Hey everyone! I’m back, I hope! It has been a busy end of school year! I never imagined it could be busier than actually being in the classroom, but it is! I have a few flights over the next few days so I hope to catch up on everything. I’ve had a few posts in my head for the past month, now time to get them out of that chaos and on to the ol’ blog.

Lately I have had a lot of discussions about student privacy, students online, teachers using social media, etc. Every time this comes up there are 3 acronyms I keep explaining often. FERPA, COPPA, and CIPA. I feel like in education we are some times in such a rush to post things online or our students do that we forget that we need to protect students in the process.  I feel that there is a gap in knowledge here. Before we start pushing teachers and students to get online and use social media, we need to think of the whole picture here. We need to know what rules to follow.

So what are these? Here is my attempt in layman’s terms to explain each of these.

FERPA – Family Educational Rights and Protection Act. This act really says that educational institutions cannot give away any student information. This does not often really touch a classroom teacher too much, but one thing you need to be careful about is registering students for websites without permission of parents. Giving out any directory information to a secondary source without asking or informing. That includes parent information. You have a parent’s email address or phone number, you cannot use it for anything other than what it was given to you for.

CIPA – Children’s Internet Protection Act – This is why you have filters on the internet at your school. We have to have filters for: obscene, child pornography, and anything harmful to children. I get a lot of complaints that we should just open the internet and forget about the filters. We can’t. Do I agree with some of the sites we filter? No not always. But understand this is why there are extremes.

COPPA – Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. This is a huge one. You know when you sign up for a website and it asks you if you are 13 or asks for your birth date? This is why. Websites and social media sites collect information. Even gmail that is not through GAFE. It is the world we live in. But is a problem if someone is under 13. They are considered a child and are protected from this. So here is where this can become a problem: when you have students use a website that in their private policy states that someone has to be over 13 to use. You have students register without parent permission, we have a problem. When you get them to link their information to these sites. When you have accounts with these sites and post things about the students. Here is where the water gets mucky. Facebook is a perfect example of this, think of all the data they sale? This is why children have to be 13 to join.

If you are ever unsure about these, take the 10 minutes and check the private policy of a website. Yeah no one likes the fine print but your job as an educator is to protect students and you need to be sure you do so. Better safe than sorry.

This morning I was tagged in a tweet from Scott McLeod that linked to his new blog post named “We have to stop pretending.” In the post he listed 5 things in education that we, obviously, have to stop doing or ignoring. Then he tagged 5 people he challenged to write a post with their 5 things. This afternoon, Beth Still posted a great list and tagged me in it. So here is my list:

We have to stop pretending:

• It is cute or funny to “not be techie.”  Pleading ignorance at the stake of children’s learning is not funny. Ever. Stop.
• Technology is just an add on to the real learning. Technology needs to stop being an extra or a check list. Curriculum departments need to work with instructional tech departments to really integrate it into everyday learning. Like the pencil.
• Standards, Curriculum, and actual Teaching are synonymous. Common core is not a new way of teaching math. Also, no matter how many times we get new standards, lazy teachers are going to be lazy teachers.
• PD happens during a special day or planning period. PD needs to be personalized and sought after regularly by whatever means you are comfortable with. Principals should be leaders in this and help their teachers find new ways to learn.
• 2 hours (or less) of science a week in elementary schools is enough. The US is ranked ridiculously low in science and math. Yet not much has been done about this even though STEM is a huge buzzword right now. Science and math need to be combined and taught daily.

Ok it was hard to just stop at five. Please know this is not written to be offensive, it is written to make you think.  Think about what can we do as an education community to increase student learning and make schools a better place for all kids.

Now the even harder part, who to tag. I think I am going to tag Jenna Shaw, Todd Nesloney, Craig Badura, John Spencer, and Michelle Wilson. What do you think we need to stop pretending? Don’t forget to tag #makeschoolsdifferent

Have you had one of those moments when something simple happens and it hits you hard? It reminds you of what your purpose is? It changes the way you think about everything you do from them on? I had one of those moments a few weeks ago.

I was at a high school in the library, I had just finished working with some teachers, it was one of those PD moments when the tech was so disagreeable it took away from the PD and I was so frustrated that my morning was a total fall. I was helping the librarian with something and noticed a kid that was stressing over something. When I asked if he needed help he told me that he had downloaded the Word app on his phone and was trying to email the doc to his yahoo account so he could open it and print before it was due the next period. I asked him why couldn’t he just put it in his Google drive and print it from there. He looked at me and asked what a Google drive was. I just told him to have a seat and helped him with the GDrive phone app, gave him his account and password, how he can edit/share documents by having it up on 2 computers, and showed him how to upload the Word document to the drive. It probably took 5 minutes max. When done he looked at me and said, “thanks so much, you have changed my life! Can you come back and teach my teachers this?”

I spent 5 minutes with the kid and he says I changed his life. Because of something his teachers should’ve already taught him. I hated having to look him in the eye and admit to him that his teachers knew about Google Drive because I spent a day there walking each teacher through it. You see this kid told me he didn’t have a computer at home, he had to do all his work on his phone, he didn’t mind but it was hard. With docs we discussed how he could start on the computer at school and finish it on phone later then print at school or I showed him how to share with teacher and go paperless.

At least 3 days a week I do PD with teachers about using some type of tech to increase student learning. There is a reason behind this, these tools are what the kids need to use while learning the curriculum. But every single day I have at least one teacher push back. Every single time I have one teacher tell me they are not going to use a certain tech because they aren’t comfortable or they aren’t techy or they are doing fine doing what they’ve done in the past. Or my favorite “my kids are too young for this.” I used to just blow it off. Ignore it so I won’t take it personally.

No more. Now when I hear this I think of the kid who decided his life was changed for the better because he learned how to log into his Google account. You see, we have a job as educators to help our students. No one becomes a teacher to teach curriculum or prepare kids for tests, I hope. No we go into education to change lives. But as time goes on we become comfortable. And becoming comfortable is pure selfishness. When we decide we don’t want to change. When we blow off technology we are told to use because it makes us uncomfortable, we are cheating every student sitting in our class. This just doesn’t go for technology. When supervisors or coaches spend days teaching you lessons or pedagogy that they have researched and know work, why on earth do you ignore it and go back to the classroom the next day and teach the exact same lessons from last ten years? Because it’s easy? Well I’m glad it’s easy, but who are you working for? Yourself? Or your students?

We are a service industry. Like it or not. Our job is to serve the kids that walk in and out of our schools everyday. Just imagine if you did something every day that helps at least one child’s life become a little easier or gives them a chance for an “ah-ha” moment or just helps their self esteem. Just imagine how that group of students’ lives can change for the better.

Isn’t that why we became teachers? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t so we could resist change and cheat our students out of amazing experiences. No it’s to change lives. It’s to prepare kids for their future, for the world they will live in. So next time you start to think, “I don’t have time for that.” or “I don’t want to take the time to learn __.” remember that it’s not about you. It’s about your students.

Today I had to change my password at work. Our passwords expire and must be changed or you get locked out of the system. This password is used for most things I do on a daily basis. I had to sign in everything again, not just on my desktop but my phone, my iPad and my laptop.  It was kind of a pain. I probably lost a total 5 to 10 minutes on this throughout the day. Not only was this annoying, but I had to retrain my fingers to type my password. Sixth months of the same password I never had to think about what I was typing, my fingers just hit the right keys. Now I have to think about it and watch myself type it slowly. And of course, the first time every time I punched in the wrong password. I have to retrain my brain and body all for a silly password.

So change can be a pain in the butt. It’s not easy. If it had been my choice I would have kept my old password and moved on with my life. The thing is, six months ago I probably would’ve said the same thing about my old password. Actually, I know I would have. But I didn’t get a choice, change had to be made. And in a week my brain will trained to use the new one.

Last week I stopped in a few professional development classes. I mostly went to see what they were learning so when I help teachers with tech, I can have an idea what they are focusing on curriculum-wise. In a science PD they were looking at the engineering strand of the new science standards. Those that know me know how happy this makes me. But while talking to one teacher I over heard another. She was bragging that all of her grades come from daily quizzes. She gives kids quizzes on their homework everyday. And she was bragging about it. Bragging. All while doing an activity that went through the process of planning engineering based lessons. You know, ones that would have offered authentic assessment.  She was like me today and still going back to that old password. Even though the old password doesn’t work anymore, she’s still typing it in. And yes she was also complaining that they never study. Password is invalid.

Later I went to a math PD. Teachers were planning lessons that focused on math concepts. Hands on activities that encouraged math talk, higher level thinking beyond the formulas. Immediately when I walked in, like as I walked through the door, a teacher says “Hey Amanda, not being ugly (southerners say this before saying something mean) but I have no need for GAFE. I’m a math teacher. There is no need for it when I need kids to work problems and that’s too hard in docs.” Totally caught me off guard. I was speechless. Finally looked at him and said that I hoped he was doing more than just having kids work formulas. Then I promised him a list of ways he could use it. But you see, as I walked around the room and looked at the lessons being planned, I could see ways to use GAFE with each one. No it’s not easy to work formulas in Docs, but the formulas are just one part of learning math. I started worrying if the lessons being planned were actually going to be used. I really hope they go back to the schools and use the new passwords instead of keep using the old passwords that we know do not work alone.

Change does suck but you don’t always get a choice. When we see change needs to occur, or when we are told change needs to occur, we need to start taking the steps towards the change instead of resisting. We have experts who are guiding us to make those changes, so take their advice, learn on them for help. The faster we start making the change, the easier the change will be. And one day we will look back and forget the old way. Just like we forget those old passwords we never use anymore.

Take a moment and think about one thing you are really bad at. Something you have tried to do over and over and you just can’t do it. If it’s art, your hands just won’t draw what you want them to. If it’s math, those numbers just don’t make sense, no matter how much you memorize the visual isn’t there. Practice doesn’t always make perfect, no matter how hard you try. Some things we just don’t have the coordination for or our brain just isn’t wired that way.

Now imagine if that one thing you couldn’t do was something everyone else could. What if it was something you had to do everyday. And every time you failed, someone pointed it out, loudly. That is how my elementary and middle school life was everyday I walked into the school. I could not sit still and quiet for hours a day. I tried every single day. But no matter how hard I tried, I never could make it to the end of the day. It was so frustrating and eventually my self esteem suffered.

I have ADHD. I’m not embarrassed by it, or I’m not anymore. My parents didn’t realize it because teachers never told them. Probably didn’t because that was a “boy problem” when I was growing up. For some reason boys in my class couldn’t help it, but I was just causing trouble. Teachers disliked me and my grades dropped. I started reading books at age 2 but was failing 6th grade reading. That’s a problem.

Over time I learned to deal. It blows my mind I went through grad school twice  without medicine. I do take medicine now, but that took me years to realize it was OK to admit weakness. I’m OK with admitting the weakness now as well as I’m OK asking for help.

I tell this story because often ADHD students get a bad rap. Or ADHD itself does. And though it is more understood than it was back when I was in school, I feel like unless you live with it, you would probably be surprised at things people with ADHD deal with daily. It’s so much more than trying to sit still in a desk. So here are some things that I, and others, deal with that you probably never thought of being part of ADHD:

1. I actually can sit still for hours at a time, but it’s usually because I’m ‘hyper-attentive” of something. Like reading a book. I can read a book for hours and not stop to eat or even sleep. I’ve had a lot of parents say to me “he doesn’t have ADHD because he can sit in front of TV/xbox for hours.” Hyper-attention is just as big as a problem as anything else.

2. I’m just going to be late. I’m not being disrespectful of your time, there was just something that caught my attention and I didn’t know it. Even more in the mornings. I hate morning Amanda. Plus medicine doesn’t kick in until later. Students with ADHD aren’t late to your class on purpose, they just got wrapped up in a conversation or looking for something. Or even stayed after last class finishing something because they didn’t hear the bell.

3. I didn’t forget on purpose. Ever fill a cup until it overflowed? That’s my brain. Too much is going in, so other stuff ran out. I didn’t forget on purpose. Grocery store is a nightmare. I know something will be forgotten. And don’t tell me to make a list, I’ll forget the list. Don’t give students with ADHD more than one thing at a time to do. Especially oral list. If you do give a list make a check list. But don’t get mad if they just 1/2 finish every thing on the list. They can’t finish #2 on the list because started to think about #3.

4. I’m a picky eater. A lot of kids on ADHD are always getting hounded about eating because the medicine messes with appetite. So I see parents or teachers saying they have to eat everything off their plate. More than likely they don’t like stuff on their plates. Foods with odd textures (I get made fun of a lot because I hate potatoes and fries) or very strong smells, like seafood, are huge turn offs. Can’t even drink coffee because of the hot liquid. I get very overwhelmed by it and can’t enjoy the food. Don’t force it, find things they like. Chocolate or vanilla ice cream or milkshakes are great at fighting weight loss and or bland. Smells are the same way. I can lose hours of concentration because of a strong smell.

5. I do not sleep and rarely take naps. You can’t sleep if your brain cannot stop. I will go 3 days on 6 hours of sleep. If I do sleep, I usually toss and turn, even kick off covers. That means I have lack of sleep. Students with ADHD may have gone a few nights without sleep. Not good for learning. Also, ADHD meds are stimulants, if your student had caffeine added to that, they can go 24 hours without sleep.

6. I can snap. Not meaning to. But the impulsiveness that comes with ADHD can transfer over when I become angry. It’s humiliating, I don’t want to, I really cannot help it. Don’t hold it against your students personally when that happens. Notice signs that it may be coming, probably because someone is getting on there nerves doing one of the things I’ve listed.

7. If there is a crowd, you’ll find me in the corner. A quiet corner. It’s ironic because in a quiet room I’m probably the loudest and demand the most attention, but in a loud room, I’m the quietest. I get very overwhelmed and shut down. Remember this when you have activities in class that are loud and chaotic, students with ADHD may need to work in the hall or a quiet corner.

8. I can’t memorize things. Especially multiplication tables. I still don’t know them. I’m a pretty smart math brain but there is no memorization. I can do and understand calculus, but that doesn’t get you through 3rd grade math. Just get over it. Make sure students know why or how to figure it out, stop with the stop watches already. Speed and knowledge are not equals.

9. Repetition of sounds will make lose my mind. Tapping of a pencil will seriously have me shaking. Yes I know sometimes kids with ADHD do the tapping or humming, but they can’t handle others doing it. If you notice a kid doing that just walk by them and stop them before they start annoying others. Also, don’t put students with ADHD near each other or near the kid that does tap. Remember #6 above? Yeah that’s the number one thing that will make me snap.

10. I’m not organized. I am in my world but only because I had to make an effort to learn how to be organized for me. The worst thing on earth is a big binder with tabs. The school I used to work with required kids to have binders. Papers would come out and they would forget to put them back or at least in order. But a spiral notebook where I don’t have to take anything out, now we are talking. Also, it will take me weeks to get more paper once running out because can’t remember to get some. And stay away from locker, it’s a nightmare.

This is just a list of 10. I could make a list of 100. But I wanted to point this out because I see students all the time getting in trouble for things their brain really cannot control. No matter how hard they try they can’t do some things as well as others. You don’t yell at students for not being able to draw or understand math or read, but it’s become OK to yell at or punish students for not being able to sit still or for doing one of the 10 in the list above. Here are things that I was punished for or made failing grades because of in school: notebook checks, not ignoring the annoying kid tapping, Fs for not memorizing, made to participate in loud activities, in trouble for being sleepy, and being late. This doesn’t even include the typical, can’t sit still, won’t stop talking, etc. Thank God Class Dojo was not invented when I was in school or I think often that my self-esteem may not even have recovered. Could you imagine losing a point or mom getting an email for things you cannot help?? Some times we think we are just trying to teach self control, but please remember they are trying, they are just having a harder time teaching their brain to do something it was not made to do. I hope reading my story creates just a small bit of empathy towards students in your classroom. Put yourself in their shoes before you punish them.

We all have a hero. Someone who shapes our thinking, our opinions, and how we handle situation. I have a hero. Lucky for me I lived with my hero for almost 20 years. She’s my mom.

No one on earth could ever compare to Vicky Countryman in my eyes from the time I was old enough to hero worship. As I get older and as she gets older, I realize just how amazing she really is. Watching her go to work with her chemo in her purse and it still plugged into her port or last year going to work in Nike’s because she has 4 plates in her leg from a roller skating accident was pretty darn inspiring. She has strength I wish I had. Physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Friday night my hero retired. She had worked at the same place since the day after her high school graduation. Forty four years later she retired as AVP of compliance for one of the largest credit unions in my state. Pretty good career if you ask me. I decided to go to her good bye at work (in typical Vicky fashion she refused a party because thought the attention was silly). I’m so glad I went because once again she inspired me.

You hear often of parents feeling pride when they hear compliments about their kids, I felt this pride for my parent. As her boss and she talked about their career together my mom became my hero again. Here’s why:

1. She started by saying how proud she was of everyone in the room. She spoke of the people sitting there and told them why she was proud of them. Talked about their growth personally and in the company. Most people don’t focus on others during a time like this.

2. She said she was asked for advice from a coworker and her advice was this “laugh it off, don’t take this place so seriously.” I love this. We all need to do this more. I am a big believer in laughing at what life gives you. You have to.

3. She ended with this, “everyday I leave here, the first thing I ask myself is ‘who did I help today?’ I’m back office staff, my job is to support those who are working with the public and are on the front lines of our company. If I’m not supporting them, I’m not doing my job. Now let’s eat cake.”

That last statement really hit me hard. As an instructional tech coach, I’m back office, my job is exactly what my mom’s was, to support those on the front lines. Those in the classrooms, in the schools, who are working with our students. Teachers need support everyday. I know what it like being in a classroom, I hope I never forget what they deal with every day. I don’t want to go into my schools and throw them a bunch of information and put unrealistic expectations on them. I also don’t want to walk out of a building without every teacher knowing that I’m there for them. First thing I do is give them my email. While I can’t be in the classroom of all 10,000 teachers in my district I can make sure when they reach out to me through email I can help them as quickly as possible. I sometimes feel like I’m drowning in emails and friends tell me so many times that I don’t have to answer all 40 something I get a day, if it is from a teacher, yes I do. That’s my job. That’s what I want to do, not push them off on someone else, help them the best I can. I’m not there yet, I have a lot of improvement before I am as helpful as she was. I need to judge less and ask what I can do to help more. I want to be that support system and over time I hope I will be.

Will I ever help as many people as my mom? Probably not. I don’t expect to. As she and I walked out of her office one last time, she said talked about how hard that ‘non party’ was. She said it was weird bc most people get cake everyone says bye and they leave and she couldn’t figure out why everyone kept sticking around talking to her and giving her the most thoughtful gifts. I probably looked at her like she grew another head. She didn’t get it. She reached her goal. She helped everyone. She was their support. I’m pretty lucky to have a hero like her, I’ve been fortunate enough to learn from her for 33 years now and can’t wait to learn from her 33 more.

I’m from the South. Birmingham, Alabama to be exact. If you have ever spoken to me, you know because it’s obvious. In the south, from the moment you step foot in a school you learn about the struggles of the civil rights movement. Even first year teachers have to go though Lee vs Macon training that focuses on racism and equality. Southern history is embarrassing but the purpose of learning history is learning to avoid mistakes of those in the past. And I think we are getting there. Watching protest going on around the country has made me thankful I live in a place where my kids are surrounded by people of all races and I’m so happy that they seriously do not see color when they look at their friends.

One of the main fights during the civil rights movement was desegregation of schools. Today it is insane to think that just 50 years ago your skin color determined your education. I could never imagine treating a student in my classroom any different because of their race. I am so thankful for those who fought and even gave their lives so my children can go to school and have friends of all races.

Today I saw this quote from Martin Luther King Jr.

I started thinking about what MLK and others went through so their children,  children of the our lifetime, and the future could have the education they deserve. BUT are we giving them the education that was fought so hard for? Would MLK look at education today and be proud? Would he determine it was worth dying for or would he be disappointed?

King nailed it here, education is to teach to think critically and intensively. Are we teaching this? How many times a day do you encourage this kind of thinking in your classroom? You can’t teach this with worksheets or test prep.

Just imagine if King had never thought critically. He would have accepted life as it was because that’s what he was told to think. His life and unfortunately lives of so many would have been and still would be different. You cannot change history by using our brains for just regurgitating facts and accepting things the way they are. As teachers you have the power to influence the thinkers and leaders of our future. Don’t take that for granted. One person can push for change, that one person may be in your classroom needing just a small push, don’t let that opportunity slip away.

Have a great week y’all!

Good bye 2014! Many people write reflections on the year that is ending.  Well, I didn’t like 2014 too much. The last few months have been pretty nice with me having the most incredible job ever, but until then, it was a rough year. 2014 was a year where failure and struggle was part of my job and life every day. So I’m ready for a change. I really don’t want to relive most of that year. Another thing I am not going to do is make a New Year’s Resolution. No need to set myself up for failure or focus on just one cheesy goal.

So why on earth am I writing this end of the year post? Few weeks ago I read this article called “What Happened When We Created Daily Lists of Our Successes.” The article has really stuck with me, and if you knew how many articles I read a day, that is a big deal. In the article they stated that after a while they slept better (could you imagine less insomnia!), finishing goals and to do list became easier and less overwhelming, and they started to appreciate others more as well as things that were important to them. So what would happen if we spent a moment every day and looked for one success for that day? What if our students did this? Can you imagine how powerful this would be. Think about that student who feels like they could never do anything right (I taught middle school, that was like 99% of my students). What if their “bellwork” or “exit ticket” at least once a week was to write down one success. Even if that success is getting to school on time or not punching the bully who made fun of their shoes. Over time they would start seeing the good in their lives.

Imagine if teachers did that as well. Last school year I felt like a failure every day. Every single day I received an email or a comment about what I could have done better (parents can forget we are human and don’t understand that writing a curriculum while teaching it isn’t easy). I really focused on those failures. But the last week of school I was finishing my Educate Alabama and I was putting in all my evidences and I had 7 pages of successes that matched my goals for the year. I keep wondering what it would have done for my sanity if I written down my successes as they happened. I think as teachers we get so caught up with standards and tests and grades that we forget those little successes. We don’t become teachers to grade papers or help kids get A’s. We become teachers to make differences in children’s lives, to pass on knowledge of things we are passionate about, etc. So if we record these good things we do everyday, we won’t forget why we are here and let the negatives take over.

So I have a challenge for you. Starting January 1, 2015, post one success a day. Just one. No one uses the hashtag #365success so I’m claiming it and that is where we can post them. Take time in your classroom to have students write things they did well and are proud of. Yeah, it may take up class time that you don’t have enough of, but make it homework or realize that those 5 minutes could really encourage students to look at themselves differently. Have them use the hashtag as well.

Happy New Year and have a great 2015! I’ve missed all of you and your encouragement. I do have a goal to blog more in 2015, so hopefully I will be back! I look forward to reading what you succeed in every day!

Today I was in church and my preacher said something that has been on my mind lately. He asked

What is your identity?

I had a conversation about this with a member of my PLN that I look up to and learn from the other day. And being asked that question took me back to that convo.

You see when we introduce ourselves to others or when describe ourselves how do we do so? Do we give ourselves titles? Do we automatically name our job? Is this OK? What’s wrong with this?

When we give ourselves titles, does this hurt us? Many of you are classroom teachers. I hate hearing ‘I’m just a teacher.’ If that is how you describe yourself, does that stop you from making progress, taking a stand, or making a difference beyond your classroom? Titles can hold us back. They can also cause us to miss a learning opportunity if we have an intimidating title. Someone with a lesser title may not feel like they can share the one thing you’ve been wanting to learn. Last week I went to Edcamp Sand Mtn and Michael Fowlkes the organizer was very adamant about leaving titles at the door and just be learners. I think we should do that more often.

Another problem I see it when define ourselves as too many titles and they don’t mesh. Many times we define ourselves by job as well as family status. So we are parents/spouse and teacher/administrator. That’s great bc means you’re more than your job but those two things always don’t go together. So now you can feel as if you are living two lives. Living one life is exhausting, don’t try to live two. You can’t. I wonder if that’s how teacher burn out happens sometimes. Or how we drift away from our families. When that’s how we see ourselves we miss all the inbetween.

None of those things are really defining us. It’s what we do or responsibilities we have but that’s not you or me. And what happens when your job changes or your children grow up and start their own families? If that’s how you define yourself, then who are you now? No one wants to be a nothing. Or have to spend years trying to ‘find yourself.’ That’s precious time you could be making a difference.

So who are you? The real you? Over last 6 months I’ve been figuring this out:
Hi I’m Amanda, the beach lover. I’m a learner. I love to learn new things. I’m always hungry for new things. I love to laugh, I find humor in most situations. I’m also creative, I have a brain that never stops so not all of that creativity makes it out. I’m kinda messy but don’t lose things because my mess is organized. I love watching sports, my children, and having fun.

What you do and your responsibilities do not define you. Don’t let them.