Welcome to See You There, a blog to share ideas and reflections.
I chose the title because it references a place. I think of it as an aspirational place where meaningful work done well can take us. In my experience, that takes intention to stay on track. It’s easy to get sidetracked by distractions disguised as opportunity, or urgent issues which demand immediate attention and then waylay us. To stay focused takes stopping every now and then and checking. My hope is this blog can help with that by periodically encouraging a pause to consider where we are, what we are doing, how we are doing it, and most importantly, why.
These posts are intended to spark conversation on issues affecting our community. How do they apply to your unit, department, county, region, or program area? How are you addressing the issues? Let’s make this blog a gathering space for a meaningful exchange of ideas. One note, this is not the place to vent frustrations, please just email me directly if you have concerns.
I’m going to try to post weekly. Some weeks, I’ll write a new entry. Some weeks, I’ll curate an entry from my past blogs, and some weeks, there may be a guest blogger. Please join the discussion or bring it up with your colleagues. Pausing to reflect on what we do, and why we do it can help all of us be just that bit better. See you there.
— Cathann
Love this idea. I’ve been considering the power of storytelling… and how we might unlock and share un-Googleable experiences. i.e., How can we engage our students/clients, partners, and colleagues in the joint-construction of solutions to whatever issue we’re facing. Powerful stuff. Remarkable potential.
Pause and reflection are an important part of moving something forward. I often don’t think we take enough time to have time to ponder. Looking forward to good conversation here…
Brian, I recently participated in a presentation about wildlife night sounds. I say participated and not listened, because audience participation was heavily encourage and difficult to ignore, haha! (The speaker would have the audience repeat the night sounds (frogs, owls, katydids, etc.) that he was making.) While audience participation was a great teaching technique, what really struck me about his presentation was his storytelling. With nearly every animal he covered, he had a story to tell about it. The power of those stories was incredible, at least to me. I found myself listening and laughing along with the story. Later, when I recounted the presentation to my husband, I was surprised at how many of his stories that I actually remembered, and how much I had learned from those stories. Storytelling is definitely something I intend to use more in my own programming!