1st, 2nd, and the rest...

As I sit here reflecting over 2015 as 2016 comes quickly, I am reminded of what one of my professors at Lamar Univ said on a live video conference this past spring.  He replied to a question from another student who asked what advice he could give to have a successful, long career like him.  He was a local Superintendent in a small district, also serving as a part time professor for my program.  His response was to remember to balance life and to remember your priorities, keeping God (or your faith) first, family second, and country next.  Such a simple response.  God, Family, Country, but something I surely needed at that point in time.  See, last school year, and in particular, that spring (Spring 2015) was the most stressful time I think I had lived through, and hearing his response in April was just what I needed at that time.  And it's something that has stuck with me since then and something I've made the choice to live by.  Faith first, family second, and let the rest live after those two things.  See, I've made several posts this summer and into fall about living balanced and making choices, and I'm so glad I've lived by this for six plus months now.

During this Christmas break, I've had the joy and pleasure of spending time with family, attending church together with my brother and sister, something not often done as we all attend different churches, and the blessing of just doing nothing.  I know what a huge blessing this is and I know that not everyone gets to do this.  I also know where I was at this time last year, in this same season, and I've posted about it already, so I won't take any of this for granted.

So as I reflect over this year, I can say with certainty that I hope you find the time, make the choices, and decide to live by this same style, to make your faith first, your family next, and let all the rest just blend into the background of life.  Take control over your life, don't let it control you.

Productively Distracted

Since Thanksgiving, in our home, there's been tons of music, and less of TV and football, as much of a fan as we are.  On one such occasion, after fighting over the Chromecast on the big screen, I ended up winning this particular night, and discovered this sermon called, "Death by Distraction".  I strongly encourage you to watch, or even listen as you commute.

Something he said in there really struck me as I sit, think, reflect, pray, and commute weekly and daily.  The phrase that resonated with me is "productively distracted".  As he went on to explain, we can be distracted from our true calling, our true mission by doing other productive things.  Things that are important, necessary, but seem to consume our day, our thoughts, our time.

So, of course, I started thinking of things that take me from my own calling, which is that of my family and kids, and the kids at my school.  I left the classroom five years ago, having been asked by my Principal at that time, to take on a leadership role.  I accepted thinking I could help many more students by helping teachers, and for a while I did that.  After some time, the stress and roadblocks finally won out, and I decided it was time for a change.  But during those years, I was challenged to get my Master's degree, and as part of that program to take on my weakness of technology, which ultimately became my passion and drives me even now.  I also realized during those years, how I became productively distracted by doing things that are necessary but didn't have a lasting, eternal impact like leading and guiding and investing in my own family, own kids, and even my own students.  So, with that information, what is one to do?  For me, it took realizing what's truly important, making choices to prove that importance, and learning to say no.  So, I hope you take time this season to reflect as a year comes to a close here quickly, and evaluate what's truly important in your life, and then take steps to prove that importance.

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It's a Great Day to be Alive!

No matter how much I prepare myself, it always seems to catch to me in time, finances, cooking, etc each December.  In light of all the craziness of this world, I know it's not much to complain about after all.  In fact, I have often told others that any day above ground is a good one.  And that there are others who would love to have my bad day.  So, even though the kids are going off the rails, in need of a recall button for email that day, the gas tank is empty on a cold night, I'm up to my elbows in apple peels knowing I promised to make homemade applesauce, and the people I've been asking for an invoice waited five months and sprung it on me now before Christmas, I can still be grateful and appreciative for much.  For my husband's health now for nearly a year with only three doctor visits during 2015 after fifteen days in the hospital this time last year.  For my added work done with college.  For my three beauties (my daughters) who are my right hand with chores and tasks with happy hearts.  For a car that works.  For a warm home and soft bed each night.  For large, happy, blessed families (there's twenty three on my side of the family and sixteen on my husband's side).  For food on the table each day.  For my God that loves me.  And for so much more.  

I have this saying hanging on my cabinet at school that says this:

During this crazy, but meaningful season, I hope you have some moments, where you can just sit, relax, take a breath, and just simply be with those you love most.  Lately, my husband has turned off the TV in our home in favor of good music and tonight this one came on.  It is indeed a great day to be alive, so I hope you, like me, take moments to savor the time we do have with others.

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YouTube Learner

Pivot tables, motion charts, canned responses, oh my...

I've been working on becoming a Google Certified Educator for a couple of months now.  After breezing through Level 1, I became stuck in Level 2, and thinking I could just plow ahead, I took the Level 2 test and failed.  When there's any kind of fee involved in learning, which each level test has, I hate to pay and fail.  So, of course like anyone else, my first question after getting my results is, "Why?"  I want feedback.  And the dreaded pivot tables, motion charts, and canned responses are sinking me.  But when I click on the links in the training units to learn more, it's a help sheet of text.  Not that I'm opposed to learning this way, but it's not learning that sticks with me in this way.  

I know my dominant learning style, being visual and kinesthetic, so I'm a YouTube Learner.  I need to see it, do some, then see some more, then do some more.  Initially, I didn't take the time to look for solid videos to learn these concepts thinking they wouldn't be so important, but alas, I found otherwise.  

So now, I watch, do, study, then test again in a bit.  But at the end of the day, the lesson I try to impart to my own children, is to never give up.  Just because you hit a bump in the road or don't understand something, don't give up.  It may be the 2nd or 100th time that doing something will result in success, but don't give up.  Just try to learn the lesson a different way, which is what I'm doing.

In this experience though, it reminds me to meet our students where they are and in the learning styles they need to succeed.  We need to adapt, revise, and continue on, but never give up.

Critics

I must admit, I've started and stopped this post on four different occasions now, just trying to process my thoughts and how to say what I wanted to say without being all negative, because after all the idea of criticism or critics, isn't a popular or positive one.

When my husband and I began serving as the Children's Pastor at our small church 8 years ago now, our Head Pastor's words to us were, "When you're in leadership, everyone will have a better way for you to do things."  These words translate to every type of leadership role I can imagine or have ever been in.

What I've experienced is that no matter your role, there will be critics.  As a Teacher, an Instructional Specialist, and now Testing Coordinator, there are those who will be a critic or tell you how to do your job differently, aka "better".  But something else I've recently come to realize is that, as an administrator, the same is also true.

I had the opportunity recently to attend a district training with both my AP's and our Diagnostician.  During lunch, I watched one of our APs deal with a crisis back at school, by phone, while trying to eat.  Now, mind you, I told my husband when we got married nearly 17 years ago, "I don't understand subtlety, so don't use it on me."  But over the years, I learned to read body expressions, and man, I could tell that this AP was having a time on the phone and trying to eat simultaneously.  Not a fun position to be in.  Once the crisis was done, my question to both my APs was this, "How do you make that mental division of school and home/life?"  You see, administrators are just like teachers and any other professional, they have a life outside work, so how does one just simply "turn it off"?  Their response?  Choices...sounds so simple, but not so.  They make a conscious choice to not check email, leave tomorrow's work for tomorrow, set a schedule and live by it faithfully, but to also be flexible, and lastly to make their families a priority after school hours.  To be fully present wherever they are.  So, then my question to myself becomes, "How do they deal with all the critics?"  And my answer is again, it comes down to choices.  We have the choice to let someone bother us or not.  We can let criticism roll off like water on a duck's back or let it set in and steep in our bones.  We can let it ruin our day/week/month, or not.  Choices, plain and simple, not always easy, but necessary.

15 Hours a Week

I heard a quote this morning on our announcements that said, "If you want to go quick, go alone and if you want to go far, go together."  It kind of struck me as odd.  When given the option to work in a group or work alone, I would choose alone, due to being done wrong so many times in groups.  But I understand that later part of that quote, that if you want to go far, go together.  But I want to go far with my family.

This past weekend at my church we had a community outreach as a Halloween alternative and as my husband and I served together to man a game booth, my children got to visit the games on their own without Mom or Dad.  It really reminded me that there needs to be a balance between what we do for others and what we do for our first loves, our first ministry, our family.  Am I going far with my family or just giving them leftovers from my days?

My school is 22 miles from home.  I've been there 13 years now and each year it seems like my drive has gotten longer and longer due to construction, growth, new homes, etc.  The number of stops I make each morning has not increased, but the time to do these often takes 90 minutes in the morning and just as long in the afternoon to get back home.  I can count at least 6 routes to school, but none is direct.  So, when I add it all up, it takes me 15 hours a week to commute back and forth to school.  In all these years at my campus, I've been tremendously blessed with Grandma care for the last 11 years as I've had a little one and for that I'm eternally grateful to have had one on one, loving care.  It's been a choice to drive this distance for my kids and my family.  It is very important to me to give my kids a stability in their education and as my oldest nears her senior year and begins driving, while my last one moves through Kindergarten, it leaves me in a quandary.  Do I pursue the admin route with all my education, certification, and training in place or do I go back to the classroom and implement so many things that I've had the opportunity to observe and learn from others in my support roles?  In either event, I am certain of only one thing and that is that I want my commute to be no more than a total of 5 hours a week.  I want 10 hours of my life back each week to put that time into other parts of my life outside of school.  I want to be home before dark so my kids can know our neighbors, can spend time together (outside of our van) as a family, with extended family, and with our church family.

So this post may not be encouraging to anyone in particular, just simply a reflection of my current state.  If anything can be taken away from all this, is that we all have choices.  You, me, we, are not stuck in any particular situation.  No one is guaranteed tomorrow, so how will we choose to use the time we have on this planet?  Who will get your time?  I only know that I don't want driving to get my time.  I want my family to get more of me.

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More Than Just "Making It"

Yesterday I saw someone I hadn't seen in quite some time and as usual, the question gets asked, "How are you doing?"  My standard response is "I'm making it." And when I saw her face after saying that, I could tell that I was being a "Debbie Downer" to her at that moment with my response.

At my school, we used to have a teacher that when asked the same question, would always reply with "Living the dream, living the dream!"  It would catch me off guard and make me think, "Yeah, you know any day above ground is a good day!"  I've taken to ending any email I send out with a salutation which reads, "Have a blessed day!" and I truly hope that whoever reads it does.

As I've stated in some other blog posts, teaching is a ridiculously hard profession.  Things change rapidly, day to day, even moment to moment in a class period, and there is an almost unreasonable amount of stress that comes with educating students, communicating with families, and just staying current on content and other things.  So, shouldn't we do everything in our power to build each other up instead of tear down?

I'm not sure what season your staff are in where you are, and I don't mean literal season like spring, summer, winter, or fall, but encouragement, disillusion, reenergized, defeated, etc.  But it seems that during this time of the school year and during the middle of the spring semester too, that we as teachers get weary, worn out, feeling defeated and we need to be encouraged daily.  Some folks are born encouragers who leave you feeling better for just seeing them, knowing them, listening to them, etc.  Some folks are not and need to be encouraged.  I think we all fall into both of these categories depending on the season of life we are in.  We need to "carry our own weather" as The Leader in Me program says.  We need to "be kinder than required at all times" as I saw posted in a class at my school.  We should not be merely surviving, not just "making it", but thriving.  The moment we are just surviving, we need to seek out those born encouragers, but not to be their Debbie Downers, but to get some refreshment so we can always give our students our best effort and not just a partial effort.  I hope you are more than just "making it".  I hope you are thriving.  I hope you are helping others to thrive and speaking life into them.

Maybe you need some Educational Reassurance?

Maybe we just need to count our blessings and Find Some Good?

Maybe you need some Twitter-ment or help finding your marigold to encourage you?

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The Great Irony

As a teacher in the classroom every day, I knew my students better than anyone.  I knew what made them tick, what motivated them, how they processed information, how they learned best, etc.  I knew my kiddos better than anyone.  

As an instructional coach for the past four years, I experienced walking that delicate balance between administrator {which I am not} and support teacher {which I am always}.  I could observe in a class, help you figure out how to work certain aspects into your day, how to help you manage your students, group them, arrange your class to run more effectively and efficiently, etc, but I could and will never pretend to tell you how to teach your students, because you, the teacher, know the needs of your students better than any data report I can pull, better than any observational time.  I could coach you into more sound pedagogy practices, but not teach for you. 

So, herein lies the great irony.  As a teacher, we are told by so many to "Do what's best for your students.  You know them best."  But we are also told, "You must teach this concept this way, and don't deviate from this curriculum."  "We must do it the way the district folks say so."  And as a teacher, we're left wondering if I should just do what I know to be best for my students or choose to do it the way I'm told and prescribed and not rock that proverbial boat.  If I step out of that boat and make waves and I fail, well then I get laughed at, penalized, talked badly about.  But if I step out of that boat and I succeed, then others want to emulate it and I become a "success story."  So, what's a teacher to do?

I will never pretend to know what the perfect, right answer is.  But I completely understand the great irony and know that each teacher has to make that choice daily to do in their heart what is right to help their students succeed or do what is told so as not to cause problems.  What I am certain of, is that no one person, not even a team of folks can make a single curriculum, single lesson, a single strategy that will work for everyone.  In my district we are nearing 120,000 students, so no way can something work for every student.  That's why we need caring, daring, studious teachers to take the time necessary to never give up on a single student and keep trying, keep motivating, keep changing till they "get it", and keep pouring into our students every day.  I always try to keep in mind the thought that if this were my own child, how would I want them treated.  Having three kiddos (Kindergarten, 6th gr, and 11th grade), I know and understand that what works for one may or may not work for the other.  

I know I'm not alone in this great irony.  It's one the echoes through the generations, across socioeconomic statuses, and across the country and world.  And I know that it won't soon go away.  So to each teacher I say, study your students, learn what makes them them, and never give up.

Why Blog?

I started really being faithful in blogging this summer as a challenge from Kasey Bell on her blog.  I wrote about it in a previous post.  

I am a total Math/Science person at heart.  Structure, logical thinking, numbers, black and white thinking.  But, I am also a person who reflects.  I don't have a quick wit.  I so often think of what I should have said or done long after something has happened.  So, blogging affords me the opportunity to stop and think about my own learning and experiences and then become intentional about choosing my words and thoughts carefully.  It also allows me to link my learning from a variety of places to a post so that I can find it later.  

Blogging isn't for everyone, but reflecting should be.  When I blog, I'm putting all my thoughts and written words out there for others to read and then make their own opinions about me and I have to say that not all my blog posts have been met with smiles, but with each one, I learn something.  Reflecting should be a natural extension of our education.  We do something, we reflect, we learn from it, and then we change something about what we do for the next time.  Most teachers who have multiple classes see this in their day to day teaching, where they do something in their first class and depending on how well it went or if kiddos are "getting it", they change their strategy or activity.  So blogging is to me.  I write something, I reflect, then I take time to do something different  from then on.  I think we should be teaching our students how to do this too and giving them an opportunity daily to not only reflect upon their learning, but upon their day, their choices, etc so that in this they can learn to become deeper thinkers, and deeper learners.

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I hope you take time today, this week, this month, this school year to really reflect.  As one of my Master's Professors said, "We are in the business of practicing our craft."  Which to me means, we are practicing, constantly learning from, modifying, changing what we do to better ourselves and what we do to help our students and staff.  We will never perfect it, because we are reflecting and learning continuously.

"Fostering Reflection" ASCD Article by Lana Danielson

"What Meaningful Reflection on Student Work can do for Learning" by MindShift

Just 4 Fun

Part of my becoming more balanced this school year, includes doing things just for fun.  My husband is teaching me this one.  I am a total cheap skate, so much that he can hear Lincoln screaming from the penny.  I budget to the point that I'd rather eat ramen noodles for lunch rather than order out for a birthday celebration.  But this weekend, my family had the privilege of walking/running the Color Run Houston, seeing a movie, and spending time together.  I realize that not everything fun has to cost money, but this weekend it did.  And we had a blast!  Doing things just for fun might be different for you and your family, but I'm learning that we all need things that are just 4 fun.  

I didn't become an avid reader until I was an adult, already in my career of education for 5 years.  I know this may sound crazy, but it's just the honest truth.  I read because I had to, because there was an assignment attached to it, a grade with it.  You get the point.  My middle daughter who was due in early May, leaving me plenty of time to rest and then teach summer school that year, didn't arrive until May 24th, so I was instructed by my district that I was a liability so stay home.  So, after having her, and buying and moving into our very first home 2 days later, what was I to do?  A former teaching partner of mine recommended a young adult book called The Skin I'm In by Sharon Flake and I was hooked.  I went on to read Money Hungry by the same author that summer.  And when I was done with those two, I became very restless.  I've already said that I have a really hard time just sitting still, so I gave this friend a call and said, "What else do you have?  What do you recommend I read next?"  She recommended Janet Evanovich, who writes mystery/romance and I spent that summer reading everything she had written up to that point.  See, I had just not found a genre that really connected with me or a book I liked.  It wasn't that I had more time on my hands, having my second child and my older one being 5 years old and moving into our first home, I certainly had plenty to do, but this joy of reading became something to me that was just for me, just for fun.  Nowadays, I'm an avid reader who consumes nearly 100 books a year and I love every minute of them.  I'm grateful for someone taking time to listen to me, find out what I like and recommend stories to me!

Tonight as I sat at dinner, my oldest, who is now 16, relayed the same feeling I had all those years ago.  She loves to read.  All my girls do, and for that I'm grateful!  They always have a book nearby and usually carry one when we go places so they can sneak in some reading time on the road, waiting in lines, etc.  But she told me that she hates it when it's attached to an assignment or has a grade dependent on it.  Makes me sad that this is what reading has become so often.  It reminded me of an article I read this summer that I discovered through Twitter, called "At Any Given Moment We Have the Power to Stop the Hatred of Reading" by Pernille Ripp.  I hope you take some time to read her blog post and reflect on our teaching practices of reading and find ways to help kids LOVE reading.  And I hope you take time to discover something for yourself that is just for you, just for fun!

We're Watching You...

Yeah, yeah, I know fair is not always equal.  I've said it to my kids, to staff, even to my own students and lived it too, but we are still watching you.

I write this blog post tonight not to start a war or offend anyone, just to start a conversation after we reflect upon our own practices.  Every blog post I write is my way of reflecting from my own point of view, whether it be right or wrong, well that's up to you, but it's still my opinion.

In the personality colors test, I came out yellow first, then blue secondary.  Meaning, I like order, routine, following rules, structure...the yellow side of me.  Then there's the blue side of me, who cares about your feelings, what you think, wants to people please, believe the best in others and wants to encourage you.

I've experienced some situations where I felt slighted, unfairly treated, or left out, because favoritism came into play from others.  And I don't feel comfortable calling out those folks in any form.  I move far away from controversy, no matter who or what it is, even if this post suggests otherwise.  But what do you do then to address the situation?  I honestly don't have a solution to this, just wanted to write this to help us all think and reflect.  Are you playing favorites?  Do rules, policies, laws only apply to certain people and bend for others or get completely set aside?  And whether you do this consciously or unconsciously, know that if you do this, others see it, experience it, feel hurt by it, because we're watching you.

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When I started in education, my Mother in Law warned me about the politics of education, of this very thing, but I refused to believe.  However, having lived through some of these things, and yes, we live THROUGH them, not in them, it's not fun.  It shapes who we are, who we trust, what connections we choose to make, even where we choose to teach or work.  The very act of teaching has got to be the hardest job on the planet, no matter if you are at a well to do school or a very needy school, so then why would any leader choose to let politics, favoritism, whatever you call this enter into our schools.  We are ALL equal, so treat us fairly.  A leader is not a leader if there's no one following behind them.  Treat us with integrity, honesty, transparency, and without favoritism.  When you do this, you build a culture of teachers who feel valued, connected, supported, care about their work, and want to stay around for many years.  When you don't it tears down the climate of any staff faster than anything I know, and you have rapid turnover and folks who just don't care about their work.  The crazy thing to me, is that following the same set of rules, policies, and laws for all staff is something that costs you zero dollars, so it's FREE to build up your campus, staff, and students.

Here's an article for teachers to ponder upon: "Playing Favorites?"

And an article for bosses to ponder: "How do Deal With Favoritism in the Office"

And here's a book I found through Google about Stepping Into Administration: How to Succeed in Making the Move, which I will be purchasing that has some valuable info about this topic too.

Analysis Paralysis

At my campus, we're beginning to get some baseline data from our beginning of the year tests and quizzes.  As with any assessment, there comes a point when you've analyzed enough, and it's time to put some action to it all.  Sometimes, however, it's easy to see all the vast needs of your students, your teams, your campus and just be paralyzed by all of it, not knowing where to start.  It's a lot like starting a deep, spring cleaning after your teenage daughter had an overnight sleepover at your home.  You look around and really just don't know where to start.  So much work to be done.  The same is true for beginning of the year data.  No matter the content, at this time of the school year, you know (or should) your students needs based on observation and based on hard academic data and you know there's much to do.

For me, when I get to this point, and it happens every year, I have to take all my data, consult with folks smarter than me, and then sometimes, just start.  Like the old Nike commercial, just do it.  You bathe your students in small groups religiously.  You start other types of interventions that your campus may have access to.  You call parents, set up conferences, solicit their help at home, find ways to motivate your students to read at home, do contests to keep them motivated, etc, etc, etc.  Bottom line, you just start moving forward with your students needs in mind and don't stop, don't give up.  I'm not telling you it's going to be easy.  I'm telling you it's going to be worth it.  There will be times when you are worn out, want to give up, but it's usually in those times, that a holiday comes up.  And I hope you leave it all at school for those times, and take the time to recharge with your family and friends, so that when school starts again, you aren't paralyzed, but recharged and ready to go.

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Twitter -ment

There are many places to get encouragement, but for me, in my profession, it's Twitter.  Last night, I was able to participate in the College Station ISD Chat (#csisdchat) and each time I participate in any educational related Twitter chat, it's always inspiring, encouraging, rejuvenating, and refreshing.

I read an article that I found through Twitter this week, while waiting in the dentist office, that really, and I mean really, really, really resonated with me called, "Find Your Marigold: The One Essential Rule for New Teachers."  I strongly encourage you to read this article and ponder what it means to you in the context of your school, business, or organization, and what the implications of having a marigold in your life are.  For me, I'm proud to say I have a marigold and she knows who she is, as I shared this with her yesterday in a text message.  I won't embarrass her here, but I know I've caused her to be angry at me, take me aside like a mother would, speak sternly to me, have me hang my head, etc, but she still takes time to encourage me in all aspects of my life, not just professionally!  

If you find yourself in need of encouragement, agreement, investment, employment (yes, even this), commitment, improvement, involvement, achievement, excitement, establishment, engagement, amusement, enjoyment, acknowledgment, astonishment, enhancement, refreshment, refinement, accompaniment, enrichment, nourishment, empowerment, wonderment, or even betterment, then you truly need to find some Twitter -ment.  It's been in Twitter, and remember, I only joined in Jan 2015, that I have been able to experience all these, when my marigold was busy, sick, tired, overworked, or otherwise unavailable.  See, even marigolds need all these things too.

I've had some folks tell me that they couldn't take on yet another social media platform.  There's no way to keep up.  But to that I say, there really is no way to keep up, that's why Twitter chats are so helpful to me, because it enlarges my PLN, gives me more folks that I feel connected to that I can send out an SOS when I need something.  And I hate to sound like a broken record, but if there's something in the technology world that makes me better at my role, better for my students, better for the teachers I work with, then why would I not use it.  I hope you find some Twitter -ment in your life this week. 

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Learning or Playing?

I'm trying not to get my feathers ruffled this week.  But I've had two different people tell me something to the effect that they couldn't do something with technology or didn't have time to use this or that with technology because they didn't have time to waste on playing like I do (because they thought there was no academic value in it).  Yes, technology is my passion, but no matter what your passion is or isn't, shouldn't learning and playing be synonymous?  I mean really, how many of us every really learned to do something under stressful, laborious conditions or without much interest for the subject or with simply a piece of paper and pencil?  When I see kids (and teachers) experience some new piece of technology, site, program, etc, there are smiles, enthusiasm, a focus on that task like not seen in a paper and pencil task.  So, if all this is true, then my goodness, why would we not want to use every available piece of technology or find some way to incorporate it or use it to motivate our kiddos as a reward for something?  I don't mean to rant, I just simply don't understand.  But maybe I do a little, see I was slightly there a few years ago.  "No, I don't want to learn that new program because I barely have time for what is required after all."  But when I discovered all that it can do to save me time, like grading those assignments for me, or motivating my reluctant and shy kiddos to speak into an iPad and tell their story instead of being mute in class, or watching my most ADHD kiddo stay focused for thirty plus minutes, then why not.  

To me, PLAYING IS LEARNING!

A poster I found for our computer lab says, "Learning is not a spectator sport, so let's play!"  It's in this "playing" that we make mistakes, reflect on them, fix it, move on, learn to persevere, learn how to have stamina, learn how to have grit.  It's in the "playing" that I, as a teacher, now have time to see my students in a small group setting so they can't hide in a large group and fake their way through some content.  It's in the "playing" that I learn how to keep my students motivated, attentive, engaged, yet active in their own learning.  It's in the "playing" that I now have time for more important tasks like using all that data to reteach/review instead of wasting it on actually grading something (and I'm not just talking about assessments).  It's in the "playing" that I can be a better communicator to my families and connect my students to the real world.  It's in the "playing" that new discoveries are made on all sorts of topics.  Playing and learning just go together and we should all make time to play every now and again.  Playing makes us better at what we do and better for our students (who by the way are better at technology than any adult I know, myself included).  I hope you make time to play and learn!

Find Some Good

To say this has been a crazy week, would be an accurate statement.  The stomach bug made its way through our entire home.  The youngest has been dealing with some teeth issues since summer, so we had to make an emergency trip to dentist.  At our home, the gas company had to come do service which left us without hot water for three days.  And at school, we are deep in the midst of beginning of the year testing that requires technology that is aging and an internet system that has been in and out.  With all this, there is much to complain or be down about, but I still say, find some good in everyday.  My family is all healthy now, has a roof over our heads, cars that work, food on the table, jobs, and family that we get the opportunity to wake up to each day.  For this and much more, I am grateful!

You see, no matter your role, whether it be parent, teacher, administrator, coach, adult in general, I can guarantee that you are The Problem Solver for someone.  You are the person they seek out in times of indecision, turmoil, problems, frustration, etc.  Speaking for myself, it can be draining to fill these shoes, but I still have to find some good in each interaction, because there are others relying on me daily to keep a cool head.  I'm not perfect at this, and this week proved this.  It's my responsibility to give folks the benefit of the doubt, to find a win-win solution to things, to encourage others, to say no when I can't do something and not try to muddle through, to seek help when I need it, and to find some good in all situations.  It's been my experience that many times the issues I encounter with people is a by-product of something that is completely out of my control, so I try not to take things personally.

I'm not sure if your week has been like mine, but I still want to encourage you to find some good, even in the craziest of places and times.  There are others who need you.

Educational Reassurance

No matter what our gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or age is, we all need some educational reassurance from time to time.  This week, my colleagues are venturing into this wide open world of Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and are required to develop their Google site (teacher webpage).  For some, it's no problem, Google how to do it, watch a how to video, read a quick PPT with instructions and they are on their way.  For others, it's a scary venture and they need some reassurance and for those I can completely relate.  Teachers and other educational professionals, in my own opinion, truly want to do what is right and meet those deadlines, but so often the procrastination is based in fear.  Why do something that seems so monumental that will be phased out in a couple of years?  How will this positively impact my students or families?  Why is this important?  I don't know how.  I don't want to waste my time going in circles or having to redo my work.  I've heard it all and said many myself.  So, it's my responsibility to reassure them that this is a good thing for them, their students, and their families.

I'm not saying it's going to be easy.  I'm saying it's going to be worth it.

But here's the thing...it's not just in technology that we need reassurance.  How many times have things been mandated or passed downhill in education with little instruction or explanation?  In my experience, many times.  Like it or not, as teachers, we should help not only reassure our students during times of change or difficulty, but we should also reassure each other and encourage others.  This should be modeled starting from the top down and hopefully will help to create a contagious, positive culture for any campus.  

Now don't get me wrong, we all need a time to vent and express our frustration.  We all can't have those happy personalities and roll with whatever happens.  But by the same token, we should also be cautious in our venting, because we have little people watching us.  We have others who follow watching us, and when they see me frustrated or any admin frustrated, then it can do damage to whatever the new initiative is.  

So, for those times when you {or I} have nothing positive to say, here's a great resource I discovered through TPT created by Jennifer Hanger.

Failure IS an option

Ok, so I know this may sound weird, maybe a bit of a depressing topic, but I've had the word failure rattling around in my brain for a little bit now.  See, we have all heard the phrase, "Failure isn't an option."  But, actually it is an option, and it's not always a bad thing.  

The word failure has this negative stigma attached to it based upon our own life experiences.  According to Google, the definition of fail is a lack of success or the omission of expected or required action.  

I've spent some time finally deciding what I wanted our computer lab to represent, how it should look, what should go on the walls, and what I finally landed on were some ahhh-mazing posters created by a sweet lady, Shannon Long (@SweetBlessShan), and her site she writes on, "technology rocks. seriously."  She recently shared some posters she made in a Google drive here.  Many of them are inspirational in nature, designed to remind students and teachers to not give up and this is what lead me to start thinking of the word failure.  I know, strange connection, but that's how my brain works.  Anyways, we almost always, myself included, associate failure as a bad thing, but it can actually be good.  When faced with a new task, new program, new way of doing things, we will certainly face obstacles, failures if you will.  However in these obstacles, failures, difficulties, we discover within ourselves or by help new ways of doing things, better ways of doing things we were already doing, more efficient ways, etc.  We learn from those failures.  A true learner at heart will embrace those failures as opportunities to learn, not give up.  Too often I think we quit trying to learn something with a small hiccup, something didn't work right the 1st time, so why keep trying.  We lack that grit as Angela Ducksworth calls it.  When, as an adult, we model this in front of our students, or talk about this "giving up" in front of them, or complain about how we will never understand, learn, etc, then our students live this way too.  We need to model how to fail, how to overcome, how to have grit, and how to never give up!  It's in discussing these failures and how we overcame them that our students see them for what they are, "learning opportunities". 

I do believe that some failure is just as the saying says, and we have the obligation to NOT fail our students.  We must continually be learners at heart so we can adequately meet the needs of our students.  Each year is different, each class is different, each child is different and requires different things.  If we fail to learn, fail to try even, fail to overlook some things (not all things), or fail to seek out help when needed, then we are planning to fail.  Don't fail, but if you do, learn something from it, for our kiddos need someone who is an overcomer, willing to embrace failure, willing to move forward, willing to step out of their comfort zone and try.

Find Your Balance

Today my family celebrated my oldest daughter's 16th birthday and this evening as family lingers long after the festivities to visit, play board games, and eat dinner, I began reflecting over the last 16 years we've been blessed with her.  I'm simply in awe of the gift God gave my husband and me all those years ago!  I'm proud of the young woman she is becoming!

It also makes me think back through all the years and time, places we've lived, things we've been through as a family, both personally and professionally.  I can clearly identify seasons in our lives that we've been through, both blessed and challenging.  

For the past 2 school years, I've personally been through much with working full time, being a Mommy (and sometimes Daddy with my husband's health issues), and full time student as I worked on my Master's degree, as well as serving with my husband as Lay Children's Pastors at our small church.  My degree not only belongs to me, but to my family and you can't convince me otherwise.  You see, if not for my family, for them picking up much slack from me at home, for my oldest not helping more and more, it would not have even been possible to have accomplished this.  Sure, I've had the Mommy guilt that I'm sure many have faced..."Why can't you play with me?, etc."  My previous role, while I didn't realize it at the time, took a lot out of me personally.  I take my work seriously and don't need others to motivate me or reward me (though those are nice), but this compelled me to say "Yes" too much.  A dear sweet mentor has told me for years that I needed to work on saying "No" and not take on so much, but it's just now that I'm learning to do this.  This school year, I've entered into a new season, where I'm trying to rediscover my balance.  Sure, I'm going to work to the best of my ability and still take things home as they are seasonal to my new role, but I'm finding it important to also spend quality, laughing till your sides hurt, watching old classic movies till late, playing all the board games in the house, kind of time with my family and friends.  Balance, in a word.  It's making choices and enjoying those choices.  I hope you have a chance to discover ways to find your balance.

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Find Your Passion, Your Creative Outlet

I've been doing some back to school shopping with my 3 girls and we all seem drawn to the shirts that have sayings on them like, "Don't let anyone dull your sparkle!", "Live your dream!", "Live out loud!", etc.  The patterns, colors, and textures are all so creative and colorful.  It's inspired me to create some things for my school's computer lab based on these shirts.

If you haven't found your personal passion, I challenge you to do so.  For many years, I baked as my stress reliever.  I know it may sound odd, but when faced with overwhelming times, baking allowed me to focus on that singular task and not my troubles, measuring the ingredients, getting everything just right.  It was a self-fulfilling task that afforded the opportunity to have success at that time and bring joy to those that ate my treats.  When my husband (who is VERY diabetic, 3 shots and 2 pills a day diabetic) started having severe life threatening health issues, the latest landing him in the hospital in December of 2014 for 15 days straight, my passions had to change.  That's not to say I don't bake still, but it's only on a very special occasion and maybe once every other month now.  It was at that time, that I dove head first into technology and used it as my "escape" from whatever was bugging me.  It's my creative outlet, my stress reliever, and fulfills me in the same manner that baking did when others can enjoy the fruits of the end products.  Here are some projects I've worked on this past summer that have benefited myself and my husband, who is also a teacher (2nd grade).  Feel free to use them if you want too.

I've seen others use their passions and creative outlets to benefit others in many ways as well.  What I do know is that in discovering and embracing your passions, your creative outlet, that you will change your life for the better.  You will have a task or place to go when times get tough, and they will at some point, but it will allow you a constructive outlet.  Hopefully you can bring your passions into your class and be a teacher who no longer survives, but thrives, who brings creativity to their own students, and inspires them in their learning as a byproduct of just living your passion out loud.

Be Nice!

There's a reason I never really enjoyed watching the early episodes of American Idol every year, because I don't enjoy watching others be embarrassed on purpose or disrespected in such a public way (or private for that matter).

Today, I was embarrassed to be in my own profession of education by watching this happen.  We all know that at this time of the year, staff development is taking place during that week before school starts.  Every topic, session, etc is intentional, by design, has a purpose.  The purpose and rationale may not be clearly stated or communicated well, but I promise, experiencing both sides of education, from the teacher's point of view, and from an administrator's point of view, there's a vision to the information presented.  There's always a reason behind the information shared.  Perhaps, for privacy reasons or other reasons, the rationale can't be shared, but from the limited admin knowledge I have, I know that Everything is on Purpose.

And I will stop right here and just put my two cents in, that if you don't understand the vision of your administrators or school, it's your responsibility to ask, to find out.  If an administrator can't articulate that vision in a manner that others can understand, it can't be fulfilled, and if there's no vision at all, well, without vision, the people perish.

Today, I witnessed a presentation where there was confusion on the participants end, perhaps some misunderstanding, and instead of someone asking questions, they chose to be unkind to the presenter.  Are we not in the business of walking our talk?  Do we not ask our students to be respectful, kind to others?  I happened to be sitting by the person that said these unkind things and I know the presenter heard the words from the "peanut gallery".  Though I didn't see the presenters face, there was an audible pause in the room, a gasp even.  It was that moment when Simon Cowell tells someone something earth shattering and you just have to stand by and watch.  I truly felt for the presenter and she did a fantastic job of shrugging it off, not responding, but I'm sure that it will stick with them as a bad impression.

You know, we so often teach our kids to be kind, that yes words do hurt, like taking a piece of paper and crumbling it up and then trying to smooth it back out again.  Those wrinkles are still in the paper and will always be there.  We may be able to overlook them at some point, but they are still there.

So, to you, when presented with something that you don't understand, when the why isn't clearly stated, choose to BE KIND anyways.  That presenter is doing what was asked of them, what they have been tasked with from someone with more information than us, who understands that this is important.

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Change, Change, and More Change

For me and I'm sure many others, this is a season of change.  There's a old saying, "Work hard, play hard."  I never really knew what that meant until this summer.  For the last 17 years, I've been teaching during the school year AND summer months (except 1 summer to be Mommy to my middle one who made her entrance in late May).  However, this summer, after doing this for so long, and adding college work for the last couple of years, my husband insisted that I not teach summer school.  I didn't apply, didn't worry about it, but somehow still got roped into 12 days of Kindergarten SS, which I wrote about in some earlier posts.  

I really enjoyed having so many days to do N-O-T-H-I-N-G!  No schedules, no assignments or projects due, no one except my family needing me and even some days when they didn't need me, made for a wonderful summer!  My time belonged to me and I got to pick what was worth my time.  I read books for fun (not because I had to), learned a T-O-N about Google, played with Canva, along with sleeping in many days!  We found a list of top 10 watering holes in TX and started visiting.  Made our way to Barton Springs in Austin, and Blue Hole in Wimberly, TX this summer, along with our annual trip to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, TX! 

I finally discovered with the "play hard" part of that old saying meant.  Working hard is just second nature.  That comes from the legacy passed down from my Mom that I wrote about earlier.  We all need a season of resting, playing, having fun.  For me, that begins and ends with my family!

Additionally, I have entered this new role that my Principal calls the 3 T's.  This year I am serving my campus as Testing Coordinator, Title I, and Technology Teacher.  Technology is my personal passion (and there's a story there for another time).  Title I is something I've done for 4 years now, but never budgets, and Testing Coordinator is only just something I would say I dabbled in over the last 4 years.  Each role carries an element of nervousness because I'm dealing with kids and their individual needs, which STAAR, TELPAS, etc relies on and I have to get right from the get go, so it's routine for them, and dealing with budgets, which anytime I'm dealing with someone else's finances, I get very OCD and nervous about because I don't want to royally mess it up.  This new role is a "Never Been Done Before" role.  Folks at my campus ask me how I like it, and I don't really have a response yet, but I plan to enjoy all that comes with it, learn from it, and make the most of the opportunities I've been afforded.  My former Principal told me that if you aren't a little nervous, then you won't be great in your role, because it's in that nervousness that you pay attention to details, invest more to the role, etc and I have to say she's dead on with this.

Personally, my season of change came in my own family.  My oldest began dual credit classes for college and high school this summer, and today I enrolled our youngest in Kindergarten at my school.  We will have one in elementary, one in junior high, and one in high school this year.  It's a season of shuffling schedules, kids, and everything that comes along with new school years, new teachers, new starts.

My advice for anyone going through lots of change right now, would be to dive in, embrace the change!  It may not be your cup of tea, your favorite anything, but I guarantee you'll learn something from it and you might just be happily surprised by the outcomes and results. 

Can I be honest for a minute?

I just need to be honest for a minute...Will you let me?

1. I am a curious, questioning, black and white kind of person.  What you see is what you get with me.
I have this questioning side that bothers many people, mainly because I just tend to spit things out when they come to me.  Sometimes, ok many times, my filter doesn't kick in till too late.  My questioning side makes others feel like I'm challenging their authority, when in reality, it's just that I'm trying to understand the decision, understand the process, just plain ole' understand.  I also am a very black and white kind of person.  There's a right, ethical, judicious, safe for all way of doing things, and there's the opposite.  This is why it took so long for me to really take to Twitter and blogging.  My thinking was that of "You guys go ahead and I'll just let you get fired or in trouble, while I stand here and keep my job."

2. I think what you do says way more that what you say.
I am a people watcher by nature, just ask my husband as I point people's outfits to him, then hit his arm for looking.  I watch what you do, how you treat others, to decide if I should trust you or not.  I also watch if what you say you will do, you actually do.  I live by the old saying, "Burn me once, shame on you, burn me twice, shame on me."  Whether this is a saying to hold dear or not, that's up to you.  For me, it just is what it is.

3. I think where you send your children to school says a lot about who you trust and what you hold valuable.
All of my kiddos have gone through elementary (my last starts Kinder this year with me) where I have worked, going on 13 years now.  I trust the staff at my school to be the best teacher for them, and when my children show up in their class year after year, I know that they know that I'm trusting them to their education.  Other staff may send their child to the school they are zoned to for a variety of reasons, but I choose to send mine to my 80% ED, mostly Hispanic/African-American/LEP school, where they are the minority white, not at-risk kids.  I want them to be exposed to different cultures, different things.  I want them to know that they are blessed, that they need to stick up for others, that they need to help others.  I want them to know the value of working hard, not having everything handed to them.

4. I have a narrow mind sometimes, but I'm working on that.  I think others do too.
I have heard numerous education professionals from a variety of places say, "Why would a teacher continue to come to work at this school, this district, with "these" kids, if it was always so hard, so critical, so (fill in the blank) for them?  They should stop teaching and find another (happier) profession for themselves."  And on this, I usually just stay quiet.  But my thought is this, maybe that teacher who is unhappy, critical, whatever the negative adjective may be in your mind, is just STUCK, and feels like there's no way out of being stuck.  You see, I can say this, because there was a few years in my educational career where I felt stuck.  We never know the baggage a staff member brings with them to school each day.  In my going on 17 years in education, my husband has been hospitalized no less than 5 times and has been unemployed for nearly 8 of those years, on and off, for a variety of reasons.  You see, I felt stuck, because I wasn't in the grade level that was my passion or in a place I felt valued or in a friendly place.  I was the breadwinner for my family of 5, and couldn't just stop teaching, stop working.  I also felt stuck because I never felt like I was qualified for anything else, other than teaching, since my degree itself was in Elementary Education.  Am I still stuck?  No, but I have days where it creeps in, when I'm feeling overwhelmed, etc, but in my world, older = wiser, so I've learned to cope with this and find ways to overcome this personally.  I have challenged myself (in an earlier blog post) to take time to listen.  In listening to staff, we help them realize their potential, help them realize that they are not alone, that there are ways of becoming unstuck.  For me, it's in learning, in education.  Like my Twitter header says, "I seriously love learning." and I find that the more I learn, the more I need to learn and in doing so, I open more doors for myself, I become more confident in my skill set, in myself period.  How can you help someone today?

5. I recently got to hear from a speaker that's message was about "Leaving a Legacy" and it got me thinking, what am I leaving?
No one wants to ever think of themselves leaving this place, but part of his message was to do less "I" talk.  A lot ironic, since this whole blog post is filled with "I" things, but it makes me wonder what I'm leaving for my kids, for my family.  I watched my parents go through a divorce as a young child.  I watched my Mom work 2 and 3 jobs to make ends meet.  I was the first to attend college, still the only one to this day, and finish without financial help from family.  I want better for my kids, so that's why I work hard like my Mom to show them the value of hard work, helping others, overcoming failures, achieving success gracefully, and on and on.  All of these things I learned from my Mom and Dad and from many other folks who have had a tremendous impact in my life even as I entered teaching.  What impact will you make on others this year?  I hope it's a legacy type of impact.  I hope it's one you would follow after yourself.  That's what I'm working on.

Thanks for letting me be honest for a minute.

You Are In Charge of Your Own Learning!

Yes, that's right, you, me, we are in charge of our learning! 

I recently had a conversation with my 11 year old that went something like this: "Mom, aren't teachers supposed to inspire you to want to learn more?" "Yes." "Well, that's not usually what happens as you get older." "Well, no matter what happens at school or who you have, you are still in charge of your own learning.  You are responsible for what you learn, how much learn, and what you do with that learning.  You don't have to wait on a teacher to give you a push into something you like." "Oh, well, I like sign language." "Ok, so you start looking up YouTube videos, websites, articles, etc about that and you practice." About 30 min later, she could sign me lots of words.  And she's been doing this everyday since.

I also recently had a conversation with a co-worker where I remarked that I have learned more this summer than any other summer and yesterday was my first official PD class.  My oldest is taking some dual credit classes at our local college, so I've been in the library kid's section 4 days a week, at least 1-2 hours per day, with my laptop, Twitter, and some "want-to" desire.  Even if you don't have a designated time/space/etc, you can still learn something new every day!  If your school, district, department isn't offering what you need, you reach out to others, Twitter (my personal favorite), and other online places to learn, get fresh ideas, etc.  

Yesterday and today, I had the privilege of attending CFISD DLC 2015 in my district.  You can see the tweets here, since I learned how to use Storify as well.  I was introduced to Canva by Tracy Clark, which is how I made the pic above and learned how to make it applicable to my elementary students in clickable pdf's.  I learned about Maker Spaces from Randy Rodgers that got me thinking really hard about how I could infuse this idea into my campus this year.  I learned how to market my class/school from Joel Weckerly.  I got to hear our keynote Ron Clark and hear his passion for kids and teachers.  "Beware of the bundt cake and the posse of poison." -Ron Clark  And he discussed the idea of runners, joggers, walkers, and riders, which connected solidly to a book study my district has done for 3 years now: Building Teacher's Capacity for Success.  He also connected some thoughts I've had for a few years, that we need to push our kids harder and challenge them, even our fast and gifted learners.  Our country puts lots of $$$ into at-risk students, but $0 into GT education, so it's up to us to create those opportunities for our gifted kids to not quit trying so we don't raise a "soft nation" of learners.  I learned about Periscope for the first time also.

My point to all this is that YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR OWN LEARNING!  Whether you attend some formal learning like college, like I just finished in May (Yeah, Master's degree), or you attend some formal PD class/conference/convention, or you "lurk" around Twitter learning from others informally, or you listen to podcasts, YouTube videos, or any other means of online learning informally, you are ultimately in charge of where you will go, what you will learn, how far your students reach.  Will you reach farther?  Will you move out of your comfort zone this year?

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What Now? Smile and Wave!

Over the past few days, I'm had the unfortunate pleasure of interacting with adults that I just don't agree with, either fundamentally or philosophically.  And while the internet in general is not a place to air dirty laundry or hang folks out to dry, I just wonder what to do, so what now?  

During Kinder summer school, I had a few kiddos who loved to tattle tell, about the silliest stuff.  I took the time to hopefully give them a couple of tools that will help.  1. Stick your tongue out and walk away. Yeah, ok, when you're 6 years old, you can get away with it, but at 38 years old, not so much.  2. Tell them to leave you alone and walk away.  3. Tell them that's not nice and walk away.  In all cases, it was walk away.  But what if as an adult, you can't walk away from the situation or person, what now?

I don't proclaim to have all the right answers, as evidenced above, but this I do know.  A smile and a head nod goes a long way to keeping the peace.  My absolute favorite movie quote of all time, comes from the Penguins of Madagascar at end of the movie when their ship is finally found and it starts to sail away, and one of the penguins leans over and says, "You think we should tell them it's out of gas." and the other one says, "No, just smile and wave boys, smile and wave."

I'm not saying it's right, but as I often tell my own children, "Would you rather be right or happy?"  So as school starts and you encounter folks that you don't agree with, for whatever reason, I hope that you will find some way to keep the peace and help everyone remember to keep the main thing the main thing.  Kids! 

Take Time To Listen

It's nearly that time when our kiddos will return to us.  Buses will start rolling soon, week long professional development will happen, etc.  It's usually a bittersweet start, wishing we had more summer time, but happy to be back to our routines or maybe a new challenge, as in my case.

This week, I wouldn't say I've learned to listen, but others have been teaching me, stressing the importance of it.  I can usually tell when I've been on the computer or my phone too long, because my husband will lean over and say, "Did you hear them?" Or my youngest daughter will come and put her forehead on mine and repeat herself for probably the 5th time, although it's my first time to hear her.  That's how I know it's time to unplug and listen.  And then today at summer school, one of my students was telling me about what she does after school while we were cutting out pictures to sort.  She said that her Dad works at Wal-Mart and she goes there after school to be with him.  That stopped me in my tracks, so of course I had to find out more.  She said it just in the regular discourse of our talking, like it was no big deal.  Another student chimed in and said that his Mom works at a restaurant and he goes there with her after school.

I believe that in our busyness of life or work, in an effort to be more efficient or more productive, we miss opportunities to really listen to people.  We miss opportunities to hear what they say, and try to understand the place they are coming from, what makes them tick, why they feel that way.  We don't take time to just stop, look them in the eyes as they speak, with no agenda or need, and not just listening as we pass to somewhere else.  Simply that.  Just listen.

You ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that I'm a "doer",  I have a really hard time just being still, not being wrapped up in new learning or a project of some kind.  So, for me, as I head into a new position this year, a new challenge, I task myself with taking time to listen.  Listen to our students, first and foremost.  They're the reason we have are there with them day in and day out.  (If you're not there for students, it might be time to find a different career path.)  Secondly, take time to listen to staff.  Part of my role this year involves technology, so if I don't take time to hear staff, how will I ever know what they need, what's important to them.

Since my campus is a Leader in Me school, I would be remiss to leave out how this task I've put out there for myself relates.  Habit 5-Seek First to Understand, Then be Understood

And a great article I read today about starting the year caught my eye today.  3 Organizing Tips for a Great School Year