Perfect is the Enemy of Done

Two big things are occurring this week in my educational path - my students are doing their presentations of learning as they are wrapping up their Communication Technology Projects and I have just dropped off the written component of my Masters of Education potfolio to my good friend Eric for some edits.  These two events strike me as being quite similar as they both have a "finality" type of feel to them.  I hope that I am as successful with my written work as my students were with their presentations.  In October, while attending the ECOO (Educational Computing Organization of Ontario - if you haven't been I strongly encourage you to go! It ranks right up there with PBLWorld for being my favourite conference), I had the chance to attend many workshops and listen to excellent keynote speakers.  I cannot recall which presenter it was, but one of them used the line "Perfect is the Enemy of Done".

I have since used this line a number of times with my students as they sometimes get stuck on an idea, or more likely they develop an idea that is too grand to complete.  On a more personal note I have used this line on myself as a way to motivate myself to complete my work. Being in the role of a student concurrently while teaching has provided an interesting perspective on education.  I notice that I get stuck on similar things that my students also get stuck on.  There have been many changes from the initial stages of what my final Master's Project might look to what it actually is - Using Technology to Support PBL.

   Another similarity with a number of my students is that we sometimes struggle with getting things done - some of us for different reasons, but lately I am believing that we can always see ways to improve our work.  After each of my students presented their project this past week, the rest of the class did a quick "I like..., I wonder..." protocol.  In this protocol we could specifically state the things that we appreciated about their work and ask questions about how they completed things or even provide further ideas to make their project better.  On my paper, which I will post when it has been completed, I think that I could keep making edits and always find ways to improve it.  This does not mean that I don't like my work, rather, it means that our thoughts and learning continually grow and are dynamic.  However, at some time I just need to be done; I need to say that this work is finished so I can move on.  My work will never be perfect- it can't be perfect, there is always more revision and reflection that I can do.  Throughout my portfolio, I have been stuck on trying to make it perfect, but I have now realized that it is time to be done.  I know that there will be edits yet to do on my work, but it is time that I put my energy into other things, things that have been neglected, pushed aside, and people that have "supportingly" and lovingly given me permission to take up their time and focus on myself.  This change will happen really soon! It is feeling good to be done - well, almost done!