Sunday, May 16, 2010

#MissionMonday - Unplug 5/17

Happy #Mission Monday everyone! Friday night I decided to unplug for the weekend so I could attend to a growing list of to dos. I chaperoned the Junior Prom and that was piece of cake. It's always nice to see kids in their best outfits having a good time with their peers. As teachers, we often forget to look at teens as teens and not just butts in a seat. That is why I loved being a class adviser, coach and chaperon. It gives me a chance to interact with the kids in a positive way outside of my room.

I also spent some time working on my Masters program. I'm putting together a Grammar Web Quest and I will be bugging some of you for feed back later on. Thanks PLN. :-) I will be done with my Masters in Educational Technology by the end of the Summer of 2011. I can't wait. The extra pay will help offset the 3% of my paycheck that now has to go into the State Pension fund to help them balance the budget. Sweet!

I was also able to take in a Tigers Game with @JenniferPro. It's been a while since we have been able to hangout and it was such a nice day I thought it would be good to see the home town team play the Red Sox. Sorry Sox fans, you were not the victors this time. If it makes you feel any better, the Tigers took 3 of 4 from the Yankees. You can thank us later. :-)

I guess the point that I'm trying to get at is unplugging was one of the best things I could have done for the weekend. I love being connected to my PLN and I'm positive that I missed some good resources this weekend, but the fact that I was able to do some great things over these two days was amazing. I suggest that everyone try to unplug for a day or two and see what you can accomplish away from the Twitter/Blog world. I know that my Reader is waiting for me, but it will always be there. Events like Prom and Tiger games with the wife will not always be there. Take the time to shut down and explore the world around you. It might be tough, but you will come back refreshed and ready to grow with the rest of the PLN.

Let me know how yo have unplugged and what you did with your free time. It's nice for teachers to share these stories. We are all in this together people. As they say, it takes a PLN to raise a child.

P.S. - Don't unplug until you have reads this post and passed it to all of your friends.  :-) JK

5 comments:

  1. This is a very healthy thing to do and I have been trying to do it for the past few weekends. I check in Saturday morning and evening and the same on Sundays. In between times I have read a book, watched my 10 year old nephew play basketball (20 points, go Alex!), catch up with my 7 year old niece and her 13 year old brother and look after a sick relative.

    I think we have to unplug sometimes to refresh and revitalise. Now that our world is global and 24/7, we cannot be switched on all of the time. It took me a while to let go of the idea that I would miss some great tweets, but my Google Reader takes care of some of that. By making quite a few columns in Tweetdeck, I can check the most relevant columns if time is short.

    You are full of 'bright ideas'!!

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  2. This is actually an assignment I have my freshman English students undertake during our sci fi unit. We explore issues surrounding technology: ethics, developments, benefits, drawbacks, dependence.

    After making them log the types of technology they use in 24 hours and how often they use them, I challenge them to go "unplugged" for a 24 hour period. They have 1-2 weeks to accomplish this task and then reflect on an online class forum about the experience. For some, it's easy, for others, it's torture. But always educational and even they see that.

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  3. Good reminder, we all need to unplug sometimes. I did the same this weekend and was feeling great about it until I saw the Reader and email numbers at more than 1,000. Boo! On the upside I have a lot of fun learning ahead and people must love me to fill up my inbox like that :)
    Glad you were able to spend some quality time with your students and wife.

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  4. It was so nice to just get relax and not worry about blogging and tweeting. I realize I do it for fun, but I feel obligated to keep posting and tweeting because I get so many great things from others. It was nice to hang with the wife and just enjoy a ballgame.

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  5. Nick,

    Great to hear that you had a great unplugged weekend! My partner and I enjoyed the wonderful weather by hiking at a nearby nature center on Saturday. We spent Sunday with a nice drive and said our goodbyes to another local state park that was unfortunately closed this weekend because of state budget. I also spent a lot of time catching up on my multiple book readings and cooking! :)

    Unplugging from the PC, laptop and hand-helds during the weekends is something I've recently started doing. I noticed I was plugged into the matrix for too long, and it was cutting into time with the partner and family. I felt bad about it so I established "office hours". I check my email, respond to messages and calls, run errands, do homework, read RSS feeds, and check my social networks from 10AM-6PM. After 5PM, I start to shut everything down with the exception of the iTouch; I hang out with my bf after he gets home from work, cook together, and then I catch up with last-minute tweets before signing off to watch TV or read with him.

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