The conversations you have

I get the feeling sometimes that people think I just walk around all day at work talking. At times that may be an accurate description but to say we're "just talking" can cheapen the human interaction. For example here is a link was sent to me by a fellow member of staff. Nothing too remarkable there (about me getting the link that is, the topic of the link I have quite strong opinions of!) but here's the background...

"I remember we spoke about this [at a work event] sometime ago"

So what?

Well this was a conversation with a non-teaching member of staff about a topic that perhaps they would not usually need to take an interest in but did as a result of our chat.

So what?!

So the conversations you have are important. They get you thinking. Just as importantly, they can get other people thinking too, which, in an education environment can't be a bad thing. Can it?

A profound statement

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Dave Crenshaw: This is a bit like an amateur carpenter, who, after hitting his thumb with his hammer, curses the tool and tosses it aside. Was the pain caused by the tool, or by the lack of skill of the person using the tool?

This tickled my fancy somewhat. Mr Crenshaw was responding to the suggestion of avoiding technology to improve attention and focus but neatly responds to blockers that are commonly encountered in education systems. It can even be applied individually in the classroom if you think about it. In fact I resolve to trot it out next time someone whines to me about having to use a different operating system or an updated application (we have just moved to the latest iteration of Office and the ribbon is causing some anxiety...)