What is your journey?

Last week Kate and I had the opportunity to attend the inauguration of President Obama.  What an event! Having once taught American Government I was like a little kid in a candy store.  Between all of the museums, memorials, and monuments I literally got the chills. (I know I geeked out. :)) We had the chance to meet the United States Representatives and Senators for Iowa, and don't worry I told Rep. Lobesack I would send him a Bulldog pennant when we got back to Bettendorf.  We got to see Barack Obama being swore in and his family in the parade. Oddly enough though, the most significant takeaway for me was just being in the masses of people during the ceremony.  This in itself helped me realize that this was more than an "inauguration." This was the inauguration of a black man as our president for the second time!  Not only was this individual selected to lead the most powerful country in the world once, he was re-elected, and therefore inaugurated a second time. The significance of this is of course is that a majority of Americans believe he was the right person for the job regardless of his race.  This has mobilized a whole race of people in our country. I do not think I fully realized this until I was there in the masses of people and walked with them at the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial and watched on with them during the ceremony.  It would be easy for them to think all is accomplished, we have done it!  However, in President Obama's speech he referenced MLK Jr. and reminded all of us that our journey is not complete.  He stated that we should not settle for gains and achievements that have been made, and forget about others that have not. I couldn't help but wonder about the journey of all the others around me and how similar and different some of our struggles may or may not be.




Think of this in terms of your own role in education.  What has your journey been this school year or for that matter for your career? Are there parts of changes you have not fully embraced?  Parts that you hoped would go away?  What do you see as the next big shift in our field?  How will this effect your journey?  Whatever the answer may be I think we can all agree that the journey will continue to be different than those before us.  We can decide to embrace, foster, and welcome change or we can dig our heels in and resist.  I personally believe that we cannot keep constant with the status quo and offer a product like we have for the last fifty plus years in education.  We have to evolve and create a new system that challenges and inspires are students to do more and be more. Some of this will undoubtedly be uncomfortable.

A step to doing this was to give our students a modern day tool, the iPad.  Take time to think about how the iPads can help to ignite this change within your classroom.  How can they reshape your journey as an educator? They are just a tool, but they can also be seen as a catalyst for so much more.  Like President Obama we cannot believe that all has been accomplished because we accomplished one objective and now have a modern day tool.  We need modern day educational thought to go with it! I am proud of what we are seeing and hearing as products of this implementation and of your hard work in committing to not doing things the way we always have.  I would like to challenge all of you to keep pushing though, keeping thinking, keep redesigning, think big.  We will support you.  I am not speaking of minor changes.  Remember we are looking for transformation!  As an educator we all have an opportunity to leave a legacy.  How will people describe your journey?

Stop it, no really STOP IT!

This year Kate and I are taking on a new year's resolution that involves stopping something.  Often time’s resolutions involve starting a new activity or recommitting to an old one.  We have taken a different approach, we are embarking on a no spend Saturday once a month.  Kate read this somewhere and we decided to give it a try.  I will say that after three hours on Saturday morning I was shocked at how many times I had to catch myself from spending money.  Whether it was the morning doughnut run, washing the car, or getting a cup of coffee while dropping one of the kids off at an activity, I found myself questioning the purchase and refusing to spend.  It worked, at least for the one Saturday this month.  

The reason I bring this up is because I immediately thought about our classrooms and schools.  What else can we stop doing this year?  Maybe it is to stop assigning homework that is not as meaningful as you would like.  Better yet, what if you would stop assigning homework all together?  How would that look?  What if we stopped giving detentions or F’s?  Maybe it is refusing to assess the same way you always have.  Or what if you refuse teach a unit the way you have every other year?   What if I limit the time I spend on email or social media?  I think there is great power in thinking this way.  We question our practice instead of just doing the same thing we have always done.  So, when you think of this in terms of technology integration, you can also consider my question this way.  What will you not use these devices for?  If we go back to the premise that the intent is transformation not integration, remember that they are not here to simply make things easier or paperless.  What practice can they help you stop in your classroom? Therefore, what meaningful task will replace the stopped practice?    

To this end, there will be opportunities to push and challenge your thinking through staff development.  Below I have listed our professional development dates and tentative plans.  We are excited to help you get inspired and moving for the remainder of the school year!  

January 23^rd – Wednesday AM meeting to begin Mission Possible 2.0

February 6^th – Digital Learning Day: Mission Possible

February 7^th – 9^th and 10^th grade teachers working with Jonathan Wylie, GWAEA

February 15^th – Staff Development: Teach for Learner Differences and MP

February 16^th – Ed Camp Iowa @ BHS – Sign up now if you have not! 

March 6^th – Mission Possible

It's a Great Day to be a Bulldog!

Matt