So, as the song goes, another year is just about over, and a new one is soon to begin. Or something like that. I like this time of year because it gives you a chance to actually stop and reflect about what you’ve achieved – something that you don’t often get a chance to do during the hectic nature of the year. So what have I done this year? What was I proud of, and what was I disappointed with? As usual, there’s plenty of candidates for both categories.
WORK:
It’s been a time of big change at my school. Obviously, the biggest news is that I will be an IEU Organiser next year. It’s with mixed feelings that I leave McCarthy – there’s always a sense of a job not being done, but I think that’s made worse at McCarthy where we are, quite literally, in the middle of structural change – at both the systemic and school level. Still, the opportunity for working in the union was too good to pass up.
And perhaps its just the thing that I need – I’ve found myself getting impatient with the slow pace of change – and what I thought were some generally bad decisions – at my school, and the people I work with deserve better than my grumpiness, so a change of pace might be exactly what is needed.
Still, it’s a big change.
UNI:
Well, it’s another mixed year here. I’ve enjoyed the PhD process, but I’m beginning to get a little impatient for it to come to a finish. Hopefully, that will be remedied by next year – the thesis has been written, in a rough draft, but clearly there needs to be a significant review, particularly around my conclusions.
I need to do a lot of revision work over January. Good news – another book chapter is on the way, and a paper will hopefully be published shortly. I’m already booked into a conference for next year, presenting a paper, and there is another conference related to EdTech that I’ve been invited to present at, too.
OTHER:
On the other fronts, there’s been good news and bad news. We’ve finally got around to doing all the things that we wanted to in the house (deck, pool, lights, painting, floors) only to discover that once you start, there’s always one more thing to do. We bought a new car for Liz (a Holden Cruze). We went to Melbourne on holiday a couple of times and almost made it to Brisbane. I visited California for the first time, seeing San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. I carried on my work with French and Programming, actually getting somewhere with most of it. I think. And a few of our other plans are coming to fruition, too.