Sep 14 2008
Dust In The Wind
I have a new organism for Professional Development – my Personal Learning Network. Based in in Plurk.com and, on balance, in Twitter.com and in Google Reader, it is more rewarding and as demanding as any experience I have in memory. I have decided that I need to reckon my time and reckon whether the attention that’s required is sustainable for me. I can compare it to either the time that teaching a course demands or the time required daily and weekly in the online Master’s I completed lately. Does this seem reasonable?
I fear that if I don’t strike a balance, all my living, learning, and teaching will end up being dust in the wind.
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I hope you can find the balance you need to continue because you are so valuable to my own PLN! I love the ability to share links, frustrations, successes with people who really understand me. I think this is a way to combat the fact that so many teachers get burned out. Don’t end up as dust in the wind because your PLN needs you!
I agree with you that it is getting more and more difficult to keep up with my PLN once I’ve gotten back to school. I never realized how much it grew over the summer until I get back. Having said that, I, like Pat, hope that you do keep up as much as you can. You are an invaluable part of my PLN! But I hear you. Between work, work part 2 (i.e., teaching grade class) and family, you have to keep the balance. And really, the online PLN, albeit one of the most important to learning, may be the easiest thing to push aside.
You have gone through a lot this past summer with the job search and the ups and downs of possibilities. It is hard work to get a new job and it takes a bit of luck as well. Often times positions are posted but they are not really available because someone else is in mind to be hired. Teaching is a profession that one can easily burn out in and I understand some of your frustrations.
I hope that whatever you decide that you are happy. Ultimately, that is in the end what is important. Your PLN will be there for you when you can be there. That is the nice thing about us. I think that all of us are busier than we were this summer. Plurk, Twitter and blogs are blocked in my school district so I can only use my PLN from home. I won’t sweat it and neither should you. Take some time to get into the school year and enjoy your family and friends. You won’t regret it.
It is difficult to balance life as there is always something to work on or learn outside-of-work hours. If you’re having a busy week and aren’t in Plurk that often we’ll miss your contributions and comments but we’ll be there when you get the time. Balance is important (I keep telling myself, too).
I have found lately, that I’ll pop in with a link I have found interesting, respond to a few and then get back to work. This means I have a whole lot to go through on my downtime but I enjoy not rushing in plurk. It’s a nice place to be.