100 Posts in 100 Days
Well, my mini-series on lessons learned from parents took me right past day 30 and brought me here, to 34% done! One-third of the way. That period from about days 13-23 was hard. I didn’t know what would come next. But it’s day 34 and I can hardly believe it!
I think I might actually write 100 Posts in 100 Days.
In my prior reflection posts on Day 10 and Day 20, I used the single-point rubric. What I’m really reflecting on this time, though, needs the story. So, here it goes:
I’ve always appreciated the language of “Learning Intention” over “Learning Target”, “Learning Outcome” or “Learning Objective”. I think I first heard the term at a break out session at a Visible Learning conference in San Antonio, TX. When we plan units and lessons, we plan for intended learning: the kind of learning that will happen when things go exactly as planned. Any educator with any amount of experience knows that not all lessons go as planned. Many times, the outcome isn’t what was intended at all.
Case in point: 100 Posts in 100 Days
My intention: I will publish 100 Posts in 100 Days.
My plan: Do it. Write and publish 100 posts.
Not surprisingly, I am learning and developing many writing skills along the way:
- I have a macro-schedule for 100 posts
- I have a pre-writing process for thinking about what to write next
- I have systems to capture and organize my ideas: spreadsheet, organized file system on my computer, a specific notebook to collect ideas, voice memos on my phone
AND, I am learning a host of skills that I never dreamed or intended:
- I have a whole new language and knowledge around websites and blogs:
- I know the difference between a visual editor and an html editor
- I know when to use a URL code and when to use an embed code
- I know how to add a plugin
- I’m beginning to learn website analytics and what they might mean for me now and in the future
- I’m learning how to use voice typing in Google docs
When I look back on this and reflect, three thoughts come to mind:
- Who would have thought? (Well, probably someone with more blogging and writing experience than me. But, I certainly didn’t know what was to come…)
- Mastery and Performance Orientations. Here they are again. My intention was a mastery oriented goal: be a writer. My performance goal: write and post 100 blogs in 100 days. My implementation and unintended learnings could have been performance oriented goals (if I had known what was to come).
- My “takeaway question” (see yesterday’s post): What are the implications of this experience for curriculum design, unit planning, and lesson planning?
Finally, if you are reading this, and the whole 100 Posts in 100 Days, thank you! Some of you have been cheering me on from near and far and I am appreciative of each of you!