#cuerockstar Reflection: Gratitude

As I drove home from #cuerockstar Manhattan Beach on Thursday, a few thoughts started percolating around in my head. Nothing like a 7.5 hour drive to do that...

Two years ago, I applied for a National Endowment for the Humanities trip to South Africa. I would have spent several weeks in South Africa learning and studying. I considered myself a good bet for the program. I teach a six week South Africa unit - classroom application for my work in the program - and I served in the Peace Corps in Namibia, so Southern Africa is near and dear to my heart.

Well, so much for that: I didn't get in.

And it was the best thing that could have happened.

Instead, I spent the summer edtech nerding. I went to the national flipped learning conference in Chicago. I went to #cuerockstar at Minarets High School. This blog was born two summers ago.

My introduction into edtech actually happened the summer before that, the summer of 2011. This was the year I did the MERIT program at Foothill College. MERIT gave me some ideas and was the beginning of my edtech journey; it was my toe into the water. However, I was in over my head at MERIT: I had too much to learn. It was in the summer of 2012 - after I had spent a year tinkering ni my classroom and learning - that I took the next steps and really sent my classroom and my learning into overdrive, into a place that is always evolving and changing.

And as I was flying up I-5 in the Thursday dusk, it struck me how much had changed in two short years. I had the honor of attending a myriad of awesome PD opportunities this summer. I even was able to present/facilitate at a few. Two years ago, I never would have guessed that this might be the case.

As I was thinking about this, I was also struck by how important a few people had been on my journey these past couple years. Clearly there have been a lot of really crucial people over these last two years - many names could get mentioned. But three stand out as being crucially important.

Diane Main has been my lead cheerleader and encourager from day one. Diane was the assistant director of MERIT when I did the program in 2011. I've had the privilege of serving on the MERIT faculty under Diane's direction the last two summers and have had a blast being part of that process. She is the person who encouraged me to go to my first edcamp and who told me I should get involved organizing edcampSFBay. She pushed me to attend events and do things that I wouldn't have been comfortable doing. More than anyone else, Diane is the reason my students do the weird things they do in class and the reason I've spent an exhilarating summer kind of conference hopping across North America and seeing awesome educators I'm lucky to call friends.

In addition to Diane's influence, I received some crucial encouragement in the summer of 2012 at the end of #cuerockstar. I really looked up to the folks that presented that summer at Minarets. (I still do. And I feel lucky to call many of them friends now.) However, at the end of the conference, Jon Corippo and Lisa Highfill both reached out and said some incredibly kind things.

Yeah, I've changed my Twitter handle since then :)

My mind had been scrambled by three great days of learning at Minarets. To have two people of Lisa and Jon's caliber reach out to me boosted my confidence in my ideas and my practice immensely. Like so many teachers, I felt like I had nothing to share with members of my PLN. To get that encouragement from Jon and Lisa meant the world to me.

I'd love for there to be some sort of smooth transition here, a way to connect an explanation of an immense chunk of gratitude to Diane, Lisa, and Jon to my concluding thoughts. However, I'm not sure there is. So I'll just get to the conclusion.

Who were the crucial people at moments where you made great change in your practice? Do they know the impact they made? Maybe equally importantly, who are you helping to grow? Who are you helping to stretch their wings?

#merit14 Talks #flipclass

I was lucky enough to chat with a few awesome #flipclass folks on Tuesday for MERIT about what their classrooms look like. It was a good conversation and touched on a bunch of different subject areas. Delia Bush, Crystal Kirch, Andrew Thomasson, and Cheryl Morris joined the conversation.

If you're interested, the hangout is embedded below.

What I Wish I Knew Before ISTE

Or a few initial reflections? 

Moss and Stephanie presenting in the Google playground

Or what I'll do differently next year? Those are probably better ways of putting it...

Atlanta was an absolute whirlwind. There was so much going on all the time. Like really all the time. And I had a blast.

There is an implication in the "what I'll do differently next year" thing: I hope I'm able to make it to Philadelphia. So yeah. What I'll do differently in a year.

Not take a redeye flight in. It was a good idea in theory: it was the only possible way to make it to #hacked14, the unconference the day before the official beginning of ISTE. But being that initially tired, combined with so many people to see at ISTE, made it really easy to stay out late at night and not get up early in the morning. The tiredness plus three hour time difference was tough. Next year: no redeye and get there a day earlier.

Make specific plans to see people. Some of this worked out well: I got to spend solid chunks of time with Katie Regan and Kristina Peters, two awesome folks I've looked up to and learned with for a long time on the Twitterz. But there were a few folks I really wanted to get to hang out with and didn't. People absolutely get busy, but some advanced planning there would have helped.

Make time to enjoy the city ISTE is in. I was only somewhat successful here. I had two great southern BBQ meals and saw a Braves game. (Sidenote: the tomahawk chop that Braves fans do is absolutely horrifying to witness in person.) However, I didn't get to the civil rights museum or the aquarium, which were both really high on my list. I have no idea when I'll be back in Atlanta. That's a bummer.

Have a set of questions you want to ask people you rarely get more than 140 characters with. It was really neat to get to see - and meet - so many friends at ISTE. I just wish I had asked everyone a few questions I really - in retrospect - want answers to. Something about risks they'll be taking next year. Changes from last year. The most important thing they learned last year. So much of these conversations are whirlwinds - they happen so fast - that a little sense of purpose for these conversations would have been really useful to me.

A few things worked. I loved not going to a ton of sessions: the small group conversations I chose to focus on were really enjoyable and challenging. I went to none of the big parties. Part of that was a function of a huge BBQ meal and baseball game going long, but those were things groups of us had planned way in advance. I'm glad I spent time with those people. Also, #PeoplePretendingToBeJohn worked. Really well. The photowalk that we planned was a blast.

So that's a wrap, I think. Well, for now. I'm still sitting in the Atlanta airport waiting for me delayed flight - more thoughts will percolate up later I'm sure.

To the people I got to meet, y'all are awesome. Hope to see all of you in Philadelphia in a year!

Part of the baseball gang - thanks for organizing it, Amber!
Photo by Bill Selak