A Quick 2017 Reflection

The last time I wrote for this site, I had agreed to participate in an #IMMOOC - An Innovator’s Mindset Massive Open Online Course - centered around the George Couros book - "The Innovator’s Mindset". It was in early September and I was just starting in my new role as an instructional coach.

At that time, I was still getting my feet under me as a coach. The first few months in this new role have been about building relationships and doing professional reading. I assumed, incorrectly, that I would have plenty of time to contribute to this ongoing, educational weblog journal.  It is now the last day of December...and 2017… and I am just getting time to reflect and write.

I have, over the past four months, been provided with a deluge of quality professional development through my Board, my Twitter Professional Learning Network (#PLN) and my own reading & research. My position also affords me the enviable opportunity to collaborate with creative, passionate and dedicated colleagues who consistently bring their “A Game” to classes and schools everyday.

So, I want to take a few minutes to reflect on 2017 and start anew tomorrow.

• Last year, I wrote  16 blog posts - My goal for 2018 is to get to 24. I also intend to ReTweet more blog posts from my colleagues. I think we should all tag each other in our posts and repost frequently - ideally quoting the post with feedback.
• My most popular was an effort to dispel some myths about Prayer in Schools that I penned in April http://bit.ly/prayerinschool  Perhaps this is evidence that I should tackle more controversial or dynamic subjects.
• Surprisingly, my least popular was http://bit.ly/AlrightFairEnough which detailed a cross-curricular approach to teaching Junior age students how to effectively and amicably disagree with each other. It was written in the middle of the summer. I suspect that had something to do with it.
• Another weak post was my early September effort to chronicle my journey as an Instructional Coach. This I get. It is self-indulgent and frankly boring. I need to do less of this.
• I am proud of the growth of my #PLN. I am following nearly 3000 Twitter users (mainly educators) and I am on the verge of gaining 2000 followers. I don’t want to set a goal here, because I have already far surpassed my expectations.
• The best book I read this year was Trevor Mackenzie’s “Diving into Inquiry: Amplify Learning and Empower Student Voice”. It was made better by my participation in a summer book club using my favourite App of the year - Flipgrid.
  

I want to keep this short. I know that is important. Knowing that my posts are short will embolden me as a contributor - I hope to come right back to the keyboard tomorrow to begin writing my #OneWord post for 2018.

Have a safe, happy and healthy New Year.

Marc