For decades when the weather turned cold I would have one recurring dream….that time was running out, I needed to wake up, it was time to break ice for the cattle.  🙂 Last night though that dream changed.  I still dreamt I could feel the cold in the air, could hear the wind howling outside my window, and well had a sense of urgency that I needed to wake up and take care of things….but this dream was different…..I didn’t need to break ice for the cattle, I needed to get my Activity Insight done!  Okay…I’m poking fun about this a bit.  But yes, ’tis the season to work on our Activity Insights.

I’m not here to give you advice on how to write your Activity Insight…but rather to encourage you to utilize your Activity Insight more intentionally as a planning tool.  This year I challenge you to finish your Activity Insight, then set it aside until after the holidays, then to pick it up again and read it.  Read it not for what it says…but for what is missing or for what you believe could have been done better.  Read those workshop evaluations again.  Evaluations aren’t just to assess what impact you made in what the client learned, they can also be used for some introspection.  If you are doing the same Extension program(s) again in 2018, how are you using those evaluations to change your teaching to improve the clients learning?  Say what….YES…I’m challenging you to improve your teaching to IMPROVE our CLIENTS LEARNING.  Are there areas of your Issue Teams logic model that aren’t being addressed by you or anyone on your team?  Are there potholes in your road map?  🙂  Let’s be more intentional about our teaching so that we are better addressing our learning objectives and our clients needs, and so that we can make an even bigger impact in 2018.

Here’s hoping that 2018 is full of intentionality for you!