My DEN Crib by Lee Kolbert

A little while back, I blogged about some cool just-in-time learning initiatives going on in my district. Headed by (“the other”) Lee and Kim, they’ve taken our little TV station in our big school district and created a quite popular 30 min. tech tv show called The PalmBreeze Cafe.

YouTube Becomes MeTube
My post here, acknowledges the national recognition they (finally) received and this post reflects on when I appeared on the show to do a segment on a Web 2.0 application called Airset. Well, the segment has aired and it has been posted on the PalmBreezeCAFE YouTube Channel. I have it here for you to see. (Both are at the end of this post, just hang on a second.) I have to first preface it by saying that this all is REALLY out of my comfort zone. So, in the name of professional and personal growth, I thought I’d give you a little glimpse into the neurotic Me. So, those of you who were hooked in by the title of this post and thought it was going to be something else… sorry. But while you are here, read on and don’t forget to comment.

Will The Real Me Please Stand Up?
For the most part, I’m pretty transparent. As a matter of fact, I tend to reveal more about myself than I probably should. Keeping my mouth shut has never been one of my strongest assets. But what most people don’t seem to get until they REALLY know me is that I can be terribly insecure. And yet, I’ve been told that I appear to be SO confident. Funny how that works. Those of you who know me in real life, know how insecure I really am, er… used to be. I’ve worked hard to gain confidence and I think, and many people around me believe, that I’ve come a long way. But, that sneaky little bugger creeps back into my psyche every now and then.

I’m Gonna Be Sick!
Even 5 years ago, just thinking about speaking publicly would cause me to run for the Pepto Bismol! So, one of my personal goals over the last few years has been to get over it! I’ve engaged some speaking strategies and presentation preparations strategies that I think have really worked for me (subject for another post, perhaps). At this point, I would not say I’m completely cured of the nerves, but I am much more comfortable and now I even seek out these speaking opportunities myself. As a matter of fact, I was just accepted to give a presentation at the Innovative Learning Conference in October.

Shameless Self Promotion
So, when I try to promote myself on Twitter that I’m appearing on our Palm Breeze CAFE and ask my peeps to join me and watch, and when I post these videos here for you to watch, what I’m really doing is pushing myself one step further in my goals to put myself out there. I am waiting to see that the world is not going to end because I’m not totally relaxed in this video and because my hair needs brushing or because I wanted to talk and had much to say BUT for some reason I didn’t say a word. I also see that I need to stop bobbing my head up and down, up and down! What is that anyway? Ok, enough….I’ll obsess more about this later.

Can you say V U L N E R A B L E ?
It occurred to me today that in my professional life, every 3 years, I’ve either changed schools, grade levels or moved to an administrative position. Now it’s been 3 years and I’ve found myself focusing on putting myself “out there” with blogging, attending and being much more visible at conferences, being a part of focus groups, state and national organizations and presenting. You know those dreams where you are presenting in front of a huge audience and you’re naked? Well, the frequency of those dreams has increased for me quite a bit.

Enough About Me… What About You?
What do you do to push yourself out of your comfort zone? Or perhaps you don’t, and you are happy staying there. What are your thoughts on this?

Ok, Back To Me…
Thanks for being a part of my personal growth! ~Lee

Airset Part 1

Airset Part 2