Last summer in Austin, I had the pleasure to meet Lisa Johnson aka TechChef4you. She shared here ideas about iPad basecamps in our homegroup-time during the Worldwide institute for Apple Distinguished Educators. Since that time I follow her on Twitter and her blog (not every week I must confess!) and she inspires me!
Now she has written her second book! Here are some of my thoughts about it.
Now she has written her second book! Here are some of my thoughts about it.
In short: it is great! I love it because this is a book I was looking for without even knowing it!
Lisa's writing is sparkling, as if you can hear her talk. I laughed out loud multiple times! The quotes from Alice in Wonderland or other Lewis Carroll's stories makes it light. Even when this book contains much of heavy stuff! This book is about serious business and will prevent you from digital clutter and other side paths you don't want to explore.
Lisa made me think of all the stuff I collect online, what is it? Where do I keep it? Can I find it when needed? This is what we have to learn! There are no fancy dossiers anymore in my classroom and in my spare bedroom. Years ago I got rid of all those paper. Now I have all these files and folders on Dropbox, Google drive, Onedrive, iCloud and on my computer! And of course there is a backup external drive! But: I have only 1 version of each document/file. I've seen some folders from my students (and colleagues!) with names like: new folders (1), new folder (2) and so on...
We have to teach 'them' (everybody!) how this works! It will save me a lot of time when I get more organized online. My yurls-page is a good example on how it might work.
The calendar part of the book was spot-on. Yes I have an analog calendar/planner and I also use my digital calendar. I tried a bullet journal but we (the BuJo and I) had some issues so I choose to let him go. This chapter inspired me to create my own planner. This idea has to simmer in my head for a while but I will come back to this!
Each chapter ends with: Wakeful Whimsy Core Ideas. Readers who get inspired are asked to share their ideas with #creativelyproductive. Take a look on Twitter or Instagram for more ideas.
When Lisa shared her workflow on note taking I recognized it from last summer. Lisa was taking notes on paper, took a picture, import it in Canva, export it to thinglink and enrich it with digital content and finally shared online. Sharing is one of the most important things for me when I am visiting a learning activity. I'm tweeting from there (keep in touch with my followers) and use my tweets as notes to write a blog post about the learning activity.
Goal setting and habit tracking is a bit of a challenge for me. Sometimes I forget to stop, think, feel and reflect on what I'm doing. The compass from the book (like the level 10 life) will help me in the future to stay on track. The positive procrastination list is one of the things I will use the next couple of weeks.
The model that resonates the most in my head is [the rubber band model], a model that helps me make a decision. I will share this with colleagues so they can think of what they want to achieve and what decisions they have to make!
Like Lisa, I really love to read! Mostly for PD these days but that is not a problem at all! Lisa's tips for reading and reviewing (PD) books are simple to use. So funny to see a review of "A book that takes its time" from Flow magazine in this chapter.
Images and pictures in the book are lovely. For me there is a little bit too much washi tape but I can see how this works out for other. I like the idea of using only 1 or 2 colors matching with the theme of the book.
In the last part of the book Lisa shared working wisdom: tips and tricks from a various and diverse group of professions. The way you work is different in each job but stay productive is best for everyone!
Are you loosing time by searching for the right files, have you forgotten that great take-away from you last PD? Did you get lost in your planning with different calendars? Buy this book!
Lisa's writing is sparkling, as if you can hear her talk. I laughed out loud multiple times! The quotes from Alice in Wonderland or other Lewis Carroll's stories makes it light. Even when this book contains much of heavy stuff! This book is about serious business and will prevent you from digital clutter and other side paths you don't want to explore.
Lisa made me think of all the stuff I collect online, what is it? Where do I keep it? Can I find it when needed? This is what we have to learn! There are no fancy dossiers anymore in my classroom and in my spare bedroom. Years ago I got rid of all those paper. Now I have all these files and folders on Dropbox, Google drive, Onedrive, iCloud and on my computer! And of course there is a backup external drive! But: I have only 1 version of each document/file. I've seen some folders from my students (and colleagues!) with names like: new folders (1), new folder (2) and so on...
We have to teach 'them' (everybody!) how this works! It will save me a lot of time when I get more organized online. My yurls-page is a good example on how it might work.
The calendar part of the book was spot-on. Yes I have an analog calendar/planner and I also use my digital calendar. I tried a bullet journal but we (the BuJo and I) had some issues so I choose to let him go. This chapter inspired me to create my own planner. This idea has to simmer in my head for a while but I will come back to this!
Each chapter ends with: Wakeful Whimsy Core Ideas. Readers who get inspired are asked to share their ideas with #creativelyproductive. Take a look on Twitter or Instagram for more ideas.
When Lisa shared her workflow on note taking I recognized it from last summer. Lisa was taking notes on paper, took a picture, import it in Canva, export it to thinglink and enrich it with digital content and finally shared online. Sharing is one of the most important things for me when I am visiting a learning activity. I'm tweeting from there (keep in touch with my followers) and use my tweets as notes to write a blog post about the learning activity.
Goal setting and habit tracking is a bit of a challenge for me. Sometimes I forget to stop, think, feel and reflect on what I'm doing. The compass from the book (like the level 10 life) will help me in the future to stay on track. The positive procrastination list is one of the things I will use the next couple of weeks.
The model that resonates the most in my head is [the rubber band model], a model that helps me make a decision. I will share this with colleagues so they can think of what they want to achieve and what decisions they have to make!
Like Lisa, I really love to read! Mostly for PD these days but that is not a problem at all! Lisa's tips for reading and reviewing (PD) books are simple to use. So funny to see a review of "A book that takes its time" from Flow magazine in this chapter.
Images and pictures in the book are lovely. For me there is a little bit too much washi tape but I can see how this works out for other. I like the idea of using only 1 or 2 colors matching with the theme of the book.
In the last part of the book Lisa shared working wisdom: tips and tricks from a various and diverse group of professions. The way you work is different in each job but stay productive is best for everyone!
Are you loosing time by searching for the right files, have you forgotten that great take-away from you last PD? Did you get lost in your planning with different calendars? Buy this book!
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