There is a certain amount of fear when it comes to developing friendships and relationships in the work place. That fear of rejection, not being accepted or of being on the outer. Some people choose to sit back and not mix personal and professional boundaries. Yes, those boundaries are vital. However, there is certain need to put yourself out there and be open to developing positive relationships in your work place. So why exactly should we work to develop good relationships with the people at work? We all need work friends and here is why:

1. It is nice to have someone who understands the situation that you are in: Each workplace is dynamic and different. There are different styles of leadership, structures and expectations. The only people who truly understand what that is like is the people standing next to you. It helps when you have someone who understands your successes and frustrations
2. You will have shared experiences: bonding can occur at the oddest times. Times when there is stress or a shared or unique situation. Having someone to talk about these experiences with is certainly much better.
3. We all need to feel valued and appreciated: having friendships in the work force seems to increase that. The boss may not know exactly how hard you worked but your work mates will. Friends at work often make you feel appreciated and acknowledged. They notice many things that others don’t
4. They can support you when you are down: sometimes it is just too hard to keep that game face on. We all have times when our personal lives cloud our work. We all have times when we need a familiar and supportive face. Having friends in the work force makes you feel less down and out when you come to work. It is also easier to return to work after you have been away.
5. The workload will be shared more frequently: when you have positive relationships with your work colleagues, there is often more of an “us” mentality. People are more willing to pitch in, stay back and lend a hand if they are invested in you. They will be the ones who stay the extra ten minutes to make sure that you walk out the door together
6. Ideas are shared more freely in discussions: it is certainly easier to be open and honest when you are comfortable and have a good bond with the people that you work with. This causes people to relax a bit more and as a result, ideas flow freely. People will share their ideas more when they feel they won’t be put down, ridiculed, judged or laughed at.
7. People power drives passion and creativity: having positive relationships with your work colleagues helps build enthusiasm, passion and creativity. If you are all in it together, then there is less fear that you will sink alone. Energy and creativity comes easier when you are comfortable with your surroundings.
8.  Sometimes you need to debrief in a trusting environment: this is one of the biggest ones for me. When you have a bad day and you need to vent it feels better knowing that you can trust a work friend to take this no further. A work friend who will keep what you have said and not pass it on. A friend who will listen without judgement.
9. We all need to feel connected: sometimes it feels like there is nothing worse than being isolated and constantly alone. There is a fear that it is you and you alone whose head will be on the chopping block. It is human nature to seek connection and belong. Developing positive work place relationships can fill that need.
10. We all need to laugh, enjoy life and have fun: truly one of the best parts of having good relationships with your colleagues is the fun. The jokes. The laughter until your stomach hurts. Work mates can help us all enjoy the day and feel like it is less work. Nothing is better than when you have been smiling all day and come home feeling positive.
    

At the end of the day, we all need to feel connected. Work is just a job that we may love or hate. It helps us to get the money that we need to live. Work in short, is not life. It will be the people and friendships and memories that you create in the work place that you will remember the most. So whatever you do, take the time to get to know the people around you more. Seek to develop those positive relationships because in the end, we all need a work place champion!
#workplacechampion #positiverelationships #needgoodworkmates #loveyourworkmates #twocreativeteachers

Yes, we all make them. Technological blunders that miss the whole focus or do not make the impact we thought that it would. In the quest to find a balance of technological skill development and usage in a crowded curriculum, I am happy to admit that I have made many mistakes. I hope that someone out there can learn from these mistakes.

1. Overuse of technological tools: how easy is it when there is a great app or an app that you want to try? That is the easy part. Include it somewhere in the curriculum. The mistake part: using that same tool for weeks or months on end. Sometimes in the business of planning, it is just easier to include an app or program that the kids are familiar with. Never mind if they have done it to death or are bored, it saves precious time that we teachers do not have enough of. I am Carley and I am guilty of overusing technological tools for convenience.
2. Underuse of technological tools: remember that constant struggle for authentic balance? At times, I have failed miserably and often not included anything that will help develop technological skills and enhance learning. Why? I am ashamed to say that the excuses come quickly. I cannot be bothered setting it up or finding the equipment. I do not know how to use the technology. I have not had time to know the content. I am not confident answering questions if they come up. I have millions of excuses at times.  So as a result, some tools just are not tried and tested. I may have missed some golden opportunities.
3. Having no purpose: At times, I am sure that I sound like a parrot. “But what is the purpose of using this?” A massive mistake that teachers make is including tools for the sake of it or to say that they use it. If there is no purpose, then the kids will know that and it can become a waste of valuable learning time. Is it for the sake of having it on a planner? Are you using an app just to have some technology use for the students? Tools that are used without a purpose can become no more than a ticked box on a planner. Make sure that you have a clear reason for choosing and using a technological tool
4. Assumptions about student knowledge: the biggest mistake that I catch myself making is assuming that all students have access to technology and know how to use it. This has been a huge learning curve for me. Just because students are born in an era where technology is embedded in daily use does not mean that they are familiar with it or know how to use it. Technology is not widely available in all homes and some parents only allow minimal technological use. So take the time to become familiar with what skills your kids have and how confident they are using technology.
5. Allocating a long time to use technological tools: there is nothing worse than seeing kids sitting at computers and bored after ten minutes. Often technological tools are best used in short, sharp and repetitive bursts. Leave them wanting more! I have watched kids who are sitting at computers for a twenty to thirty minute time frame get bored and zone out after five. The tool needs to have a suitable matching time length. Too long and kids tend to look for other ways to be entertained. Technology must also be in that zone of proximal development and have a time frame to match. If the purpose is revision, then kids should not need half an hour allocated. If the reason is to publish and share work, then the time frame matches. If the game or app can be mastered or played in ten minutes, then that should be the time frame.

After making many mistakes over the years hopefully this will help some of you incorporate and utilise technological more successfully. In short, to avoid making these mistakes, know your tool, know your kids and know your purpose.

​ #knowyourpurpose #technology #classroom #twocreativeteachers

I recently had the pleasure of attending a Google Summit in Melbourne Australia. I had the privilege of listening to a variety of inspiring speakers and learnt some amazing new skills and tricks along the way. Sally Ann Williams was one of the first speakers. She discussed the way forward and shared some possible future avenues. I had always experienced trouble finding where technology fits in education. I had attended PD, read information and tried tools all trying to find where technology “fits” in this educational system. Try for the life of me; I could not wrap my head around its role. Currently, I feel like technology is used to replace and upgrade previous strategies. So instead of a DVD it may be a You Tube video. Instead of a physical game, it may be a game online. I might not model things the kids; an animation might do the trick. These are just really replacements or new ways to do things. I knew there was a giant leap needed forward but I still had trouble placing it in the current curriculum and existing systems. Words like time and resources always seemed to be factors that blocked me from moving forward. In theory, I knew that technological skills and understanding are vital. I know this is the future world for our kids. I completely agree that computer skills and understanding are essential for learning. Yet it just did not seem to fit in place. It is often overwhelming with the sheer amount of tools that are out there. It is overwhelming trying to search for a decent and relevant technological tools that will be embedded and not fade. In my mind, these things were clear but they never truly connected. The actual day-to-day place of technology felt so far removed from the reality of what I faced. Yet after hearing Sally talk, it connected with me. And it was all presented in a short and neat little package. CS + X. Simply put computer science plus a field. So computer science and art, computer science and medicine. It was like those light bulb moments that the kids have. Ah ha. Enhance, improve or modify. Maybe some part of me secretly held the belief that robots and computers would take over the world. But to have computer skills and science presented in an enhancement concept just made sense to me. I can see why technology skills and computational thinking skills can be used to improve and enhance medicine for example. It just seems to be a common sense way to approach technology. Not a full domination but a set of skills that may present a previously unknown and successful way of doing things. Computational thinking, analysing data and coding can be ways that we can strengthen existing things or create ways to solve challenges. Challenges in law, science, teaching, and economics you name it. Skills that will change the world. These are the skills that our kids will need to apply and use in their jobs and their future.

I am sure that there is much more to this but I just got a tasty snapshot. Sure, over the next fifty years I am sure that technology will replace many jobs and fill needs to make life easier for people. Look at how far we have already come. Part of me still feels a fear that technology will stop people from thinking about little things. Like it already has to some degree with calculating distances run, budgeting etc. There will always be that inner clash and struggle when it comes to change in society because people then need to adapt. Some do this quicker than others.  However, now I feel just that little bit less fearful. #GAFE #EdTech #GoogleSummit #twocreativeteachers