Part of the 30 Goals, Goal 7
Me and my dad
Growing up my father pushed my sisters and me to step out of our comfort zones. Needless to say, I was pretty miserable being forced into doing things I didn’t want to do. For example, when I moved to a new school my freshman year of high school my father forced me to run for class president. I didn’t want to, because I was making new friends and I was embarrassed that I would lose. I surprisingly won due to the radical campaign my father set out for me which included plastering the walls with cartoons spouting silly slogans. My dad knew that as I got older I would need to be able to step out of my comfort zone to live life. I learned something very valuable that I would rather have a failure story to share than a story of regret. Stepping out of your comfort zone requires you to do something new that you are uncomfortable doing. My long-term goal is to force myself to try to accomplish tasks in new ways. This applies to my teaching and presenting. After a Twitter conversation with @Aldtucker, @Mccright, @Asbella, and @Edyoucation, I was convinced to chuck PowerPoint and try Prezi for presenting at my first conference this year. I’m nervous! I want to do well at these conferences, but I rather have a failure story than one of regret. Here are ideas for you to step out of your comfort zone:
- Present differently- try Prezi or doing a Pecha Kucha this year. These links will help.
- @Edyoucation shared with me this link for tips on using http://prezi.com/manual/
- @Asbella shared with me 3 of her Prezi presentations- VoiceThread – http://bit.ly/7LDq70, Top 5 uses of Technology for Young Learners- http://bit.ly/5vqQXP, Computer Lab rules- http://bit.ly/5TW7Yv
- Find out what Pecha Kuchas are by reading this post.
- Rearrange your classroom- Try setting up learning stations.
- Get rid of your teacher’s desk. This post by Russ Goerend explains the task and was shared by @Web20classroom.
- Trade in your uncomfortable shoes for comfortable ones and spend the majority of the class period walking around and facilitating in your classroom. This promotes your health and increases student learning.
- Change how and where you teach.
- Read this post for more ideas about teaching outside the four walls of your classroom.
- Teach paperless every Friday- read about this initiative at the Teach Paperless blog.
The long-term goal is the change and determining if it transitions into a permanent change. Therefore, to accomplish this task today I want you to think about what uncomfortable change you will make either in your professional or personal life and encourage yourself to be bold enough to make that step in the upcoming week. Try to at least create part of the plan of action for the long-term goal.
If you are new to the 30 day Goal challenge then you may want to join the 30 Goals Facebook group with more details and where you’ll find support!
Challenge:
Plan to step out of your comfort zone!
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