Saturday 19 June 2010

Multi-Tasking:The Way to Keep Busy!

Picture above shows Multi Janets Tasking!

The past few days I have literally been making hay while the sun shines, getting up unfathomably early, in order to take the dogs for a walk, then hack away at the ever growing jungle at the back of our home, sorting out 3-4 compost piles, building my huge haystack in the middle of the land ready for a future blog post (I'm not joking!). In addition, I have had to constantly check up on the 5 incorrigible "Amigas" and sort out the never ending trail of devastation that they leave in their wake. Several cucumber plants trampled, tomato plants decimated, pepper plants pecked at and well, a lot of other misdemeanours. Anyway, apart from all these daily tasks, I have been as busy as a bee online!

As this blog serves as a personal diary for me as well as my personal development portfolio, I would like to share links to the following posts and say a big thank you to everybody that is mentioned.

A Journey in TEFL:Guest Post

My dear friend Eva Buyuksimkesyan from A Journey in TEFL, invited me to do a guest post on her blog a few days ago. I didn't hesitate in accepting. I wrote the post "The A - Z Files: The Secret to Organising your TEFL Life! in a very short time, because I felt inspired by the subject and I wanted to share a few of my secrets to keeping organised.

On this post I revealed that I have started a wikispaces A- Z folder where I keep all my bookmarks in alphabetical order of subject. It is a private and personal reference sheet for me but you are welcome to browse through it and check out the links if you wish. I won't be accepting contributors to this venture for the time being as it is purely intended for my own CPD and for ease of finding sources at the drop of a hat.

OUP ELT Global Blog:Guest Post
I have just written a guest post for OUP ELT Global blog called "Renew the Passion and Go with the Flow!". I enjoyed writing this post very much, as it made me think what useful tips I could share with teachers. Please do share your thoughts with other practical tips you have in the comments section on the blog post. That would be great!

Teaching Village:What you Can Learn from Barbara's PLN Quiz 2 (June 18th)
I was delighted to be one of the 4 winners of Barbara Hoskin Sakamoto's first PLN quiz What you can learn from my PLN -1 (June 13th), which I took last week. Barbara now has her 2nd quiz up and running on her Teaching Village blog and you can find it on What you can learn from my PLN Quiz - 2 (June 18th) . I am thrilled that one of the five posts selected for this week's quiz includes a post from me called Do It Your Way. Please do try out the quiz and you could win some lovely chocolate and goodies!! I'm looking forward to receiving mine in Oxford soon. Thank you very much Barbara for creating such an inspiring way for us teachers to learn more about each other and to share resources.

Teacher Reboot Camp:Future Guest Post
All in all, a very busy but rewarding few days. Why has there been such a flurry of guest posting activity? What has motivated me? What has urged me to get out of my Comfort Zone? There is a clue in Shelly Terrell's inspirational The 30 Goals Challenge Continues This Summer post on Teacher Reboot Camp. After I have checked up on my menagerie, done a bit more land work, I will be writing a post for Shelly, one of the most inspirational people you could ever hope to meet. I haven't met her, but I feel as if I know her. Watch Shelly's space!


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Moodle 1.9 Theme Design: Beginner's Guide
I am putting the final touches to my next book review -Moodle 1.9 Theme Design: Beginner's Guide by Paul James Gadsdon published by Packt Publishing. Watch this space!



6 comments:

Leahn said...

Ok Janet slow down! Must get the cleaning done sort stuff out for flea market and write two guest posts today plus I've got a DVD to watch with Ruchard Gere and a little dog. Multi-tasking as we speak waiting for the floor to dry before I continue with the cleaning!

Thanks for the inspiration if I hadn't read this I'd have probably stopped and watched the DVD and left the rest.

Take care

Leahn

Marisa said...

You see, how many things one is able to do! For me multi-tasking is the rule. I have multi-jobs: teacher of English, translator, interpreter. I feel I cannot do one thing at a time! The only times I do one thing (if you can call it one thing) is when I teach and the world around disappears and when I play with my nieces.

popps said...

how did you get so many janets in one photo?

Janet Bianchini said...

Hi Leahn

I'm impressed with your multi-tasking skills:)

I forgot to mention the classic line "Moderation in all things" is something to remember at the back of one's mind, when you are trying to do a lot of things at once.

I've just sat down and cooked a nice omelette, courtesy of the "5 Amigas" and am waiting for my black Espresso with Amaretto to enjoy outside in the sunshine. I'll relax for a while and then continue with other things, with renewed strength.

I think watching Richard Gere beats doing the cleaning, any day, but how about watching the DVD in chunks, rather than all at once? That way, there will be an incentive to do the household chores a bit quicker? Break the chores into manageable chunks.

That's what I do, I intersperse the hard working bits (eg working on the land) with easier, really enjoyable bits (looking through twitter / checking here for comments /doing my writing /reviewing etc.

So, if you are reading this in the middle of housework, stop what you are doing right now and get back to Richard Gere for at least 15 minutes before carrying on!!

Best

Janet

Janet Bianchini said...

Hi Marisa

Wow! That sounds incredibly busy to me! All those jobs are very challenging and require a lot of concentration and dedication.

I definitely agree that teaching is all-engulfing and that being immersed in the classroom takes over everything else. Your nieces are very lucky to have your full devoted attention when you see them.

Janet Bianchini said...

Hi Chris

That's something I will have to ask K when I next see him! He's the technical whizz kid in this house. Beats me how he did it!