I spend a lot of time talking to teachers about STEM and PBL. When we go through that process, I can usually almost predict what they will grasp onto and what they will shy away from. Teachers usually get really excited about the project part, the hands on math and science part. On the flip side they usually hate the idea of the “engineering” process. Mostly because it sounds scary. Engineers have a stereotype, one that STEM ambassadors like me are always trying to get rid of. To get them to understand the process and the ease of it, I usually have them do projects that involve it. But when they go back into the classroom I always worry if they have their kids prototyping or asking questions. For months I have been looking for materials that will help them not only get over the fear of “engineering process” but something they can go back to when planning lessons and units. I haven’t found much that would be helpful or not overwhelming.

During this search I was contacted by BloomBoard. They asked if I would be interested in a blogging campaign they are doing, I decided to check out their site. I loved it. BloomBoard is a place where educators can learn, share, and discuss the best teaching ideas to solve everyday classroom challenges and improve their practice. They have these Collections that teachers have curated based on different topics. I am joining over 20 other bloggers throughout the month of February, sharing Collections of learning resources on their blog and writing about how that Collection powers their practice. The Collections will either be ones the bloggers have curated themselves around a topic of interest or expertise, or just a favorite of theirs from the new BloomBoard.

The content at BloomBoard is high quality and easy to search through. I like that I can search my topic, and the topics are beyond just “math.” Topics that are part of today’s education world, for example: Educating the Whole Child, Critical Thinking, and Increasing Engagement. Good stuff, right? You can even earn “micro-credentials” that some districts would even count for PD credit.

So back to “engineering process.” As I was searching the site, I immediately looked up “STEM” and “PBL” as a topic. I came across this Engineering Can Be Easy collection. The resources are fantastic. The links in there have “Teaching NGSS Engineering Design Through Media” from PBS, Teach Engineering, which is a favorite site of mine, that has lessons for days, and others that are geared to elementary classrooms and even teachers. Putting these resources into one place, and having resources that are actually helpful, is wonderful and I am excited to share. I also loved how it was not overwhelming and it was easy for me to pick and choose what I wanted to look at.

Engineering Can Be Easy

If you are looking for STEM ideas, I recommend starting with this collection, then browse around the site! Also, check out the  BloomBoard Blog every Monday in February for the week’s schedule of bloggers and follow along daily on BloomBoard’s Facebook and Twitter.

 
The next blogger is the series is Ariana Morrow atTeachers42morrow. She is a a special education teacher in Texas.  She has taught students with learning disabilities, emotional disturbances, autism and other cognitive disabilities at both the elementary and middle school levels, delivered through co-teach, self-contained, redirect and alternative learning environment (also called specialized support) settings and models.

Every year that she has taught, she has been rated “Exceeds Standards” by the Texas Professional Development Appraisal System.  She  was a featured teacher in the Online Training Module for the Low Incidence Statewide Network, being honored with the opportunity to share successful classroom systems with other teachers in the state of Texas who work with students with low incidents disabilities.  She teaches adult education classes on lesson planning, behavior management, year-long pacing calendars, scheduling, curriculum accommodations, data collection, time management and organization for special education classrooms.  I’m currently creating a Down Syndrome 101 webinar for the Statewide Low Inccidents Disabilities Network, and she is updating and expanding the Monthly Instructional Guides for Region 3.

New year. I’ve missed my blog. I haven’t been making time to blog. I have a few reasons. But no matter my reasons, I know better. I preach over and over how important reflection is for learning and improving practice. Because I’m no longer in the classroom and my practice now includes adults and adult learning, I have fear my reflection will put my job at risk. A job I love and have worked hard for. But lately I feel stalled and I’m smart enough to know that lack of reflection is part of the reason. So I’m making a commitment to blog more this year. First one starting now.

As I said, I’m stalled. I feel like I’m going in circles. One year when I was in middle school my family went camping through Florida. We got stuck in Tampa. Actually we were outside Tampa in Pinellas County. I know that because they put the county name on everything. Being lost is my panic. Knowing that we were passing the same thing over and over and not driving so having no control drove me insane. I remember asking my mom why my dad wouldn’t just turn off the highway to any road. She told me it was because there were so many options he didn’t know which road would take him to St. Pete. Eventually my dad shared the map with my mom and I, we found our location and where we needed to go. After an hour of being lost, we found the way and in 10 minutes we were on St. Pete Beach. 

I’m in that circle. I don’t really know what will take me to the destination. I have ideas but I’m not sure which risk or idea will take me in the right direction.

The highway I’m stuck on is SAMR. SAMR is the level at which teachers integrate technology. Here’s a diagram that explains SAMR.

The goal with SAMR is to get to the M and R. We want teachers not to just use technology as a substitution to lessons that are already doing but to change how they teach and use the tech to do so. I know that for tech to have maximum impact and for student learning to be most meaningful we need to have students creating, innovating, etc.

How am I, someone not in the classroom, stuck when it comes to SAMR? I’m stuck with the PD I do. I feel like I’m stuck teaching how to use the tech, the basics. Mostly Google Apps for Edu. I love Google and I know the importance of getting teacher buy in to get student use. My job title is “Instructional Technology Coach” and I feel that is my job, coaching teachers to use tech in instruction. But I’m at a place I’m stuck teaching the “how to” not the ways to use in instruction.

When lost and looking at map, you have to find where are located at the moment, then figure out what turns and detours are causing you to keep circling. So I sat down and made a list/diagram of what keeps getting me lost. You know, those roadblocks, excuses, issues, etc, that stand between you and the destination. I could list them all out, but who wants to read a list of complaints? So I put them on this map: (click on the pins if you want to read my roadblocks)

These are my reasons. They may be called excuses or whining but I needed to figure out what highways I’m circling, those are them. Now I can find them on the map I need to look for streets to turn on to go in a different direction. I have some ideas.

• The easiest may be to stop asking principals to come to their school, but to schedule the school and PD. Makes it hard to get buy in or know exactly what they need but I’m desperate.
• Make it so when I schedule a PD the school must schedule at least 2 follow up sessions. Schools that did this last year had high tech usage and I had good relationships with teachers there.
• Start just showing up at schools and stop by classrooms during planning periods and ask what I can do to help. Ask teachers to share with me what they are teaching. As a former teacher, I’m worried that there may be push back did being that guy that is interrupting their planning time without notice.
• And this is the hardest. I’m not sure if it would work. But I’m wondering if I could create a tech school type program. Create online and face to face courses that teachers can work their way through in cohorts within their school or feeder pattern. As teachers complete levels, they can get badges or incentives. I’m not sure how great the incentives would be. I wondered about sponsors for that but then we have strict laws about teachers getting things from vendors and companies. The main incentive would be the teachers would become experts in their schools. They would also get PD credit for the courses.
• Or in the similar mindset have a series of challenges with apps and sites then have the teachers complete and post their challenges. Then we’d have a database of sort of lesson ideas for those apps/sites. We could have a prize for those finishing all the challenges and badges.

These are some of the roads I’m looking at. I’d love to hear what you have done and what did and didn’t work. Also I would hear feedback on the ideas above. Help me find the right direction. Hopefully just writing these will get my wheels turning. I’ve missed y’all. I’ve missed writing. I’m going to be brave and take the risk of being back online. Have a great start to 2016!

For more information on SAMR, check out Kathy Schrock’s Guide to SAMR and Blooms.

 

Usually when a book is made into a movie, one is better than the other. A few months ago my friend Michelle insisted that I get The Martian. With the end of school years stresses, I never finished the book. Last week I was invited to visit NASA’s Johnson center in Houston as an education blogger. I also found out that I would be meeting some of the cast and getting to watch a preview of the movie. I finished the book. Probably one of the most amazing books I ever read. My inner geek loved not only how cool it was to imagine someone on Mars, but how realistic and possible it actually was. Then add how lovable and hilarious Mark Watney, the Martian, is, it’s the perfect book.

After a day of press conferences with the cast and astronauts I was pretty pumped to see the movie. First, let me just say, walking into a movie theater carrying a large red Icee and looking up seeing about 20 real astronauts sitting around you is a tad bit intimidating. But I was excited see the movie, even better, weeks before it comes to theaters. I was sitting next to astronauts watching Mark Watney, who I was loving before I found out was Matt Damon, in 3D. Can’t imagine a better way to spend an afternoon.

So… The movie was amazing. Just as amazing as the book. I don’t think I have ever been able to say that. The few parts were a tad different but it stayed true to the writing.

So why am I writing a movie and book review on my blog? Not typical topic here. And I can promise you it’s not to brag. I have a reason and as usual, I just took the long way getting there. Movies and books like this are insanely important. Think about the first time you saw a space movie, Star Wars or Apollo 13, whatever that movie was, did it get you thinking out what it would be like to travel into space?Movies like this inspire kids to learn more about space and want to be part of the space problem. This is no different than a kid going to a football game and leaving wanting to be a starting quarterback or the cheerleader sticking her liberty.

What else did we learn from this book and movie? The beautiful and painstaking art of problem solving. Every single day Watney gets up and goes through the scientific method for something else trying to stay alive. Some days he fails. After he gets angry about it, he looks at the failure and fixes the problem. He doesn’t let getting left alone on Mars or blown up stop him. Nope he looks at one small part of his problem and fixes it bit by bit. His ability to hone in on one thing at a time amazed me and ended in succes. This is the skills we need to be teaching our students everyday. This is science. I say time and again, science has got to stop being reading comprehension. It has to be inquiry. It has to be problem solving. Watney would’ve died if he only knew how to read a chapter, listen to lecture, and answer questions about the facts.

I know, Watney is not real. I get that. So how close are we to getting humans on Mars? The estimated time frame when it comes down to us as educators. Students in middle and high school now will be the astronaut class that goes to Mars. Not only that, but, it takes thousands of people to train and support one astronaut. We probably have 15 to 25 years to produce these scientist. If you teach reading comprehension instead of real science and STEM, the odds of your students being part of this are dwindling. If we all band together and start focusing on problem solving, teaching students the importance of teamwork, and getting them the STEM skills they need, we may have people heading to Mars by 2030.

Mars can happen in my lifetime. I would have never believed that 15 years ago. Orion has already taken its first test flight, and it worked. We have Scott Kelly in the ISS for a year. That is a huge step because we have the technology to get humans to Mars, we just don’t have the human body ready for it. Scott Kelly’s year in space is a first step in preparing humans and foreseeing problems. We have landers, probes, and rovers on Mars or preparing to make a trip. It’s close. It’s really close. But while NASA is preparing the human body, us as educators need to prepare the human mind. That’s why we went into education to start with, right? It’s time. We need to step up and get kids interested and prepared to be part of history.

Here are some great starting places to get resources for your students. If you have older students, recommend them to go spend some time with Mark.

NASA Educators Resource Network http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/ercn/home/
NASA Museum Alliance https://informal.jpl.nasa.gov/museum/
Student Spaceflight Experiment Program http://ssep.ncesse.org
Talk to the astronauts on ISS with inflight down links. http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/teachingfromspace/students/downlinks.html
STEM on Station http://www.nasa.gov/education/STEMstation/I

Today my nephew went to orientation at his new school. Last year he hated preschool. This year he will be in kindergarten and at a new place. After he met his teacher, my brother asked him what he liked about the school. His answer was “they don’t have half to sinners!” Ummmmm. First of all, we are from the south so all kids forget the “t” and centers become sinners, so I got that part. And in the south “have to” sounds like “half to.” Anyway, after some questioning he explained it perfectly. “You know when the teacher makes you go to all these centers and they are boring and you have to write or color something boring and you ask why and the teacher says ‘because you have to.’ I hate have to centers.”

My nephew, P, hates school at age 5. And his biggest hate is not having a choice. And really not having a voice. Isn’t that the original idea behind centers, giving kids a menu of choices? Maybe not. P is a smart kid but he is an active child, not ADHD, just very athletic and learns through movement. Sitting at a table doing worksheets because he “had to” is probably pure torture. Seriously, he would just start drawing circles on the pages just to get done. He didn’t care if right. Sounds like he learned to play the worksheet game earlier than most kids. Usually isn’t perfected until 3rd grade.

You may not do centers but we all are guilty of making students do things that probably turn them off to learning. Turn them off to school. And the only explanation we give is, they have to. You have to learn math, not let me show you how the math works everyday. You have to write a paper, not let’s try blogging so you can write your ideas and find other who think like you or disagree with you. You have to memorize the 8 (or 9) planets, not let’s figure out how to live on this planet because your generation will be on Mars. No we just say they have to because a lot of times we don’t know the reason or we are just going for the easy.

My daughter, on the other hand, is in a class this year that completely PBL for social studies and she can’t wait for tomorrow to “get to” work on her project. (She’s in 4th grade, every person in Alabama dreads 4th grade history.) We should make sure our classrooms aren’t “have to” but “get to.” I understand there are requirements and standards, but if you are telling kids every day they have to and that’s the only explanation, there is a problem. I wonder how P’s views of school would change if his teacher would have explained why they were doing the activity instead. Or even better, find an activity that did meet his learning needs.

This year as you pull out old lessons from years past ask yourself the same thing P asked his teachers, why do we have to do this? If the answer is because “you have to,” it is time for a new lesson.

OK humor me for a moment. Think back on science classes you took as a kid? What was the class like? How about science in your classroom? What are students doing the majority of the time? How are they assessed? OK now hold that thought.

Now let’s look at the definition of science. Dictionary.com defines it as “systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation.” When you look science up on Wikipedia it says “a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. In an older and closely related meaning, “science” also refers to this body of knowledge itself, of the type that can be rationally explained and reliably applied.” Hmmmmm. I see:

Knowledge of the world through:

observation

experimentation

Builds knowledge in form of testable:

explanations

predictions

Body of knowledge that can be:

rationally explaned

reliably applied

Summed up it’s knowledge gained from observation, extermination that can be explained and applied.

Back to science classes. Let’s look at the typical science class. Before I get push back, I know not everyone does this, but know I spend a lot of times in many different schools and was a science teacher for years. Most of the time here’s a typical unit:

Students read from text.

Students answer questions about said text in form of worksheets or questions at end of section.

Teacher lectures on topic. Students take pages and pages of notes. Lecture probably will include video.

Homework may include define words.

One day of unit may be focused on a hands on experiment related to the topic.

Quizzes and a final test.

Agree? Is this what most science you’ve experienced in your lifetime look like? At one point of my life I taught science this way. If we did a venn diagram of science vs science class, would we have anything in the middle? Or would it look like this:

I used to tell my students don’t use a venn diagram if you don’t have a middle. You are no longer comparing it is just contrast because they obviously have nothing in common.

I speak all the time online or at conferences about STEM and PBL and why it is important for us to change our teaching. And this is exactly why. We are not teaching science. We are teaching facts. We are really teaching reading comprehension. I am in schools all the time where teachers are telling me they don’t have time to teach science so they do it during reading. But science is gaining knowledge through all that other stuff above, not through just reading.

Our students are missing out on learning how to experiment, observe, make predictions, and apply knowledge. So really, we aren’t teaching science, we are teaching kids to read. Then we punish those who were too bored to pay attention during the reading or had trouble paying attention during lectures. No child should ever fail science because he or she was bad at reading comprehension or bad at paying attention to lectures. Yes, they need to read, but they also need to have scientific skills. There is this thing called the STEM Gap that refers to there not being enough people to fill STEM jobs. 40% of employers cannot find applicants that have degrees in the STEM fields nor can they find employees with the problem solving and inquiry skills needed in today’s world.

We have to make the effort to teach science as science. Had a teacher the other day tell me she didn’t have time to teach her science curriculum and do PBL. Told her great. Throw away her science curriculum. Instead of worksheets do inquiry activity during that time. Allow kids to research, apply the information, evaluate their ideas, then create something. Science should be all about curiosity. If students are not getting to be curious, you’re probably doing it wrong.

Things have to change because I really do not want to live in a world of compliant readers, I want to live in a world of problem solvers who are making an effort to make our world a safer place. 

Sitting in today’s Ignite sessions at #ISTE2015 I felt inspired. My friends talked about things that are not the norm and did a bit of pushing the envelope. Rafranz talked about diversity in ed tech,  Pernille about kids hating school and what we can do to change it, and Bob about what he experienced living in St. Louis during the unrest in Ferguson and how we should use tech and influence to make a difference. All of the ignites were awesome but these were one of the 3 that actually made you question “why are things staying the same?”

My thinking hasn’t left that question yet. But what makes them different, they were not promoting a product or something that one person can do. No, they were talking about changing mindset and making a difference.

You see, I’m learning there are two types of thinkers. There are those who think “we should do__ right now.” They tell us to use websites, focus on movements that are happening, what products other districts are using. Those people are great to have around. You need to know what trends are out there. They get the ball running. They excite people to try something new.  They get those who are afraid of change making small steps. They usually are the decision makers.

Then there’s the other guys. This is where I find myself in trouble a lot of times. This is where I notice people I seem to gravitate towards fall. They are those who see to see things as the big picture.  They are the ones who speak and blog about changing mindset, looking to the future instead of the new, and questioning why things are the way they are. They are the ones unfortunately are called ‘opinionated’ though they are usually giving facts. They are the first to push back when those above want to do buy or start something. They don’t push back to be difficult or a know it all,  they usually push back because while it’s a new idea for everyone else, it’s something they probably have been researching or doing for a while now. These people are not the norm. They are not trying to go against the grain, they just see everything differently. They are the rebels.

We need more rebels. I don’t know if you can train your brain to think this way, but those that do need to use their voice. Social media has given these a voice. I think that’s why those who are part of my PLN that are most important and influential to me are these thinkers. Those that focus on tools and techniques seem to not have as much pull in this world. I had someone ask why bloggers, etc, do it, this is why. They have these ideas or these passions and want to share when with others. That have figured out that sharing is what will influence generations to make a difference. It’s what will change our world for the better.

I’m excited to hear more from the ‘rebels’ this week at ISTE. I need those to push my thinking. I need them to remind me that this thinking is normal. I can’t wait to share what I learn!

I get asked to consult often about teacher internet and social media use. I get asked about directions school and district websites should go in as well as teachers and admins. I was answering some questions via emails today and thought I’d post some of the information I was sharing. So maybe putting this out there will be a good reference for me when asked in the future and maybe a place to help others looking for this information. I also know that some may not agree with my thoughts, that is ok, these are just trends I am seeing.

What are teachers roles online?
If you were a teacher in 2006 being a digital leader you had a website but stayed away from social media. Things have changed. Your school website needs to be a place for parents to find out who you are and your contact information. That’s all. The days of updating websites weekly have been gone for years now. This is where your district’s LMS is the most important thing in your classroom’s digital life. Whether it’s edmodo, Google Classroom, or Canvas, this is where your need to be posting your information. There are multiple reasons:

1. It’s private. Think about it, you post that your class is going to zoo tomorrow. That’s really bad if little Joe’s parents are in a heated custody battle and the parent who lost custody can’t have contact. But you post it on your public site, that person now knows where that student will be and probably will be more accessible than he would be at school.
2. You need to be posting your assignments here anyway, right? Why post twice? No one wants to do that, especially a teacher who works as much as you do. If you aren’t posting assignments to an LMS, you’re missing out on students being more organized and having more ways to turn in as well as reminders sent to text, email, or social media.
3. You can post pictures, work, etc. Please don’t post pictures or work of students publicly without permission of parents. It’s really just better to do this privately. Parents want to see their children learning, but the entire world doesn’t need to unless posted by the parent. I’m a huge believer in world wide audience when students are blogging or using a class social media but everyday events need to be private.

Teachers also should be using social media for learning and connecting with other educators. If you teach older students, encourage them to do the same. Be an example. Create a PLN and sit with the smart kids of the world daily. Use Twitter, Facebook groups, voxer, blogs, or whatever you are comfortable with to learn and reflect. Start a blog, one that you feel like you can be open on and reflect on your successes and failures. Don’t advertise it to all your parents and coworkers if you feel like it will take away your honesty. But have a place to learn comfortably.

What should schools’ and districts’ be doing online?
Websites need to be just for information purposes only. Needs to be where stakeholders can find news, links, forms, etc. It needs to be easy to maneuver with simple menus. What it shouldn’t be is a place for curriculum and sharing. That is the purpose of your district LMS. It should be used for sharing curriculum information as well as places for online professional learning.

Social media on this level should also focus on getting information out to parents. There should be some level of 2 way communication. If people ask questions or make comments, there should be replies. No, don’t get sucked into trolls but communicate. Even my cable company replies when I tweet them. One way communication for website (think online information circa 2005) and two way communication for social media accounts. Principals need to be in charge of their school’s social media. They need to have that ownership. It is their school. They should curate the information coming from it.

How should administrators use social media?
You are the “lead learner” of your school. You need to be modeling how teachers should be using social media for their learning. Participate in Twitter chats, then curate the tweets on the hashtag from it. Blog about things you are learning, this can be public or private for just your teachers. Admins need to be listening to podcasts and reading blogs. Here is a great list of blogs by principals from all over the country. BAM Radio is a great place to get podcast and BackchannelEdu that was made for principals is amazing. Take charge of your learning and share with your teachers.

You also as I stated above need to be in charge of sharing the great things going on in the district. Don’t leave this for others to do, this is your school. Own it.

With all of these, be careful about student privacy. Don’t post things you can’t publicly talk about online or even offline, like if a child has special needs or something they are dealing with. This post from my friend Rafranz has totally change my thinking of what we post about students online. Don’t post things that could be embarrassing to a student. And please be careful about names and following parents’ wishes about posting online.

The Internet is a fantastic place. Educators need to be online reaching out to our students and their families. We also need to be taking advantage of the learning opportunities that are available. Social media has taken down so many walls and if used correctly can really change your world. Go out there. Reach others. And if you ever have questions, I’m here as well as thousands of others.

I took my kids to see Inside Out today. They’ve been asking to see it and with heat index over 120 degrees I didn’t argue not sitting on the hot sand at beach all day. If you haven’t seen the movie, I definitely recommend it. If you are a teacher or parent, I more than recommend, I demand you go. I saw so much of what my middle school students went through during the movie. Heck, I could relate to most of it too.

The movie is about a 11 year old who has to move from Minnesota to San Francisco. Instead of watching the movie from the outside world, you go through everything inside her brain which houses memories and emotions. Her emotions are the stars using memories to relay her feelings. So as this movie played I took away so much. Haven’t done a list in a while so here it is,

Top 5 Things I Learned From Inside Out:

5. Pixar is amazing. Seriously, Riley’s hair looked real. I push STEM so often, we forget it is more than just need for engineers. We need more kids thinking with STEAM concepts because they will be the ones creating Toy Story 6 and turning drawings into the most realistic characters ever.

4. Adult emotions are a lot different than a preteen. My son asked me why the parents’ emotions worked together better. Well even though we do have battles inside as adults, it’s nothing compared to what is going on inside a preteen’s head. We have had years to learn to control and work with emotions. Their emotions are still learning how to interact with each other. When all parts aren’t working together there is no harmony. They have not learned to control this yet. Be patient, by 15 they will have a better grasp.

3. We can’t control others’ emotions. Heck people have a hard enough time controlling their own emotions without someone else telling them how to feel and how to act. If someone is angry or afraid or even sad, you can’t tell them not to feel that way. I used to have this conversation all the time when my children were younger. I have no right to tell them not to be angry. I can teach them how to act when they are, but I never thought it necessary to tell them not to feel that way. But others didn’t agree. It’s a battle not worth fighting, emotions are just that and only thing you can do about them is be there for the person you love.

2. Sadness is an OK emotion. The entire movie plot started with the emotion Joy wanting to stop Riley from ever feeling the emotion Sadness. We learn a lot from sadness. We learn who our friends are, we learn to be happy through the sadness, and most importantly, sadness helps us make the right choices. As much as we don’t want to feel sad or see others sad, it is going to happen and that’s OK. Sadness is part of what makes us stronger.

1. Sometimes we lose Joy. Riley’s emotion Joy got lost. She couldn’t find it. Some lucky people go through their entire life never losing Joy. But some of us do. And that is the most lost you’ll ever feel. When that happens, please talk to someone. See a doctor. There is nothing wrong with admitting to losing Joy. There are people and medicines who can help you find her. Also, when someone you love loses Joy, be there for them. Don’t leave them alone to look for it. A year ago I lost Joy and in the process I saw who turned their back on me, who said they were tired of hearing about my other emotions, and these people added to the hiding of Joy. If you know someone, especially a child, who seems to lost Joy, be the person who steps up and looks for Joy with them without judgement. Maybe their Joy is in same place you found yours.

So much of this movie reminded me that we are not always in control of how we feel. We are not ever in control of how others feel. But we are in control of our actions and reactions. If you see someone, especially a child whose emotions seem to be lost or out of control step up and help. Depression and mental illness is becoming something more people are willing to talk about, but that doesn’t always help those going through it at the time. Become educated on ways you can help. It’s too important not to. Life is too important to allow emotions to be lost, they must all be present for our personality to be the real us.

(On a side note, as someone who lives with ADHD, I could write an entire dissertation on what my brain probably looks like. I mean a movie on voices inside my head?!)

Last week I got to be part of 2 amazing opportunities. Two opportunities that only happened because of social media. Who would’ve thought 6 years ago when I started tweeting and a year later blogging that anything would come of it? But it has and because of social media I have a voice. We all do. And as last week unfolded I saw how important that voice really is. I wasn’t sure I wanted to share about the opportunities because I didn’t want a ‘look at me’ situation. But as others keep asking about it and more I decompress what I learned, I feel like I should share.

On Wednesday I left work to get on a plane and head to Seattle. The whole thing was surreal because I was heading to The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. If you are in education and/or follow education reform, you know this is the most influential organization in education. That can be positive or negative, depending on who you ask. I have yet to figure out why I was asked, but definitely honored I was. While there we had meetings where we talked about teachers in social media. Meeting with the brilliant Vicki Phillips and Carina Wong was pretty cool, women who have so much influence on me as well as in education. The best part was after lunch, meeting with Melinda Gates, yes THE Melinda Gates. Kinda crazy having someone with this much influence on the world actually asking our opinions and what we know. I rarely get asked that in my own office.

I left Gates and hopped on a red eye – one that was late – and went to Washington DC. Another very cool opportunity, I was one of 100 who got to attend Edcamp Dept of Ed. So I spent the day meeting and having open discussions with educators from around the country. Some were my favorite people I rarely see face to face, some were others that I have never met or had conversations with. Huge thanks to Richard Cullata and his office as well as the amazing edcamp foundation for this day. A day spent brainstorming and comparing and sharing, you cannot beat that. The day ended with Arne Duncan telling a pretty touching story about a student in Chicago (don’t worry, I will share in another post I’m working on) that was a huge reminder of why we do what we do.

I look back on these whirlwind days and one thing was a constant – Teachers have voices. Teachers need their voice heard. I hear over and over, we need to do this, teachers should do that, but no one actually stops and asks the teachers. I think if Melinda Gates and Richard Cullata can stop and take a minute to hear what teachers have to say, and really listen, then why are we not doing that at a school level, a district level, even a state level? We are the experts. Yet politicians around the country are deciding on testing or trying to do away with standards, but they are not taking the time to listen. We can tout education reform all day every day but until it starts with teachers, the ones on the ground floor of this, there will never be any reform. And the scary part, real teachers, talented teacher, will become more and more frustrated and leave the profession. My children need good teachers, they need teachers who feel like they are making a difference, not just filling out paperwork and adding to data.

Also, teachers, make your voice heard!! I never imagine anyone would actually read my blog, especially people who have huge pull in the education world. But people do. You have a voice. Use it. We preach about student voice and real world audience, but you need to practice this as well. I know we have to be careful what we say, we need our job, but when you learn something, share. Others want to know!