Multi-Tasking.....

I often tell my students that I can't multitask, but usually it's just a nice way of saying, "Can't you see I'm already DOING something ELSE?"

The truth is that I am pretty good at multitasking, and I consider it a challenge to see just how many things I can do at one time.

I didn't say I do any of them WELL.

I often have a multitude of windows open on the computer, because I wander off to a new activity while I'm waiting for something to load. The internet just isn't fast enough for me.

I've been playing the Nintendo DS with one earphone in this week because I also want to be able to hear the Wimbledon commentary.

I read my book during baseball games, particularly during commercials.

An "expert" came to our school a few years ago to talk about "brain-based research" (give me a large personal break), and she claimed that the brain cannot focus on more than one thing at a time. I'm not sure what she considers "focus," but every scenario anyone came up with to illustrate the ability to focus on more than one thing, she refuted it. [Aside: I'm not sure, but I'm guessing she never had CHILDREN?]

I wanted to use the example from church the week before. I was playing the piano, transposing the song to a key other than the one it was written in, turning pages, and singing harmony. I didn't want to sound like a show-off, though, so I kept my opinion to myself. I'm not sure she convinced anyone in that room, though. And I don't even remember what her main point was as it related to education, so how effective a speaker could she have been?

As of today, it is against the law in Georgia to send or read text messages while driving. I will admit that I've been guilty of that ON A VERY LIMITED BASIS, but I won't do it anymore. I will say, though, that some people can do it. And some just can't.

The ones who can't are the same ones who shouldn't talk on a cell phone while driving. And it has nothing at all to do with holding the phones in their hands. Hands-free devices won't help those people, because they simply cannot do more than one thing at a time. I'm not knocking them, mind you. I just think that kind of ability is something you either have or you don't. You can't learn it. It's like being naturally graceful/clumsy, musically inclined/tone deaf, artistic/not.

I'm not even implying that I should be allowed to send text messages while driving just because I can (sort of) do it. There should not be anything in my life that I must respond to within the 8 minutes it takes me to get from school to my house. What did we do before cell phones? WE WAITED UNTIL WE GOT HOME.

Sometimes I have a football game on television, a different one on the computer, a video game on the computer, and maybe a department meeting going on. And I might be crocheting. I'm not sure how much FOCUS I'm giving to any one of those activities, but my brain is apparently taking in some of all of them.

I have to go. It's time to turn the page.

Triple Tasking.....

I'm in an online meeting, and I'm one of four people responsible for tonight's presentation. Yet I'm typing this blog even as they speak. My part is done, so I've wandered away. I still have my headset on, though, so if someone calls my name, I can snap to attention with the click of a mouse. This is definitely a benefit of the online world.

I'm also grading assignments from my online students. I hate, hate, hate to go to bed at night with ANYTHING left in the dropbox. Lately, however, I have really struggled with staying motivated to keep up. But if I don't do SOMETHING, pretty soon it becomes overwhelming. The worst it ever got was when we went on a cruise. In spite of the fact that I spent $130 on internet access on the cruise ship (a substitute for the week would only have cost me $150 - go figure), I couldn't keep up. Not if I wanted to have any kind of vacation at all. When I got back from the cruise, not only did I have to return to my full-time job the next day, I had 98 ungraded assignments in the dropbox. I wanted to cry. Many students got credit for putting ANYTHING in the dropbox; it didn't really matter if they had analyzed the literature with any depth.

And every now and then, I pick up my crocheting. I'm almost finished with a baby blanket I'm making for a former student, and I want to get started on something for ME.

I guess I'm quadruple-tasking, since I'm also typing this blog post.
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Corollary to Murphy's Law #491:

The day you wear dress shoes and a white cotton blouse (with pants, of course) that you had to IRON, the day you decide to straighten hair that was never meant to be straightened, this will be the day you discover that you have a flat tire. Guess where the spare tire is stored on an SUV?