A few months ago, I was blessed (I know, cliche, but it's how I feel) to go to a networking event: "Dinner with a Principal."
The evening was glorious. When we talked about business meals in class, I was concerned to hear that you need to make sure the food isn't a priority, but the people you're with need to have your focus and attention. I love food. I love eating it and I love taking it home in "doggie bags." Needless to say, I was concerned that this dinner would be difficult because I'd be worried about eating, but not eating too much, but not leaving completely starved and food-deprived.
Glory of all glories! It wasn't even an issue! I went to this dinner straight from work and was able to be seated right next to a truly wonderful Principal. I aspire to teach Middle School math, so I wanted to talk to a principal with experience in Middle School or High School so I could be better prepared for teaching. Rosanna had been a Middle School principal and was currently a High School principal. Best of both worlds! She was so nice and seemed interested in our future careers, but also willing to give us insights into how to prepare. I had tons of questions I wanted to ask her and suddenly, the food was on the back-burner. Not literally, we all did eat food and dessert. However, I found myself so enthralled in conversation that I actually found it a burden to break my attention from her to eat a few bites of food.
I learned many things to help prepare me for teaching. I learned that experience is good (no duh), but that principals look for more than just qualification in your subject. The first thing they look for is how well you did in student teaching (if you're a new teacher). The second thing is your interests and if you are willing to share your interests to contribute to the school. I've always been so concerned about work experience and education, I didn't even think about highlighting my interests and skills regarding sports, clubs and coaching. I'm SO glad I talked to her and learned so many things!
Also, I have even learned from this class and sent her a thank-you email. I hope to continue to have contact with her in the future as I continue to learn and move into my career.
*Note: even though this isn't a typical networking event, I talked to Professor Middleton and she said it could count because it was applicable to my major and about as network-y as it gets.
**Extra note: I met a lady this past weekend while with my cousins who is a principal in Davis county. After talking to her a bit, we talked about schools, jobs, charter schools, etc. and she gave me a business card. This networking thing sure comes in handy and makes me feel hopeful about my future. I'd say my favorite things I've taken from this class are resumes, interviewing skills and networking.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Remote Meeting
As very important people in OBG Consulting with very busy schedules, it "helped" to have a remote meeting. Sometimes it is easier to find a time when everyone is available, but not necessarily in the same place than a time that everyone can meet AND a place for everyone to meet.
Introducing....REMOTE MEETINGS!
The beauty is, you can talk to people, coordinate projects and plans, but be in the comfort of your own home, on campus, at Starbucks, or any other convenient (but distraction-free) area.
For our remote meeting, we used conference calling. At our appointed time, we all called in. Unfortunately, Jordan dialed a wrong number and listened to some lovely classical music for 10 minutes before we got him connected to our call. Overall, the remote meeting went smoothly. The line wasn't too fuzzy, we were able to focus and make some decisions regarding our project and pound out the plans for future meetings.
One thing that was a little difficult for me in the conference call is that I am a very visual person. I'd much rather read something than hear something (though a combination of the two is definitely the optimal combination). Because of this, it made it harder to focus on the call, so I had to remove myself from distraction. Additionally, it was hard because I could not see body language. At times, I felt like I was not contributing enough to the group because I was primarily a listener. I always felt like I'd be interrupting another person if I jumped in and started talking, which can seem a lot more rude on the phone than in-person. Also, it is easier to read when people are going to start talking or have something to say based on body language than when people are simply voices on a phone.
Another thing that could be difficult with conference calls could be knowing who is speaking, especially if their voices are similar to each other or if you are less-familiar with the individuals. By this time in the semester, we were all buds, so it was easy to tell who was speaking in the conversation.
It is important to know that remote meetings can be useful, even if I prefer in-person meetings. It creates a new way to meet as a group, especially when trying to accommodate difficult schedules. However, it is also good to know the things that are difficult for me, such as distraction, so that I can be prepared for remote meetings and plan to be in a location with limited or no distractions. While remote meetings definitely have a time and place, they also have some inherent weaknesses, which are good to keep in mind so that they can be remedied as much as possible and I can prepare for the meetings as much as possible.
Introducing....REMOTE MEETINGS!
The beauty is, you can talk to people, coordinate projects and plans, but be in the comfort of your own home, on campus, at Starbucks, or any other convenient (but distraction-free) area.
For our remote meeting, we used conference calling. At our appointed time, we all called in. Unfortunately, Jordan dialed a wrong number and listened to some lovely classical music for 10 minutes before we got him connected to our call. Overall, the remote meeting went smoothly. The line wasn't too fuzzy, we were able to focus and make some decisions regarding our project and pound out the plans for future meetings.
One thing that was a little difficult for me in the conference call is that I am a very visual person. I'd much rather read something than hear something (though a combination of the two is definitely the optimal combination). Because of this, it made it harder to focus on the call, so I had to remove myself from distraction. Additionally, it was hard because I could not see body language. At times, I felt like I was not contributing enough to the group because I was primarily a listener. I always felt like I'd be interrupting another person if I jumped in and started talking, which can seem a lot more rude on the phone than in-person. Also, it is easier to read when people are going to start talking or have something to say based on body language than when people are simply voices on a phone.
Another thing that could be difficult with conference calls could be knowing who is speaking, especially if their voices are similar to each other or if you are less-familiar with the individuals. By this time in the semester, we were all buds, so it was easy to tell who was speaking in the conversation.
It is important to know that remote meetings can be useful, even if I prefer in-person meetings. It creates a new way to meet as a group, especially when trying to accommodate difficult schedules. However, it is also good to know the things that are difficult for me, such as distraction, so that I can be prepared for remote meetings and plan to be in a location with limited or no distractions. While remote meetings definitely have a time and place, they also have some inherent weaknesses, which are good to keep in mind so that they can be remedied as much as possible and I can prepare for the meetings as much as possible.
Chapter Presentation
Alrighty, so I know I'm really late on this, and I know that's not really an excuse, but I'm a little technologically impaired and the couple of times I remembered and tried to watch the video for our group, the internet usually stopped functioning. (Maybe someday we'll get Google Fiber.)
Anyway, the group presentation (minus the sound) was definitely a learning experience. As much as I hate watching myself and feeling my discomfort of presenting magnified as I relive it, I know it is useful for my improvement.
Two things I did well:
1) I smiled. Personally, I can never tell if my smile is genuine or a smile from nerves/discomfort. If the audience can't tell, then I guess it can't be a bad thing. So there you have it: smile even if you don't feel like it. Even if you feel weird, it usually makes the audience feel less-weird and they don't even notice you having a brain-fart and forgetting everything you planned to say. Unless you point it out. Moral of the story: act confident by smiling and going with the flow without drawing attention to flaws.
2) I managed to gesture to the screen with an open hand. I was able to draw attention to the screen when necessary and even did it fairly professionally by not pointing. Sometimes I feel like pointing helps me focus on specifics as I'm speaking, but the open-handed gesture is more professional and less-demanding. So I need to remember to keep it Vanna White style: open hand, big smile, and meaningful gestures.
One thing I can improve upon:
TALK LOUDER. Someday I'll learn how to use my loud voice in front of people. Hopefully sooner rather than later because 9th graders are not going to respect and listen to a mouse in front of the room. Change in volume and speed in speaking can help emphasize and draw attention to specific points, but it's obviously important for people to be able to hear you. It all goes back to the confidence issue: speak like you mean it and mean what you say. Also, I've always struggled speaking loud enough in front of people, so I need to try speaking about 2-3 times louder than I think is necessary. Maybe even 10x louder.
One thing the group did well:
Our slides were well-organized and the agenda was very useful. We had the presentation organized and most of the slides had a good format and were very readable. Because we knew the agenda, it was easy to plan and stay focused and anticipate our next moves.
One thing the group can work on:
First off, we THOUGHT the clicker worked, but it actually wasn't working, so practice is important for using technology in presentations. But on to the real thing we can work on: transitions. We could definitely be more fluid and practiced at passing off the presentation floor to the next person and introducing ourselves. Rather than trying to ignore the elephant in the room during transitions, it can sometimes be better to just acknowledge the transition and let it be part of the presentation instead of letting it distract from the presentation.
So there ya have it, folks. Practice presentations. Learn good presenting skills and keep the good, start more good and stop the bad. We all have things we can work on individually as well as when we're with a group in order to really reach group synergy.
Anyway, the group presentation (minus the sound) was definitely a learning experience. As much as I hate watching myself and feeling my discomfort of presenting magnified as I relive it, I know it is useful for my improvement.
Two things I did well:
1) I smiled. Personally, I can never tell if my smile is genuine or a smile from nerves/discomfort. If the audience can't tell, then I guess it can't be a bad thing. So there you have it: smile even if you don't feel like it. Even if you feel weird, it usually makes the audience feel less-weird and they don't even notice you having a brain-fart and forgetting everything you planned to say. Unless you point it out. Moral of the story: act confident by smiling and going with the flow without drawing attention to flaws.
2) I managed to gesture to the screen with an open hand. I was able to draw attention to the screen when necessary and even did it fairly professionally by not pointing. Sometimes I feel like pointing helps me focus on specifics as I'm speaking, but the open-handed gesture is more professional and less-demanding. So I need to remember to keep it Vanna White style: open hand, big smile, and meaningful gestures.
One thing I can improve upon:
TALK LOUDER. Someday I'll learn how to use my loud voice in front of people. Hopefully sooner rather than later because 9th graders are not going to respect and listen to a mouse in front of the room. Change in volume and speed in speaking can help emphasize and draw attention to specific points, but it's obviously important for people to be able to hear you. It all goes back to the confidence issue: speak like you mean it and mean what you say. Also, I've always struggled speaking loud enough in front of people, so I need to try speaking about 2-3 times louder than I think is necessary. Maybe even 10x louder.
One thing the group did well:
Our slides were well-organized and the agenda was very useful. We had the presentation organized and most of the slides had a good format and were very readable. Because we knew the agenda, it was easy to plan and stay focused and anticipate our next moves.
One thing the group can work on:
First off, we THOUGHT the clicker worked, but it actually wasn't working, so practice is important for using technology in presentations. But on to the real thing we can work on: transitions. We could definitely be more fluid and practiced at passing off the presentation floor to the next person and introducing ourselves. Rather than trying to ignore the elephant in the room during transitions, it can sometimes be better to just acknowledge the transition and let it be part of the presentation instead of letting it distract from the presentation.
So there ya have it, folks. Practice presentations. Learn good presenting skills and keep the good, start more good and stop the bad. We all have things we can work on individually as well as when we're with a group in order to really reach group synergy.
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