Observations and Reflections 2.0

I need to get back into this...and there is no better time.

To give readers of my blog updates of all my trials and tribulations while working at the School of the Future up until now would not only be impossible in any reasonable amount of time but extremely traumatic for me to relive all my frustrations. You might be wondering (if i have talked to you about my experiences) why I say things like "I wouldn't want to be doing anything else..." if I have these negative views. My only answer is this...no great accomplishment is ever easy but I know that someday, through all the mud and muck I will have been apart of accomplishing something that will be called great. With that said, I hope to re-introduce you to my experience of this roller coast ride called progressive education.

I recently attended EduCon 2.0 which is obviously an educational conference dedicated to the future of education. All weekend I attended workshops which presented ideas and strategies for innovative schools around the country. At first it was incredibly depressing because many of the topics being presented were things that my staff wanted to do at SOTF but have failed thus far. Just talking to my staff during the conference made me realize that we all have such intense passion but are slowly dying because of the constant obstacles we face every day. Maybe I can only speak for myself but I know that I was not doing or even trying to do what I got into teaching to do. But something happened to me at this conference...

During the last presentation on one of the days, this guy was speaking about how to teach with laptops in the classroom. It ended up being more about student engagement than anything else but he represented many of the same arguments that I believe. Whenever around educators in the past, these arguments usually led to a barrage of criticisms. So, just by listening, this guy put me in a state of mind that is very dangerous and yet incredibly powerful. I say this because when my passion takes over I don't have much of a filter on what I say or even do. To make a long story short, he took questions at the end and being the very last question, I lost complete control and expressed my frustration of the obstacles I face, desire to become better and passion for being innovative. He seemed a little surprised and didn't really know how to respond but what happened after he was done was one of the most exciting and exhilarating experiences of my life.

People started to approach me as if I showed something unique or extraordinary. I know I definitely showed my passion while I was speaking but to have other educators (and even the speaker) come up to you and tell you how much they appreciated what was said was so validating. I went on to meet other like minded educators dedicated to innovative teaching and learning. i walked away from the conference with contact information, new teaching ideas and resources, positive affirmation and hopefully a few friends.

Needless to say...I am back to where I need to be!