This is it. The end of #28daysofwriting. It has been awesome. I have loved the experience and I know I will continue. Tonight's post will probably be pretty cliche, from the title to the content but I don’t care. I want to reflect on how this experience has changed me.
Tonight I am going to write about the things that I have learnt over the last 28 days. It has been challenging but but change doesn’t happen without turmoil. So by putting myself in the position where I had to do something that made me uncomfortable it changed me… for the better.
I learnt that I can do it. I wrote every day. No matter what. For 28 days.
I learnt that I can do it. I wrote every day. No matter what. For 28 days.
I learnt that I have a few worthwhile ideas to discuss. I thought I would have run out of ideas to write, but between classroom practice, leadership ideas and random rants I had plenty to say and felt like as the month went on I got better at saying it.
I learnt that people are actually interested in what I have to say. Between the awesome feedback from my posts on twitter and as comments and the huge jump in traffic on my blog I was completely humbled by how positive the online community is. I only began my blog a few months ago as a way to reflect on professional learning and my practice. But since starting #28daysofwriting I have had over 1500 hits. That's almost 8 times the number I had before!
I learnt that there are some amazing practitioners out there. Reading peoples blogs and reading a huge range of experiences and perspectives is amazing for your own professional development. Between reinforcing your own ideas to being completely challenged in your thinking it has all been fantastic.
I have learnt the power of the PLN. I have had contact with an amazing group of people who without #28daysofwriting and Twitter I would never have had the chance to talk to. These new connections are amazing. I know that I have a number of people that I can now contact if I need help and support. They range from beginning teachers to principals and educational specialists. Where else could I have this kind of support in a small school in little old New Zealand.
I learnt that I work with some amazing teachers. This whole process has made me notice more in my own school. Between my colleague @BridgeeNZ who is taking part in #28daysofwriting who has consistently impressed me with her insightful blog posts, to the other teachers I work with who do an amazing job everyday.
I have learnt to be more courageous. The thought of writing publicly terrified me before and now I know that I can do it and not do a bad job of it. This courage has filtered into other parts of my professional life. I always was an ideas person but know I value my ideas more and second guess them less often. This has led to a more decisive educator. I don't always get it right but at least I make a choice and try.
Lastly I learnt that I love being a teacher. I kind of always knew this but this whole challenge has just reinforced it. Education is my passion. Now matter where in the system I sit I am passionate about schools and how they help not only the future of the students but the future of our society as a whole. This kind of responsibility is as exciting as it is terrifying.
I hope you have enjoyed this final post. I hope you have enjoyed writing over the last month. This might be the last post for #28daysofwriting but it will not be my last post. I am thinking about maybe starting #52weeksofwriting. Writing every week for 52 minutes. This gives time for planning and a less rushed post!
Anyway thank you all for you support, thank you all for you posts, and most of all thank you all for being part of this amazing profession called education.
This was my last post for #28daysofwriting. I would like to say a huge thank you to @tombarrett for organising this absolutely amazing challenge.
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