PLN- Week 1

Lately, I have been reading a lot of education blogs trying to wrap my head around the changes I am trying to create in my classroom as well as anything new and exciting out there in the blog-o-sphere. I happened to read one of Will Richardson's posts in which he linked to an article from the New York Times. The article focuses on IBM and their policy of not tallying the days thier employess take off for vacation. Instead, they give their employees the freedom to take vacation when necessary. Although this sounds like a great idea (heck, I would love the chance), what IBM found was thatmore employees were "working" on their vacation than just taking the time to relax and rejuvinate. What they meant by working was that they were completing projects for deadlines, checking email and voicemail, etc...

This really resonates with me because I feel like I do the same thing. So many times in my life, I work through vacations, holidays, days off, when I should be taking a break. Do I come in more relaxed? Not really. Often times, I am more frustrated because I don't know how to take time off. I feel the need to get the things done so that eventually I will have time to relax. It always seems as though there is one more thing to do or to cross off my list. Currently, I am on my third full-page list, crossing off item by item trying to prepare for school and for life (Sounds like a motto I have heard somewhere).

If the people at IBM are doing this, and are described as "a group of workaholics" is that what I have become? I think I did a great job this summer of taking time off and relaxing, but I question as to whether I can keep it up?

With the greater reliance on technology, I wonder if this is the future for my students? Will this be their future one where the line between work and play become inseperable?

P.S. I just liked this quote and its commentary on giving independence to workers; I think it really applies to what we are trying to do with changing the face of education:

“It’s like when you went to college and you didn’t have high school teachers
nagging you anymore,” said Mark L. Hanny, I.B.M.’s vice president of independent
software vendor alliances. “Employees like that we put more accountability on
them.”