I Have An OOD

 reflection  No Responses »
Jun 222012
 

Moving the blog

So I have an OOD (Object of desire). This is a way of planning a project that I learned from Havi’s blog. I’m going to play with the process here and the detailed steps in the hard will eventually find their way to the intranet wiki. This is a variation on Gibbs Reflective Cycle really but a lot less dry & more fun.

The OOD process seems to me to be about dealing with the soft, the things that get in the way.

1. State the OOD.

I want to move the Classroom Displays blog to another domain.

Displays blog

2. Is this what I really want? In what ways?

Yes, it really is. What I really want is to bring things that belong together, together in one space.  I want to ease confusion, for readers, for me, and for the dreaded Googlebot.

It appeals to my sense of order and logic for everything to be together.

I want the blog to return to getting better traffic, to reaching more people that I might be able to help. I suppose this links back to my original reason for setting up the blog in the first place. A core value, the sharing of good practice.

It’s time to review and bring stuff together.

Also the blog is old and a bit creaky. It needs to renew, a fresh install, a chance to clear out the old unlovely posts. It will be able to do the things I can do on other sites that I can’t get to work just now.

3. Qualities.

What qualities will this project bring into my life?

[+excitement] [+enthusiasm] [+joy] [+delight][+renewal] [+trust] [+pleasure] [+ease] [+flow][+experimentation] [+courage] [+energy]

4. Why I want this.

I want to reach more of my right people and help them.  Along the way I want to make more money from my course and other displays projects and I can’t do that if they don’t find me.

5. Possible disadvantages, What-iffery, monster-objections.

What if Everything goes wrong.

What if I lose all the goodwill and links to the current blog.

301  re-directs should sort that out. Also big announcement/email people about a re-design and move might even get me new, better links!

What if Google thinks the new blog is a copy and treats it as a splog.

See above!

What if people realise I want to make money. (!) This is bad because apparently I’m not good enough to charge anyone for anything. Ever. (Spot the monster!)

This guy really needs to talk to the You’ll NEVER Make Any Money monster! I’ll play with the monster colouring book.

What if I still can’t do the things I want to the blog & it will all be for nothing.

I’ll do some due diligence first and check some of the techi bits work on the new host before I start.

What if I can’t finish before the new term?

Not sure that is a real problem at all. Maybe it doesn’t matter.

What if I get stuck in the middle?

I’ll ask for help.

What if it’s no good?

Monster negotiating time again.

6. Tizmun. The flow of the project

That’s these drawings

Mapping the journey

The Sea of New Possibilities

7. What will help?

Morning Pages!

Drink water!

Use the timer & have lots of breaks!

Spicy tea!

Do some reverse engineering!

Ask for help at the right times!

8. Slightly Future Me says….

It worked out really well. I think you should use the drawing idea more to help you find your way through. Use some of the RAW Art Journal ideas. Try not to compartmentalise things too much. You are a creative, visual person and I’d like you to remember that you can use that to help me get to here. Trust your instinctive reactions to designs and that will help your right people to know they are in the right place. We are making a creative learning space so it does matter that it looks right.

9. Allies, resources and helper mice!

Andy, of course. But other people too will help. Good FB connections, Edublogging friends, twitter allies, people who’ve done the course already, Havi and her helper mice for moral support.

10. Practical mapping.

OK so this goes on the wall not in public

Don’t forget steps in the hard & soft

11. Processing pain.

Bit like Gibbs – thinking and feelings

12. Revue!

1) What worked?

2) What might I want to try in the future?

My word for this year – move!

Update:

The Classroom Displays Blog has moved to a new site http://classroomdisplays.org.uk/ and has a snazzy new design. Next comes Revue :-)


 

 

 

30 days of relflection & walking

 reflection  4 Responses »
Dec 122011
 
diagram of reflection

Reflection - from my degree exhibition

I’m reviving an old practice.Reflection and walking reflection formed a huge part of my degree and have slipped out of my daily practice over the last year. For the next 30 days I’m returning to them.

Quinn has invited people to join her in a 30 day experiment. I’ll use it in my own way of course, rather than stick to the given guidelines. No surprises there then!  It’s come at a good time and what I’m going to do is a return to daily reflective practice. I’ll start by using ‘What? So What? Now What?’ for a week. That’s a nice gentle introduction into the habit. I’m toying with using occasional reflective splurges, maybe some fiction, maybe Gibbs, all the reflective tools I learnt at Ultraversity. Once a week I’ll take what I’ve done and do a double loop reflection. That should shake things up a bit! LOL!

I’m also going back to walking as a form of reflection. I used this a lot when I did the degree. Quinn’s version is meditative but that’s not my way. I shall be walking and chewing over my reflections, using that extra oxygen and the rhythm of my steps to help the thinking process.

I’ll be using this blog as a learning journal but as always it will be the insights and action planning that gets reported here, not the writing itself. That needs to be private.

Other people are doing this too and they can all be found in Quinn’s sidebar and, hopefully some of them in my comments section!

 

Wedding Blogsplash – Fiona and Kaspa need your help…

 Writing  2 Responses »
Jun 012011
 

Kaspa and Fiona have taken over my blog for today, because they
need our help.

They are both on a mission to help the world connect with the world
through writing. They are also getting married on Saturday the 18th of
June.

For their fantasy wedding present, they are asking people across the
world to write them a ‘small stone’ and post it on their blogs or on
Facebook or Twitter.

A small stone is a short piece of observational writing – simply pay
attention to something properly and then write it down. Find out more
about small stones here.

If you’re willing to help, we’d love you to do things:

1) Re-post this blog on your own blog any time before June the 18th and
give your readers a chance to hear about what we’re doing. You can
simply copy and paste the text, or you can find the html
here.

2) Write us a small stone on our wedding day whilst we’re saying our
vows and eating cake, post it on your blog, and send
it to us.

You can find out more about our project at our website, Wedding Small
Stones, and you can also read our blog at A River of Stones.

We also have a July challenge coming soon, when we’ll be challenging
you to notice one thing every day during July and write it down.

Thank you for listening, and we hope we’ll be returning from our
honeymoon to an inbox crammed with small stones, including yours.

Kaspa & Fiona

 

Songwriters Circle

 informal learning  1 Response »
Jan 122011
 
Songwriters Circle

Songwriters Circle

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time this month getting involved in a new project with Andy, The Songwriters Circle. There’s the website  and a Songwriters Circle Facebook page.

I’m doing the January Challenge with the aim of writing one song I’m happy with by the end of the month. There are quite a few songwriters both new and experienced involved and it’s great fun. I’ve never written a song before and it’s fascinating to play with a new way of writing. I’ve been blogging about in the private community area.

I always enjoy working on projects with Andy and have done ever since we did the degree. This one is turning out to be a real treat as I’m  helping to plan the structure of the month, building up the site/community and allowing my creative side out to play actually doing the challenge.Very satisfying and I’m learning lots.

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