Perspective (Today Was a Good Day)

I was coming off an entire week of being out of the office and feeling like I was falling way behind. That week was spent doing some amazing things. First, we held A Day of Math Practice with Ed Campos Jr. at the University of La Verne in Oxnard. Then we had a 3-day training on Bootstrap, a math and coding program with several of our math teachers, a science teacher, and a couple of our new friends from outside districts. It was an amazing four days.

Bootstrap trainer Ed Campos Jr. provides support while other OUHSD teachers work on their coding. 

The following week I tried to play catch-up as best I could while still taking care of the business at hand. I then had to leave Tuesday afternoon to head up to Salinas for a CUE Rock Star Black Label event. It was another great day of fun sessions doing the QFT with elementary teachers. I always love getting to spread the magic that is the QFT. So the Black Label had me out half of Tuesday and all day Wednesday not to mention about 10 hours on the road.

Salinas teachers working together on the QFT at the CUE Black Label. 

This brings me to Thursday. I was driving home and my Bluetooth wouldn’t connect for some reason. I couldn’t play my podcast or listen to some Wu (shoutouts to the #CueTangClan). So I was forced to think and reflect. I felt stressed from the days of emails piling up. Sticky note after sticky note of lists of things that I need to take care of. All of the upcoming events that need to be thought through and logistics to be planned. But then I thought back to today.

I had spent the better part of the morning working with an incredible group of adult learners in an Oxnard Adult School class held at the Camarillo Public Library. I had met this group once before just because I wanted to better understand what adult school classes were like. In speaking with the teacher, I knew that these were a group of diverse adult learners who were there by choice but were apprehensive when it comes to technology. They include men and women from China, Iran, Japan, Mexico, and other parts of the world. They were of all ages, several 70+. They were also all learning to speak English.

Oxnard Adult School students start their Thin Slides project. 

So we thought that a low floor, high ceiling digital activity like Thin Slides would be perfect. The assignment was to select one image and one word or short phrase that describes their year in English class.

This abstract thinking isn’t easy in a second language. I did a brief description of what they were going to do and then let them go. Some struggled more than others, but the entire class completed the activity. When they went to present their slides, the magic began. They shared how the class made them comfortable when they sometimes get frustrated and want to cry. They shared how it reminded them of when they flew fighter jets which were fast and fantastic, just like the class. Probably my favorite moment was when I helped a gentleman (I didn't ask his age but I would say 80s or so) to insert an image of a sports car into his slide. When he saw it show up his face lit up. Priceless.

Oxnard Adult student shares her reflection on her year of learning English. 

Later in the afternoon, I had a phone call scheduled with Dr. Sonny Magana, author of Disruptive Classroom Technologies, and the new T3 Leadership Team. We discussed all kinds of exciting things that are on the horizon and I really look forward to getting that work started and meeting most of the team in person at ISTE in Chicago.

The T3 Framework from Magana's Disruptive Classroom Technologies. 

My day ended with a meeting with my director, Reina Bejerano, to go over a reflection on the California Professional Standards for Education Leaders (CPSEL). Some of it is busy work but some of it is good self-reflection and helps to refocus for the upcoming year. We shared some good ideas and she helped me excited about new things next year. She shared that I had received some props in our Twitter chat the previous night. I usually co-moderate the #VCHSchat along with Cori Orlando but we were on the road heading back from Salinas. We had two OUHSD teachers filling in which was awesome in itself (shoutout to Allison Holicky and Lucy Nakamoto).

So I jumped back into the chat that I had missed to look at some of the tweets that my director had referred to. Wow! I was floored. These are the things that you want to hear...that keep you going. Much like when you have a special moment with a student, it’s a reminder of why you do what you do.













So...despite all of the stress and anxiety over this and that, when you put things in perspective, in the end...today was a good day.

Update: Tomorrow (the next day) This all put me in a much better (and more productive) mood.
I think I'm going to try to roll with this positivity more often.