My Personal User Manual


One of my bosses, Ryan Smith, recently blogged about the clarity of a personal user manual. As I thought more and more about his post, I thought about how it might help me in my role as an ITS. Something like this might be useful, considering a large part of being successful at my job requires building and maintaining positive relationships with my staff.






So here is my personal user manual:

 I'm a pretty positive person and I tend to smile a lot. Sometimes I worry that others will think my smile is fake or looks fake because I do it so much. But I promise it’s not… I can’t really fake a smile.


One of my biggest strengths is that I am willing to say yes to new projects and innovative ideas. One of my biggest weaknesses is that I have a hard time saying no. So if I say no to an idea/project, it is not because I don't want to be involved, it is because I feel that I cannot give it the time that it deserves.

I hate looking incompetent. I prefer to be "in the know" in order to avoid that. If I ask questions about what is going on, I am not being gossipy per se, but I am trying to stay informed, so that I can offer and do my best.

When I am excited about something, I can be loud. When I am super excited about something, I can be extra loud. This can be off-putting to some, and I don't mean it to be. I have worked on it for years, and while I am aware of it, I can't always control it.

I am not easily frustrated, but when I am frustrated, you will be able to tell by the tone of my voice. There are lots of words to describe it, and none are good.

The word 'Hangry" was probably developed for me. If I appear angry, offer me a snack.

 I have a husband, two teen daughters, and a cocker spaniel - they mean the world to me. I love talking about them and asking about them is a great way to build a positive relationship with me.


Do you have a personal user manual? What would you say?




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Math Icon Board

Image
In my job, I am always looking for new ideas to share, whether it is a new activity or a new twist on an established one. Recently I got an email from Matt Miller at Ditch That Textbook with this idea -   an icon board for visual thinking.  I really got me thinking about how it could be used... and what other icon boards could be created. Since I am a former math teacher, that is where my mind heads - to math.  I started looking at the icons in the Insert Icons for Slides add-on, and sure enough, I found plenty that apply to math. So I started adding them, and thus creating my Math Icon Board My goal was to add icons that could be utilized in a variety of math and science classes. Obviously I do not have everything, partly because I couldn't find it or it didn't come to mind during my creation. When students use this, my suggestion is that they copy the icon (either by right-clicking and choosing copy OR hitting ctrl and C keys at the same time) and then pasting it
Read more

Remote Learning Recommendations, part 1

Now that many of us are in the thick of remote learning, or for those of us in my district, where we are preparing for remote learning, I have come across some great resources that I wanted to share. I am sure that throughout all this that there will be more, so that is why this is part 1. First, I have to say, I love Slidesmania . Her templates are amazing and I am constantly recommending her site to everyone. Right now, her Weekly Planner template is a must for teachers teaching remotely. Check it out! Second, I have seen a lot about educational technology companies reaching out to teachers, schools, and districts with free offers of normally paid versions.  On one hand, that is really cool, but it can be really overwhelming to teachers to decide what new tools to try in their classes.  Edweek  even wrote a very good piece on it. Based on what I have seen, planning with teachers and instructional coaches for remote learning, my recommendation is for teachers to generally use wh
Read more