Faking Productivity

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas A. Edison

One of my goals this summer is to read more. I’m trying to read a variety of books that range from light reads to ones that cause me to think. Right now, I am reading a book about slow productivity. I just finished the beginning of the book, and it focuses on where our productivity culture came from. The idea of people looking like they are productive, and they really are not. In today’s modern workplace, we spend more time responding to emails about what we are doing. We sit in meetings discussing what we will do instead of just doing it. This is especially true in education. From emails to parent messages, we are constantly bombarded by something we have to respond it. While responding to those messages makes it look like we are doing a lot, it actually takes teachers away from their main job. It creates the appearance of productivity. However, it actually diverts teachers from their main job. Their primary responsibility is teaching. To be productive in my classroom, I avoid looking at my emails during the day. I also don’t check my district’s parent messaging system while I am with students. I am upfront about this, and it allows me to focus on teaching.

Another thing that helps me be productive is riding my bike. It might seem like I am doing something other than work, and that’s not being productive. It makes me productive because it gives me time to think and reflect. It’s not like I can distract myself with my phone while I ride. I am focused on the road and my thoughts. I have come up with some of my best ideas for teaching and the classroom while riding my bike.

When I ride my bike somewhere I typically bring my camera with me. Photography is my hobby. I captured these photos at one of my favorite parks to visit in Charlotte, Marshall Park. All of these photos I captured I used a lens from a company called Retropia. I love this lens because it is lightweight. This makes it perfect to bring with me while on a walk. I also love that it is made from recycled disposable camera lenses. When I capture photos with it, it looks like the shot was captured with a film camera. It has various imperfections in the shot that give it a retro look. I also like how the lens doesn’t need to be focused. Just like an old school disposable camera, all you have to do is point and shoot.

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