of the year in January.   My hope is that through better planning of my time I will be more satisfied with how it is used, but also will achieve a better balance between being busy and relaxing.   

Also related to this, especially at home, I need to let and encourage others to contribute rather than trying to take things on myself.  More delegation should hopefully allow me to achieve more or at the very least focus on things which are more important or where my efforts add the most value.

Running

I would again like to keep up my running in 2023 however with more consistency.  As such am thinking a minimum of 50km per month, which would equate to 600km for the year as a minimum.   I would also like to very much achieve at least one 10km run every two months, so meaning I should have completed six 10km runs by the end of the year.   Now it would be good to achieve more however I am also concious of avoiding pushing my exercise too much.    From a weight point of view I want to try and keep my weight around the 84kg mark, which was always part of my aim in terms of regular running.

Reading

Having struggled with reading in 2022 I would like to again stick with trying to read 6 non-fictions books by the end of the year.  This equates to one book every two months which I think should be achievable.    I already have a number of books purchased ready to read.   I will share some info on some of the titles in a future post.

Bigger picture

The last couple of years I have worked hard on maintaining a to-do list however I feel this may have led to me focussing on things at a micro and small scale, and in focusing there I have taken my eye of the bigger picture.     As such, in the year ahead, I need to spend more time looking at the bigger picture, at strategic tasks and aims over the smaller day to day tasks.    Part of this will be rolling up the regular day to day tasks which currently exist as separate tasks to achieve and considering them as a singular grouped task, taking the small tasks each day and bundling them up as routine single task.   Equally I will need to establish the more strategic projects, tasks and aims that I want to look at possibly either on a monthly or termly basis.  

Holidays and Experiences

I would like to ensure I create some new memories, particularly family ones in 2023.    There are clear opportunities over the summer holiday period, easter holiday period and also key points in the year such as my birthday, wedding anniversary, etc.   I need to make sure that I make the most of each of these opportunities.   I think it will also be important to take photos as a record of events so I have something to look back on and refer to.     Linked to this, I think it will also be important to continue journalling and keeping records of achievements, etc, on a week by week basis, again so that I have something to refer back to in being able to more effectively and accurately reflect on the year once I get to the end of it.   Part of me wonders about having achievements and challenges as part of my journal template so that it makes me stop and think, plus take note as I regularly seek to journal my thoughts and feelings.

Contributions to the wider Edu and Tech communities

I would very much like to see me building on 2022 in 2023 including continuing to contribute to other organisations, podcasts, blogs, magazines, etc with my thoughts and ideas.    It has been very enjoyable and at times challenging to do this in 2022 however I have definitely considered it to be worthwhile so it is clearly something I want to continue.    I would be particularly good to be involved in some bigger conferences if possible and even in some international events however this will be dependent on logistics, etc.     It will also be useful to explore the potential for new opportunities and challenges so this needs to be something I keep my eyes open for as 2023 progresses.

I have considered personal studying a certification as an option for 2023 however had decided that the cost v benefit especially of the technical certifications I have been looking at is not sufficient to justify the time, effort and cost.   This may however be something for me to reconsider as the year progresses.

Work

In work I cannot think of a particular target or focus in 2023 however if there was to be something it is in relation to innovation and change.   I would like to be able to focus on innovation and change projects and hopefully creating a culture and appropriate support functions which encourage and promotes this.   Other than this, I hope to support the members of my team to grow and develop such that they are able to continue to feel engaged, challenged and also to better contribute to the school.

Conclusion

In work I often use a single word or phrase as a theme or focus.   I think this might also be useful in setting my pledges for 2023.  So what one word or phrase would summarise what I want to achieve:

              New opportunities and experiences

I think the above summarises what I want from 2023.   2022 has felt a little routine, albeit with some notable achievements and positive points, but I just don’t feel there were enough truly memorable moments mainly as our memory needs the unusual and the new.   So in 2023 I hope to try and find and achieve the unusual and new.   Here’s to 2023 and the year ahead.   

And happy new year and all the best for 2023 to all in my PLN.

So with a new year approaching it is time to set out some pledges for the year ahead.

Family Memories

This year I am going to start with wellbeing as opposed to work targets.    I want to make more memories with family during 2018 including possibly taking a holiday or at least short breaks together.   I haven’t had what I would consider a proper holiday now in over 10 years so it would be nice to sort something during 2018 however I am aware that this is dependent on finances and the fact I have recently purchased a new home may mean this isn’t possible.  At the very least we need to make the most of our surroundings for family weekend getaways.    I want to be able to look back and be able to easily identify family memories from each of the months of 2018.

Fitness

Fitness continues to be an area I don’t make any real progress on.   I am worried that I may once again plan to undertake fitness measures however fail to make progress.   I do not want to be sat here in a year writing the same old thing in relation to fitness.   The challenge is finding something which I am happy to do and which I can sustain.   Looking online various sites suggest a minimum requirement of 150 mins of exercise per week which based on 5 days on and 2 days off seems to suggest 30 minutes per day.    My thinking therefore for this year is to achieve 30 mins of brisk walking per day.   I will of course review this in January to see if I can increase this target as compared to various others who run kilometres per day my target doesn’t feel that challenging or inspirational.   That said, the target is for me and you need to start somewhere!

Reading

Reading is an area which I made significant progress on during 2017.    My hope is that I will be able to continue this into 2018.    I think a continued plan of 1 book per month, or 12 per year seems as reasonable expectation.    At this point I have already purchased 12 books for 2017.   I will be sharing the titles and my intentions shortly.

Professional Development

In terms of my own personal development, I have taken the CISA and CISSP IT exams in December in 2016 and 2017 respectively.   I want to continue challenging myself to undertake professional qualifications however at this time I am unsure as to which qualification would be best to pursue next.   I am also conscious of the additional workload such qualifications result in.   As such this is something I would like to consider in 2018 assuming I can both identify a suitable qualification and also identify sufficient time, including potentially ceasing or reducing other activities to allow myself to take this on.   If I was going for something I think the CRISC exam may be the one I would choose.

Work

From a work perspective the thing which is likely to take up my time as Director of IT during 2018 is going to be the new GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) being introduced in May 2018 along with a number of related IT security changes we will be making.    As such a target for the year will be to have successfully introduced the planned changes as well as having established compliance with the required GDPR regulations.     Another target area for me in 2018 will be to streamline the available school data such that it is easier to interpret and make use of.

As a manager I would like to continue to work with and develop the excellent team of staff I have at school.    There are already a few challenge ahead in 2018, however these are not something I can share here.     My hope is that in 2018 we can address and weather these challenges before going on to grow and develop as a team.    My hope is that our whole school satisfaction survey for 2018 will be as positive as the 2016 and 2017 surveys have been.    The positive outcomes achieved to date are the result of the excellent team which the school has working in IT Services.

From a teaching point of view I will be continuing to work with Lower 6 pupils on a digital citizenship programme.   I would like to make this programme as useful and interesting for students as possible, and achieve a programme of study which I am happy with.

Reflection

In 2018 I hope to continue the process of keeping a journal however with a greater level of regularity.   I also plan to conduct a monthly review so that I can better capture the achievements of each month while they are still fresh in my memory as opposed to trying to remember at the end of the year.

2018, new challenges and opportunities

2018 marks a new year filled with new opportunities and new challenges.    We cannot predict the future however I hope that my resolutions at least set me up with a path or direction through the year ahead.   I suspect the path will change and develop as the year progresses, and as I need to respond to challenges and even failures.   In failures, I accept that these will occur however I hope to take them as either “First attempt in learning” or as “not yet” moments.  I hope that at the end of 2018 I can look back with fond memories of the year, and with positive outcomes achieved in the face of challenges.

And so a new year begins!!    Happy new year to all!!

Looking back to the broad targets I set myself back a year ago then, one of the first targets I set myself was to #BeHappy.    Am not sure I can look back and confirm that I have been happy this year.   I can recount some moments, but can recount more moments of stress, anger, etc.   This may relate to the ease with which we seem (or maybe just I seem) to be able to draw to mind negative events over positive events.   Taking a narrow perspective on my review of the year helps here if I change the question to one of, am I happy with what I have achieved this year.    This revised question is more positive focussed and leads to me considering the fact I have bought a house, recently passed my CISSP exam, oversaw very successful project work and also received largely very positive feedback from colleagues and students.    I suppose there is always room to be “more” happy however it is key to admit that this is seeking the perfect lives which TV and Movies might contain, situations which are impossible to achieve in this chaotic ever changing world.

#BeConnected was my 2^nd target and this year I am reasonably happy with my connectedness.   It hasn’t been consistent during the year, with the first half of the year seeing me significantly more involved than the later half however this was due largely to prioritisation and other workload related issues.   During the year I managed to finally meet a number of people I have followed, and conversed with on twitter, in person.   This included Mark Anderson (@ictEvangilist), Stephen Tierney (@leadinglearner), Kate Jones (@87History), Andy Cope (@beingbrilliant) and Steve Wheeler (@timbuckteeth) to name but a few.  It is always nice to be able to meet in person and I snagged a signed copy of Steve Wheelers book in the process.

#Toexperiment was my third target and I am not sure I experimented either to the extent or in the way I had hoped.   I think this may be something I need to take forward into the year ahead.

#ReadReadandReadSomeMore was my third target and like #beconnected I was most successful in the first half of the year.   The later part of the year this seemed to drop away particularly as I started to focus on studying ahead of my CISSP exam.   I believe I met my planned rate of reading of 1 book per month and I plan to share my book list shortly in a separate blog.    The need to continue learning and the potential for reading to contribute to this continues to be clear in my mind so this will be definitely be something I will plan to carry into 2018.

#BeHealthy is always a target which I never fully get to drips with.   Health and exercise consistently fall low on my priority list and this year has been no exception.    This will require some detailed thought for next year in terms of if I really and committed to making progress in this area.   If not then I shouldn’t list or worry about it, however if it is something I want to achieve then I need to be firm in my commitment and on the planned strategies I intend to use in moving forward in this area.   Maybe its time to order a fitbit or similar over Christmas?

#BeFamily…….Another one which I don’t feel I made much progress on.   This is one for me to reflect on further however not one I feel able to share here at this point.   I also need to accept that I am inherently more negative focused than positive, and therefore my perception continues to err on a more negative view of what may not be negative to others.    That said, it is still an area I believe I need to work on.

2017 has been a good year in terms of what I believe I have achieved.   It has also on reflection gone very quickly which is usually a good sign in that when things go quickly I must have been engaged and focused such that I didn’t appreciate the passage of time, what Csíkszentmihályi refers to as Flow.    Having met Stephen Tierney I wonder whether the key for 2018 is to narrow my focus and focus on what is really important in 2018, discounting the items which are 7 out of 10 or 8 out of 10 in terms of importance and only listing the 9 and 10 out of 10’s?    Maybe I should establish a list of core and secondary priorities?   This is something for my next blog and for my pledges for 2018.    2017 is all but gone and I can be happy with the year.  Let’s hope that I can build on this in 2018 to have an even more successful year and maybe finally deal with the #behealthy and #befamily aspects to a level I consider acceptable.

Merry Christmas to all.

Firstly let me wish everyone all very best for the academic year ahead.

Following reading a twitter post be @darynsimon I thought this made a good opportunity for me to write down some of things which I hope to achieve in the academic year which now lies ahead.

Management Information

As I have previously written, in schools we have a massive wealth of data however I don’t believe we make the most of it.    I think there are two reasons for this, one being the fact that data is often held in the rows and columns of large spreadsheets such that it isn’t easily or immediately accessible to those who wish to use the data.    The second reason is that the data is set out to show us what we hope to already see.   For example showing the statistics of boys versus girls.    But what about the correlations which might exist which are not readily visible or expected.     As such one of the things I want to work on this year is trying to make data more accessible, including making use of Microsoft PowerBI to hopefully achieve this, and also trying to make use of various statistical analysis tools to analyse the data in new ways and hopefully identify new correlations which can then be acted upon.    I still believe it is what goes on in the class which matters most however my hope is that data might give us new insights and allow us to make better decisions.

Sharing and my PLN

I want to spend this year sharing my thoughts and ideas online plus further developing my PLN.   This includes developing a series of sessions on digital literacy and on preparing students for a digital future.    I also want to revisit using video and possible video blogging, which is something I looked into a couple of years back however failed to make much progress.   I would now like to get back to this and hopefully this time get further with it.

EdTech

As I now enter my second year as a Microsoft Innovative Educator I want to experiment a little more with a variety of edTech solutions during the year ahead.   I would like to try and be a little more creative with my use of technology.  Part of this will include looking to make greater use of the Office 365 suite in both working with colleagues and also in working with students.     Yammer is one resource in particular I intend to experiment with.     I also want to have a look at how Flow might be used to streamline my day and, as mentioned above, looking at how PowerBI might be used to better manage school data.

Reading / CPD

Over the calendar year so far I have started reading a lot more than previously and this is something I want to continue to do throughout the academic year.   I feel such reading is both relaxing but also a valuable professional development and personal growth opportunity.   In addition to this I am also challenging myself to prepare for a formal IT accreditation with plans to undertake the CISSP exam in December of this year.    This will represent a significant challenge in preparing for what is quite a significant exam however I consider the challenge to represent desirable difficulty.   In my view only by pushing ourselves can we truly hope to grow.

I look forward to the year ahead and to seeing what 2017/18 will bring.   I also look forward to sharing thoughts and ideas with other educators both in person and online during the year ahead.

I thought now would be a good time to review the year so far and to look back on my resolutions for 2017 and evaluate the progress made to date.

When I wrote my resolutions I listed a need for mindfulness including an awareness of my emotional state, however I don’t think I fully appreciated the importance of this aspect of life.   My recent reading of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and also The Obstacle is the way by Ryan Holiday have both further brought this into focus.     Our reality is viewed through the lens of our perception, therefore if we take a more optimistic view, if we focus on what is in our control, then we can bring about a more positive reality.     With this in mind I think I have made some progress, for realisation is a step in itself.   This however will need to be something which I continue to consider, and to revisit.

I don’t feel I have been as connected during the first quarter of 2017 as I maybe was in 2016 with a reduced engagement in twitter balanced out against a slight increase in my blogging.   I think this is reasonably fair and acceptable outcome.    I am starting to consider the depth of connection, with a view that some of my social media based connections are generally more shallow than corresponding in-person connections.     This seems to suggest that my focus should be more on attending events and building in person contacts however I am unsure as to how I will be able to fit this into a busy schedule.    I also wouldn’t want to lose out on my diverse range and highly valuable Professional learning network where it exists online.

My reading has definitely been going well so far this year.   As we reach the end of the 3^rd month of the year, I have completed reading 6 books.     The books themselves have all been reasonably deep titles including Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.    I have very much enjoyed reading more, and even managed to find a single sunny day to spend outside in the gardening reading.   Hopefully the months ahead will provide more opportunities for this to happen.

As has been the case before the health and physical exercise side of things has slipped.    My planned walking across campus daily was adding time to my day albeit only 20mins or so and as such, and especially given the cold winter weather, I decided to stop this activity.   I now need to find some way to address this area in my life even more so having saw the news the other morning which raised the concern of the high percentage of people in the UK who live a sedentary lifestyle.    I suspect I am one of those people!

The family side of things have met with some success so far this year.   I am now spending a short daily burst of time with my son on his maths development in particular.   I have also managed to remember some of the key family dates and surprise my wife in doing so.    This is something I need to continue to work on.

My current book which I am reading is Happiness by Design by Paul Dolan.   I think it will be interesting to revisit my reflections having completed reading this as it has already raised some interesting ideas in relation to pleasure and purpose.   At this point I think I am more of a busy, or purposeful, person.  Am not sure yet whether this is a good thing or not.

I tried for a period to engage in daily journaling however this dropped away in the last month or so.    I think this may be an interesting practice to pick back up possibly using a purpose vs. pleasure framework for notes.     Hopefully this is therefore something I can recommence and sustain through the final term of the year.

All in all, I feel things are progressing steadily in terms of the things achieved, however time is seeming to fly by.   They do say that time flies when you are having fun, so for now I will be content to leave these reflections on that positive note.

So on to the resolutions:

#BeHappy

I think this is of key importance which I why I am listing it first.   All the achievements, success, etc. isn’t worth a whole lot if you are not happy.    I also give some thought to the book I have just finished, Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.    He suggested that our feelings may have a link to our successes, so if I am more positive I am more likely to succeed.   He also suggested a link between feelings and health with someone more positive more likely to overcome colds and other common aliments than someone who is negative or unhappy.   For me this all links to mindfulness and being aware in myself of how I am feeling.   So in 2017 I hope to be more happy which will require me to be more mindful.

#BeConnected

I will continue my efforts from 2016 into 2017, continuing to blog and be active in twitter in particular however also engaging in conferences and other events as they arise.   I also want to continue to write and submit articles for inclusion in #ukedchat’s magazine.    This said, I will try to avoid myself feeling obligated or forcing myself to write a set number of pieces or tweets per week or per month.   Where more important matters arise my connectedness may fall however this is to be expected and accepted.   I need to keep a better eye on putting first things first.

#BeChallenged

I am not sure what my challenge for the year ahead will be, whether it will be to refocus on Google Certified Educator, on Microsoft Certified Educator Expert or on something totally different however in 2017 I will push myself to achieve some form of certification or accreditation.    As it stands I still await results from the CISA exam I sat in December.   Hopefully these results will be released in January and it may be that I choose to follow an industry IT route as opposed to an educational route for a while.  I will leave the specific decision as to the route I plan to take to some point towards the end of January.

#ToExperiment

In order to find the best solutions it is important to continually experiment and try new things.  In 2017 I want to make sure I engage in such experimentation as a leader, as an educational technologist, as an IT Director and as an individual.

#ReadReadandReadSomeMore

I have found re-engaging with reading to be very useful and also fun during 2016.    In 2017 my target will once more be to read a minimum of 1 book per month.   I would love to subscribe to do 1 book per week however I don’t believe this is realistic for me both in relation to time available and also in relation to my chosen reading materials which can seldom be considered “light reading”.  As such the target of 1 book per month seems more realistic and reasonable.   I will also need to try and ensure that the books selected cover a variety of different topics as I feel some of my more recent reading has converged on a single topic which therefore reduces the breadth of benefit I get from reading.

#BeHealthy

I repeatedly reflected on my poor fitness level and also my poor commitment to fitness overall.   In 2017 I need to do something about this.    So I will be restarting walking across school campus every morning as a starting point.    I will also be setting a weekly target for steps.     Key to me here is likely to be coming up with some sort of motivational reward to encourage myself to actually stick to fitness efforts.    This will become even more true if I am to take up something more strenuous than just walking, such as jogging.     The main aim here will be to close 2017 in a much more healthy and fit manner than I came into it.

#BeFamily

In 2017 I need to make more time available to spend with my youngest child, who is 11, and also with my wife.    I also need to make sure that it is “quality time” as opposed to just time.    One part of this will be to have some sort of family holiday in 2017, something which we haven’t actually done in many years.   I also need to be more “romantic” as I wife puts it; Something which doesn’t come that naturally to me being more of a pragmatist and get things done type of person.

2016 was a good year especially when viewing the quantifiable targets, and possibly more so if viewed beyond just these targets.     I hope that 2017 is even more successful.    And so it begins anew………

Photo “Terraces on the Tor” by Rodw, Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0

When I set out my resolutions back in 2015 I tried to set out things which would be quantifiable in that this would make things easier when it came to review progress.  The resolutions I set are as below, along with comments as to progress:

1. To Blog at least twice per month throughout 2016: My blogging generally throughout most of 2016 has been at a rate of a post per week, while in February as part of #teacher5aday I posted daily for the whole month.   Quantifiably I easily met and exceeded my target however I have found myself questioning why I blog and also questioning the fact that at times I have found arriving at a subject for posts to be difficult and even forced.   I now wonder if the rate of blogging was the wrong thing to look at, instead I should have focussed on measuring what I hope to get from blogging.   I also wonder whether if I would have blogged had I not set a quantifiable target;  The fortnightly target may have acted on my motivation and ensured I kept up the effort.
2. To maintain my presence and contributions to twitter (1.9 tweets per day): Again like for blogging, I have exceeded the target achieving a rate of almost 5 tweets per day.    Looking back I don’t think I appreciated the use of twitter chats and the number of tweets generated when you get truly involved on a regular basis.     As such the target may have been on the low side.   The other thing which is key here is that the value wasn’t in the number of tweets but in what I got from the twitter chats in particular.   I may have tweeted less or tweeted more however still have benefited to the same extent.     I occasionally spent time, albeit a small amount of time, keeping my buffer account full while thinking about the 1.9 tweet target; was that time well spent?   I am not sure it was however again the quantifiable target may have acted to sustain my motivation.
3. To achieve Google Certified Educator Level 2 status: I didn’t hit this target mainly due to never really getting started.   This was mainly due to focussing on Microsoft Innovative Educator status which I achieve and also on the Certified IS Auditor status for which I am currently awaiting the results having sat the exam recently.    So the target as far as I am concerned is met in that I achieved another status in MIEE status.    It is also an area which I value in challenging myself to work or study towards qualifications or other certification.  Thinking back though, and following feeling totally knackered for a week after the recent CISA exam, I do wonder whether I may have pushed myself a tad too hard.   Was I overdoing it?
4. To read at least 1 book per month: I read more than 12 new books during 2016 and very much enjoyed doing so.   At times finding time was difficult however I found that once I got started I ate through books and from each book identified follow on books to read.     The idea of a persons knowledge being measured by the books in their library which they are yet to read, as mentioned in Talebs Black Swam, very much appeals to me so I intend to keep my library full of books yet to be read, and to keep on reading.
5. To use tools such as Evernote and Buffer to allow me to work smarter: I think I made a limited amount of progress here in that I have developed coping strategies and approaches however these approaches may not truly be “smart”.   An example of this is emailing myself with interesting articles to read, for future review.   I could easily make progress here for example emailing to Evernote as opposed to my email account however this requires a change in established habits.   This is something which still requires work.
6. To get involved in twitter chats: As mentioned earlier during 2016 I got involved in a number of twitter chats including #sltchat, #mltchat and #edchatmena.   I would suggest that the target of fortnightly was met, however again it isn’t the frequency which actually mattered, it was the value I drew from the discussions.    Did I enjoy the chats as they were useful, due to the fact they challenged my perspective and ideas or due to the fact they confirmed my perspective and ideas?    (Confirmation is easier to stomach than challenge of ones ideas and perspective however this doesn’t make it better or more beneficial, just easier.)
7. To get involved in events and conferences: I did get involved in a couple of conferences and events during 2016 however I wouldn’t say it was to the same extent as I had been involved in the UAE.   As such I made a start on this during 2016 however there is still work to be done if I want to reach the level of involvement I would like to see myself achieve.   There is a question here with regards available time and trying to do too much and therefore I may also need to re-evaluate what is most important including whether event involvement is actually important to me.
8. To experiment with video and YouTube: I did very little on this until December when I contributed a little video as part of #teacher5aday.     Thinking about it I wonder whether my target hadn’t taken into consideration how comfortable I feel with regards video;   It just isn’t something which sits easy with me.    As such I will need to consider whether pushing myself out of my comfort zone is an important factor as during 2016 it wasn’t and therefore I made little progress on this target.

Overall looking back I feel I achieved well on the largely quantifiable targets which I set myself.    I should be happy about this in the easy way with which I can measure the success of 2016 however is a years worth of effort, sweat and toil meant to be easy to measure?    Is life that simple?    I would suggest that it isn’t and therefore maybe the targets, albeit easy to measure, weren’t as valuable as they could have been now that I reflect on 2016.     Their quantifiable nature also hides any real discussion as to the importance of what I was looking to achieve.     The flip side here however is that without the quantifiable targets I may not have sustained my motivation in the way I did during 2016, and some of the targets may have fallen by the way side.

As I look to consider targets for 2017 I need to bear the above in mind.    On reflection I may have posed more questions than I have presented answers however as I mentioned before, maybe this is due to the fact that life just isn’t simple.    That said, I would say 2016 was a busy and successful year.  I think I achieved a fair amount although maybe the figures associated with the targets above just don’t tell the full richness of the story of 2016.    I would like to hope that 2017 is successful first, and possibly busy as a secondary attribute!

Back in December 2017 I set myself a number of new years resolutions which I have revisited throughout the year.   Generally I feel I am doing pretty well with them however there are some areas where there is room for improvement, as there always is.    There are also things which have arisen during the year, which were not on my resolutions, which I should give thought to.

Looking back at my resolutions a number of them revolved around engagement with the wider educational community through the use of online tools.   This included contributing regularly to twitter, blogging on a regular basis and engaging with various educational twitter chats.   In each of these cases I have significantly exceeded the SMART target which I set out to achieve.   As the year has gone on though this has raised a question with me.   My contributions take time;  could this time be better spent on other areas of my life, job, etc?     Now I don’t have an answer for this as it is not an easy questions.    Blogging for example takes time, however in the future provides a useful window into my thinking at specific times in the past.    Looking back now to 2015 I did not blog anywhere near as much as I have been doing and now looking back I wish I had, as I am sure I had specific thoughts and ideas, found resources, etc. however as I haven’t committed anything to a blog I don’t have access to my thoughts.   Looking at 2016, my various blog entries and tweets provide quite a detailed view of my thinking and the issues arising at various points throughout the year.    I also wonder about the overall global educational context.    If everyone who blogs suddenly stopped then the online educational world would have lost a lot of its richness, being only filled with those educators with sponsorship or advertising deals.    As such I see my online contributions as something I need to continue however also to monitor.     It is important to keep focus on what matter, or “first things first” as Covey put it, so I need to continually reassess if my contributions matter.

Reading was another key target I had set myself as prior to the start of 2016 I read books only very occasionally.   Throughout 2016 I have endeavoured to read a variety of books, with one new book per month.   I have pretty much managed to do this and feel that this is something which I definitely want to continue.   The books I have read have allowed me to question some of my own assumptions and to explore new ideas.   As Taleb put it in “The Black Swan” the important factor isn’t however the number or titles of the books I have read, but the books I am yet to read.   As such I am already intent in 2017 seeing me reading even more frequently and seeing more books added to my library of books still to read.

Back in December last year I had also set myself some targets as to new things to achieve and to try.    These are the items which I have succeeded to a lesser extent.    Looking back though I think that may have been due to the fact that I saw these items as of a lesser priority.    Sadly the priority of the resolutions was not identified when I listed them; This is something I need to take into consideration when it comes to creating resolutions for 2017, to list them in priority order.     At this stage I haven’t achieved my Google Certified Educator Level 2 however I did achieve Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert.      My work smarter target hasn’t really seen me use Evernote, although I have experimented with a number of apps.   I would say there is still work to be done here.    And as to video blogging or other video contributions this isn’t something I have made any real progress on this year and therefore is either something to carry out to 2017 or something which I need to put to the side as no longer being important.

As the year draws to a close I cant quite believe how fast it has disappeared however I will take that as a sign that I am enjoying things which can only be a good thing.    2017 represents a new year, new challenges, new opportunities and an opportunity to try new things.    I look forward to 2017 and to continuing to record my thoughts and ideas via this blog.

Merry Christmas to all!

We are now at the end of May, the 9^th Month of the academic year.    Time seems to be flying by as it seems like only yesterday I was posting my reflections on April.    I am not sure whether this is a good thing, as in “time flies when you are having fun” or a bad thing in so much as I don’t think I have achieved all the things I had hoped I would achieve by this point.     I think I will stick with the optimistic view and put it down to engagement, fun and possibly a bit of flow or my “element” as Ken Robinson would put it.

My previous reflections have all focused on the targets I set my self all that time ago back as the sun went down on 2015.   This time month I would like to do something a little different.

Recent weeks have had me reflecting on my time out in the UAE and on all the things I have done while there.    Thinking back the various events, dates, items and other very tangible items don’t elicit much of an emotional response.   They happened, I remember them but they lack any real richness.    The things I really, really, remember are those events to which I have now attached a story.      These stories have a rich detail which I happily share when appropriate.    They also elicit an emotional response in that I find myself smiling when I think about them, or for some stories it’s possible more likely a grimace than a smile.

So the question is what are the stories which arise from May 2016?

It was my birthday this month and my plan had been to try and get through without any real fuss; to have a quiet one so to speak.     That failed as my colleagues became aware of the event and decided that I would look all the more professional leaving the school site with a helium birthday balloon floating above my head.    The mug they provided me makes me laugh.

Now am not sure if this means that I should smile more at work or smile less.

My exercise level in May has not improved at all.   A perfect piece of evidence for this is the flower bed in my garden.

I might claim that it is like that on purpose as part of a wildlife conservation scheme however I doubt anyone would believe me.   Maybe by the time we get to the end of June some effort and work may have been done on this and I may be able to report a greater level of exercise.   Time will tell.

I think my reflection on May is the need to consider both the quantitative data and qualitative data in reflections and reviews of life and of progress.   I may hit targets I set around social media involvement, courses attended, etc but how important is that if when I look back I have no stories to tell or no rich memories.     What are your stories from May?

It is that time to reflect once more on the promises I made to myself back at the start of the year.   I honestly cant believe that we are already 25% of the way through the year as it seems like only yesterday I was writing my promises.   It seems like only yesterday that I returned to the UK after 7 years living and working in the Middle East.   Am going to chalk it up to “time flies when you are having fun” however I have to admit it hasn’t all been “fun” thus far.

So to my resolutions and progress to date.

• To blog twice per month.

After a very busy February with #29daysofwriting and a blog every day I have became a little tired during March which has caused me to seek to recharge my batteries allowing some of my resolutions to lapse a little.    That said I have still managed to maintain and even exceed this target as part of #44weeks.    Currently I am managing to write a post weekly as opposed to every two weeks.    It is my hope to continue this going forward.

• To tweet on average 1.9 time per day or more

My contributions to twitter have significantly dropped as a result of my need to recharge.    In February I managed over 230 tweets within the month however so far in March I have only managed 70 tweets.   70 tweets is above my target however only just so this is an area I would like to improve on.   I think I also need to acknowledge that most of my tweets in March have in fact been retweets as opposed to new content.     This has served its purpose in March however I think it is important that I am contributing to the twitterverse rather than just consuming.

• To achieve Google Certified Education Level 2

Still have made no real progress on this one.   Given the Easter holidays it may be something I can address over the coming weeks.

• Read at least 1 book per month

My reading in February significantly dropped as a result on writing so much for #29daysofwriting.  Sadly in March I have done little to address this.    I therefore need to get back into the habit of making time to read at least every couple of nights.

Overall I am still doing reasonably well against my targets however a reduction in my momentum is clearly evident when compared with January and February.   I would suggest that this is inevitable however I would also suggest that the Easter break comes at the right time to allow to recovery and a reset for the next term with renewed momentum.

Bring on term 3!!