Though I have many unfinished posts in my draft section, it has been awhile since I have hit publish. Here goes my latest! I am fairly active on Twitter and my morning ritual is to Tweet out a quote on a background made with Buncee. Simple right?

Over the last couple of weeks I have had a few colleagues ask me about the purpose of this ritual. Their inquiries into my practice tend to be fairly nice and pleasant, though I sense the underlying feeling is that my morning routine is sort of a waste of time. I want to provide a little insight as to why I do what I do. Ultimately, I do it for no one other than myself. I post it publicly because that is what I preach to other teachers and students. Put your stuff out there! Create rather than consume! It just MIGHT resonate with someone else but, if not, I am ok with that as well.

The process I use to get and post the quote is the most important part of the ritual. It starts with thinking about what is important to me on that particular day. Monday might find me thinking about happiness, while Wednesday might be a growth mindset kind of day. Once I have my topic I set out to find the perfect quote. I read over a lot of them as well as trying to “verify” that the quote can be attributed to the person who is being claimed to have stated it. Sometimes I even to do some background reading on the person. This practice has lead to me reading book(s) by the person after finding out more about them. Laszlo Bock is a perfect example. I found a quote by him (see below) and ended up reading Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead. Definitely worth a read!

If you’re comfortable with the amount of freedom you’ve given your employees, you haven’t gone far enough. –Laszlo Bock

My next task is to use Buncee to add a background and/or images. Here again, there is more to this than just picking the first image that comes to mind. I add, take away, add again, delete, etc. until I find the perfect visual to go with the quote. The wonderful thing about Buncee is the huge number of visual elements that can be pulled in to make just the right impression. All that is left is to post it for the world to see…or at least my followers!

So what makes this routine mean something to me? Simple…my brain is working and making connections. In my role as a technology integration specialist I preach that classrooms/teachers/students need to be doing more of this. I am trying to set the example that what I am doing has purpose if for no other reason than it makes my brain think and make connections. The quote and philosophy behind each image sticks with me because of the process, not the number of retweets or likes it receives. Just think of the possibilities if your students could be given more options to create products that were meaningful to them!

Simple right? Not by a long shot!

Here is a link to my Buncee Board where I have started to collect my quotes.