What is personal development challenges?
At the start of 2015, the staff at Create Development were asked to consider an exciting, personal challenge and to explore what personal and professional learning they might gain from the experience. It had to be something that they really wanted to do, may have already planned to do and it had to be outside our traditional skill set or really difficult for us to achieve. Staff journeys were then documented in a blog.
The team set out on their challenges, some physical, some practical, some personal, in the hope that we could all experience the same progressive challenges as the amazing teachers we deliver to, increasing our empathy and improving our own practice. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing a selection of blogs documenting some of our successful and still progressing challenges, as we watch our team redefine what’s possible for themselves!
This week, we’ll be checking in with Jan Parker, who set herself the amazing task of completing the Manchester to Blackpool cycle ride in aid of the M.E. Association. Here’s Part 1 of her fantastic adventure!
Jan’s Blog – Part 1
First of all, I have to say that when the email came through, my initial thoughts were, “Oh no, something else I have to and fit in when all I want is to sleep for a week!” However, that soon changed when I opened the attachment and read the task – genius! What a great task – pick anything I want to do and chart my learning journey. So, the first problem to think about was what I was going to do. There were lots of things I considered: something along the sewing/craft line, learning to play the piano better than I can now (so that people may just want to listen to me playing rather than cover their ears!), and I love food, so maybe something around cooking?
In the end, though, I wanted something that would provide a challenge in more than one area but also something I would enjoy doing and would be able to fit into my lifestyle. I enjoy pootling around on my bike, usually on holiday, so I thought what about making that more of a challenge and aiming for a long distance ride? And, whilst I was about it, what about also raising some money for charity? Roger (my husband) was totally supportive (and actually I think slightly jealous that he didn’t get such CPD opportunities from his school!), so being the kind of guy he is, agreed to join me in this challenge.
The Physical Challenge
