Distracted Parenting

     This year, inspired by the One Word philosophy, I discovered that I needed more focus in my life.  Focus, for me, is about being intentional with my time and my attention.  Regardless of what I am doing- spending time with family, reading a book, watching a movie, attending my son’s athletic events, writing a blog post, talking with a friend or colleague, exercising at the gym- I plan to give my full attention. 

    In the past few years, I have been guilty of trying to “multi-task,” even when spending time with my family.  When I “multi-task,” nothing gets my full attention.  With increasing frequency, I observe parents who are distracted; parents who are attempting to multi-task; parents “playing” with their children, yet still attending more to their phone than their children.

   This is not a post about the evils of cell phones.  And, I’m not suggesting that children need 100% of our time and attention 100% of the time.  However, I believe we need to be more present and less distracted when we are spending time with our children.  I believe we need to be more intentional with our attention.

     As a child, my father would spend an hour or more after work throwing the softball or shooting hoops.  We would talk about school and life.  I cherished those moments from my elementary years through my high school years.  Some of my favorite moments with my mom included playing cards, board games, or reading books.  As the youngest, I was able to benefit from having both of my parents' undivided attention for several years after my siblings left and began their adult lives.  But even when we were all in the house, our parents gave us their time and attention.  Family dinner was usually the most important time of the day- a time not to be disturbed or distracted.  Family dinner was one of our parents’ way of giving all of us their time and attention. 

     When my son was younger, I replicated this devotion of time and attention.  However, I recognize that over time, I allowed my work to begin to consume more and more of my time and attention at home.  As educators, we often bring work into our home or extend our children’s time at school to finish our work before we leave.  To do our jobs well and to give our students a quality education, we must dedicate time to our craft.  However, we must also prioritize and maximize our time and attention with our own children.

   Perhaps it is because my son will be graduating high school this year, but I find myself reflecting more and more about the choices I made in my dual role as a parent and an educator.  My son and I have a great relationship filled with lots of moments that we will never forget and lots of happy memories.  However, I know that there are moments I have missed- moments I won’t get back; memories I didn't get to create.  I believe that is why when I observe parents being distracted and not attending to their children, my heart aches.  It is also the reason I try to remind my staff how important it is that they spend time with their families.  And finally, it is the main reason why “focus” became my One Word this year.  By giving my full attention or giving my full focus will make me a better educator and better parent.

Digital Citizenship: Not Just for Kids

The New Year has presented school districts in my area several new challenges.  In Ohio, we are use to delaying or closing due to snow fall and/or icy roads.  But unlike our typical winters, we have experienced first hand the phenomena called the Polar Vortex, which is bringing us unseasonably cold weather, additional snowfall, and extremely dangerous wind chills.  These frigid temperatures and wind chills, prompted some school districts to close or delay.

This has prompted a debate in several communities about how cold is too cold.  Of course, this debate plays out in social media, particularly on Facebook.  Parents and community members post not only questions that are geared toward furthering their understanding of the delaying/closing process, but also "air their grievances" about issues they have with the school district.  

While I believe it is important to engage the community in two way communication and be open to feedback, how should schools respond when the conversation becomes accusatory, inaccurate, and even inappropriate?  I watched the dialogue unfold as one district attempted to respond to the concerns and explain the decision  making process.  The response was viewed as defensive and was openly criticized by parents and community members.  Suddenly, the comment thread appeared to take on a "mob" mentality.  The continuous negative comments and criticisms, left me with a multitude of emotions.  I felt saddened by the "attacks" on the school and simultaneously frustrated that more individuals who were supportive of the district's decision didn't post comments.  

I began to wonder if those in favor of the district's decision intentionally didn't post a comment for fear they would be criticized or "bullied" for their opinions.  (It should be noted that there were positive comments or favorable comments posted as well).  I also realized that I had an opportunity to respond, yet didn't.  I wondered why I remained silent.  And my answer was simple:  fear.  I was afraid any comment I made would be criticized.  I was afraid my comment would put me at risk professionally- what would be the consequences in my own district for commenting on another district's decision even if my comments were favorable or supportive.  Would I hurt or help professional relationships with educators in this district?  Are these the same questions others were asking themselves?  And, were those who remained silent victimized as bystanders to the negativity that unfolded?

How a parent responds to district decisions and district personnel influences how the child views the school.  How many students watched this negative dialogue unfold?  How many students' opinions of the district or district personnel were negatively influenced by the actions of the adults on Facebook that night?  

We teach our students the importance of digital citizenship.  We remind students to THINK before they post.  We preach to them to make sure that what they post is Truthful, Helpful, Important, Necessary, and Kind.  Yet, I logged off Facebook that evening with a sinking feeling that the ones who need digital citizenship are the ones who have the greatest influence on our children:  the parents.

Currently, my district does not utilize a Facebook page, however, we have not been immune from these types of conversations unfolding in social media.  And, as we look toward utilizing one in the future, how will we handle controversial decisions?  How does your school respond?

Gratitude, Fearless, and Focus

This year rather than making resolutions, I've decided to take Jon Gordon's approach (see the video here) with the one word.  In determining my one word I had to engage in a lot of self-reflection.  I had to ask myself some tough questions, such as:

• What is holding me back from achieving what I want to achieve?
• What am I passionate about?
• How can I lead in such away that will be inspiring to others?
• Where do I want to be a year from now?  How about 5 years? 10 years?

I also read a great article from Lolly Daskal, which gave me even more to think about, particularly in my role as a leader.  With these questions rolling around in my brain, I was able to determine there were three words that I felt were my guideposts for the upcoming year.  Then, I read a wonderful post by Jennifer Hogan.  It was this post that helped me narrow my focus even more.  They were gratitude, fearless, and focus.  Why these three words and how did they relate to my tough questions?

First, when I think of gratitude, I believe it is a mindset or attitude that one possess.  In a world where negativity is pervasive, it is difficult to maintain a positive outlook.  I prefer to see the world as a world of possibilities- a glass is half full mentality.  This doesn't mean I am always Rosy Sunshine.  There are times I get frustrated or need to "vent," but am quick to recover.  I think by sharing what I am grateful for will help me achieve what I want to achieve in my role as a building principal.  I want my staff and students to be excited to come to school.  By making my gratitude visible or public, I can influence the culture of my building in a positive way.  By expressing my gratitude, my students and staff will know how important they are to me.  I'm not always good at expressing what I am really thinking or believing.  I've been told I that I am "hard to read."  I am a deep thinker and try to process information on a regular basis.  I hope by sharing my gratitude openly, more people will learn more about me and learn to "read me" more easily.  I am not who I am today or where I am today without a great team of people who have supported, inspired, and helped me.

Secondly, when I think of being fearless, I don't think of bravery or courage.  Rather, I think of risk-taking.  Not the jump off a cliff or out of an airplane kind of risk taking, but the "set a lofty goal and go for it" kind of risk taking.  Many times when I make big decisions, I have done a lot of research, talked out the pros and cons, and selected the best option based on the evidence.  I'm not planning to change that practice per se, but I do believe that I am guilty of making safe choices.  Choices where I can be certain of the outcome- personally and professionally.  When I looked back on 2013, I realized that some of the best results came from being fearless.  When I was uncertain of the outcome, but stayed the course, I was pleasantly surprised by the results.  Being on Twitter and writing a blog are two examples of that.  For some, sharing in those realms comes naturally.  But for others, like me, this is not an easy task.  Additionally, I had the opportunity to do a presentation and be videotaped.  These opportunities would not have happened had I not been fearless.  

Finally, when I think about focus, I think about making the goals I have personally and professionally a reality.  Without focus, those goals won't be realized.  Without focus, I won't continue to grow and achieve.  For those that know me personally, they would tell you that I am focused/ driven.  However, I often make choices that put my personal and professional goals on the sidelines.  With focus, I won't make excuses.  With focus, I will prioritize.  With focus, I will grow.  With focus, I will achieve.

So, if I follow Jon Gordon's approach of one word, the word I would choose is focus.  With focus, I will be fearless.  With focus, I will make my gratitude known to others.  I am excited to make 2014 my year of focus!

I was so inspired by this process, that I shared these resources with my staff.  Last week, we gathered together to share our one word with each other and the reasons we selected them.  We made paper hearts, writing our one word on them, and then posted the hearts outside our doors.  The postings serve as a reminder for ourselves, but also a way to help keep each other accountable for our one word.  I also took pictures of each staff member with their one word, which I will be posting in the waiting area of our office.  The best part of this whole process was to see staff members sharing this with students!  

Sunshine Award

On Saturday, I was nominated by @CathyMere for the Sunshine Award.  While this isn't an award per se, it is an opportunity for those in my PLN to learn more about me as a person.  I was certainly flattered by the nomination, though admittedly, I haven't done much blogging.  In fact, my very first blog happened at the end of the summer.  While I have created a blog for my parents and write it monthly rather than a newsletter and a weekly blog for my staff, I haven't maintained my personal blog.  And truly, I'm not certain why.  I read others' blogs all the time.  These are often the sources for my reflections and I regularly share others' blog posts with my staff.  So, I am taking this opportunity to accept this "award" to dust off my blog.

Here's the description of the Award from Matt Renwick:

"The Sunshine award gives others an opportunity to learn more about me as a blogger and then, in turn, I will send sunshine the way of 11 other amazing bloggers for you to get to know!"

Here are the rules:

• Acknowledge the nominating blogger
• Share 11 random facts about yourself
• Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you
• List 11 bloggers.  They should be bloggers you believe deserve some recognition and a little blogging love!
• Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated. (You cannot nominate the blogger who nominated you).

Here are my Random Facts:

1. I love "Foo Foo" Coffee.  I have often thought about working at Starbucks in Barnes & Noble so I can be surrounded by my two of my loves:  books and foo foo coffee.
2. I love to travel!  I took my first plane ride when I was 10 and if I had the money or opportunity, I would travel somewhere at least 2X per month.  
3. My professional life has changed SIGNIFICANTLY due to Twitter and I am so grateful for being connected to other educators, particularly now that I am in administration.  Being a principal can be a very isolating experience, particularly when you are the only elementary principal in a district.  Twitter gives me the opportunity to learn from more experienced administrators as well as leadership gurus in other professions.  I believe I'm a better leader because I became connected.  So THANK YOU to all of you whom I've had the pleasure to follow!
4. I am the first in my family to go to college and am grateful to my parents for instilling in me the importance of education.
5. I use to play competitive sports: basketball & softball.  I played volleyball in middle school, but quit in high school.  
6. I coached my son's 6th grade basketball team.  (Could be why he hasn't played basketball since). :)
7. I am a movie junkie!  I love to go to movies or watch movies at home.  Sometimes I forget that I've seen a movie before and don't realize it until I'm halfway through it!  
8. I love music and enjoy a variety of genres.  Dave Matthews Band is by far my favorite and it is mandatory on road trips.  I have had the pleasure of seeing DMB live several times and I don't know if there is a better live performing band!
9. Summer is my favorite season- mostly because of the sunshine.
10. I'm a picky eater and have not eaten eggs since I was 4 years old.  I'm not allergic, I just hate the smell and taste.  :)
11. My favorite grade to teach was 3rd grade.  

My 11 Questions to Answer from @CathyMere:

1.  When you look out the window or door of your house, what do you see?

I see my backyard where there is currently blowing and drifting snow.  It is my favorite view in the morning because I get to see the sun come up.

2.  Ocean or mountains?

I love the ocean.  It is very calming to hear the ocean waves outside your window and there is nothing like a long walk on the beach any time of day.

3.  What is the best vacation you've ever taken?

I absolutely loved a trip to Hawaii that I took a few years ago.  However, my favorite trip was to Chicago with my niece and my son for 4th of July and the Taste of Chicago. I fell in love with Chicago on that trip and have been back several times!

4.  What is the best book you read in 2013?

Gone Girl was by far the best book I read in 2013.

5.  Who is your favorite book character and why?

I fall in love with characters all the time, but I would say my current favorite character is Jemima J in Jane Green's book by the same title.  

6.  What is the one thing you wish you could have someone else do for you?

Weed whack the yard- I have a hard enough time trying to start the dumb thing let alone trimming the whole yard every week March through October.  

7.  What inspires you?

I receive inspiration from a variety of places and people as well as things that I read- books, articles, blogs, etc.  

8.  What do you make time for?

I make time for my parents.  I call them almost every day and we typically still have Sunday dinner together, except now I do the cooking for them.  I am so blessed by my parents and all that they have done for me in my life.  I always want them to know how much they are loved and appreciated.

9.  If you could spend a month on any continent with your expenses paid, where would you go and why?

I would go to Europe.  I want to see the birthplace of my great-grandparents, castles, pubs in Ireland, and all the architectural landmarks of Italy.

10.  What are your favorite games to play?

I love the older board games we have:  Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary, Scategories, and Cranium.  I am also the reigning Clue champ in my family!  However, these days when we play games, we usually play Farkle!

11.  If you could make one change in the world, what would you want to change?

One change in the world I would make would be hunger.  

My list of 11 Bloggers (Well, I'm not certain all of the 11 people I am going to list actually blog.  However, if they are not, I hope this will be the inspiration they need to get started as I believe they have lots to add to the conversation)!

Dr. Lou Kramer   Lou is a dynamic leader who is doing great things within his district.  He is connecting with families and students in a way that few superintendents do and his work is inspiring.

Bobby Dodd  I had the opportunity to meet Bobby this summer and he has certainly inspired me to make changes in how I connect to families and share our school's story.  He is an invaluable resource for me!

Danielle Prohaska  Danielle is one who currently doesn't blog, but has been an amazing colleague and leader in my current district.  She has also been recently appointed as my superintendent for next year.  I hope she will take this invitation to begin blogging because she has a depth of knowledge about teaching and learning that is powerful.

Chad Miller  Chad is the reason I started a Twitter account, so I have him to thank for expanding my learning.

Mindy Reid  I have been following Mindy for quite some time and love seeing the things she is doing as a fellow elementary principal.

Jennifer Hogan  I am a new follower of Jennifer's and I love her passion for education.  I have subscribed to her blog and have read previous posts.  I'm actually surprised that it took me this long to connect with her, but am so very thankful that I have!

Matt Miller  Matt inspires me when it comes to "connectedness."  He does a wonderful job of promoting and celebrating his district but also sharing information with the rest of us in his PLN.  

Sean Wheeler  I connected with Sean through #ohedchat.  He has a wealth of experiences that he shares with his PLN.  He's also the lead blogger for @teachinghumans

Dr. Bobby Moore  I have had the pleasure to learn from Bobby over the past two years and have found him to be a positive influence on my role as a beginning principal.

Jane Maki  Jane was one of my early follows when I started my Twitter journey.  Her knowledge of best practices in Reading Workshop/ Daily 5 is amazing and I have enjoyed learning from her.

Jesse Kohls  Jesse is a great elementary principal to follow.  He shares not only about the great things he and his staff are doing within their building, but also connects to his community in amazing ways.  Jesse and I have been able to connect outside of Twitter (though not yet in person) to share ideas in more detail for our buildings.  I have appreciated learning from Jesse and plan to do so in the future! 

Here are my 11 questions:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. If you weren't in education, what field do you find most appealing and why?
3. What was your favorite subject in school (lunch & recess do not count)?
4. Who inspires you?
5. What hobbies or special interests do you have?
6. How do you "give back" to your community or to others?
7. What are your favorite movies or television shows?
8. As a child, what was your favorite pastime?
9. What are your "resolutions" for the new year?
10. What instrument can you play?
11. Name 2-3 books or educators who have influenced you the most in your current role.

CH-CH-CH-Changes

I first began writing this blog post in September.  Unfortunately, blogging took a back seat in my professional life for the past 3 1/2 months.  On Saturday, I received a Sunshine Award from @CathyMere which prompted me to "dust off" my blog.  I am grateful for the nudge from Cathy to work on my blog.  I believe it makes me a better connected educator- by sharing what I'm thinking, learning, and doing with others.  So, while it is not a "resolution" for me, I will be more focused on publishing my thoughts more regularly.  Thank you so much @CathyMere!

So, here is that blog post from September:

I love music.  Music is a soundtrack for my life.  David Bowie's "Changes" playing through my head lately as I think about all the things that I'm doing differently in my own practice to start the 2013-14 school year.  These changes are a response to new learning I've received as well as the rapidly changing education landscape in the great state of OH-I-O.  It has been said that the one constant in life is change.  Well, I believe the same is true for education as well.

Change is what makes this chosen career path both exciting, challenging, and rewarding.  First as a teacher with over 10 years in the classroom, I can say with absolute certainty, that my teaching practices changed every year.  Not only was I gifted with students with different needs each year, I was provided with changes in curriculum, administration, teaching materials, techniques, and schedules.  Not to mention that during my career in my previous school district, I changed physical locations, on average, every two years. When I left the classroom 6 years ago to begin a career in administration, I know that my last group of third graders was taught differently than my first group of fourth graders.  I know that my last teaching position within the district as a reading specialist working with at-risk readers in kindergarten and first grade forever changed how I viewed the teaching of reading.  I know that through my experiences in the classroom and all the changes that came with it, I was a much better teacher.  Without change, we would do a disservice to our students, to our families, and to our communities.

Yet, I still get puzzled when colleagues react so negatively to change.  Perhaps, it is how I view the world.  Whenever there is a new challenge or change, I, like many, have an emotional response or reaction.  After I have had a little while to digest (or as I like to say "incubate") the challenge or change, I seek to find the true purpose for the change.  If the purpose is unclear to me, I will follow up with clarifying conversations.  While I don't always like the response I receive, I look for ways to embrace the change and make the most of it.

Like in many other settings, Ohio finds itself at the crossroads in education.  The alphabet soup of education has many new acronyms:  CCSS, OTES, eTPES, OPES, PARCC, and FIP, just to name a few.  Add to this a new grade card system for school districts and buildings using letter grades (which as an advocate for standards based grading makes me cringe).

While I'm not in favor of ALL the changes taking place in my home state, I believe some have value that we must embrace.  With the transition to CCSS, teachers throughout the state and across the United States have an opportunity to learn from one another, share resources, materials, strategies, ideas, etc.  This will assist in creating more connected educators.  Students who move across the state line (in theory, though some states are not adopting CCSS) will be provided a more cohesive education.  Being an administrator during the transition time, allows me an opportunity to learn the standards with my teachers and have high quality conversations about how to best support our learners.

OTES/OPES/eTPES all center around new teacher and principal evaluations in the state of Ohio.  While a hotly debated topic among most Ohio educators, I believe there is value to this change.  We now have a more uniform way to communicate educator performance.  There is a rubric that provides teachers guidance for how they are performing and how to improve their practice.  While the rubric, itself, is not perfect, it is a great starting place for providing feedback and having great conversations about the teaching and learning process.  Currently, there are changes pending in our state legislature about this process.

As we begin a new calendar year, I am excited by the changes yet to come.

Beyond the Mirror and Through the Looking Glass: Why I Reflect

First as a teacher and now as an administrator, I have always been engaged in thoughtful reflection on my practices.  I reflect often and deeply. These reflections oftentimes take place in the form of quiet contemplation, journal entries, notes on scrap paper (aka quick writes), edits to my lesson plan book, and conversations with trusted colleagues.  These reflections were often followed by action steps for improving whatever area I was focused upon at the time.  Many times these action steps required me to investigate a particular topic more or to seek professional development opportunities that would help improve my practice in a particular area.  You see, for me, reflection wasn't just about thinking about what happened.  It was about discovering the key to unlocking my potential as an educator.  

Reflection fuels my passion for improvement and keeps me engaged in the learning process.  As an educator, I know that there will ALWAYS be new things for me to learn (content) and new things to try (strategies).  Nothing made this more clear than after I joined Twitter and have expanded my PLN.  Like thousands of others, I read posts, retweet posts, favorite posts, check out blogs, view videos, etc.  As a result, my opportunities for reflection have increased exponentially.  And, I have committed to using blogging as a new way to reflect.  Blogging, by the way, was one of those action steps from a reflection I had on how I could better model technology integration in my role as a leader.

 However, as much as I reflect about my own learning, there are also experiences that lead me to reflect on the learning of others.  A teacher in my previous district (who was frustrated by the district's required language arts PD) stated, "I'm a National Board Certified Teacher.  I already know a lot about teaching language arts and there's not much more I can learn."  For the past two years, her comment has stuck with me.  Initially, I walked away feeling disappointed and discouraged that a fellow educator was not as committed to lifelong learning as others in our building.  However, in the past year, I have learned a lot about professional development, adult learning, and motivation (with admittedly, a lot more to learn).   I now have a different perspective about that conversation.  I believe this teacher was being reflective of her practice and trying to communicate that what she needed to learn wasn't being provided.  In other words, we weren't meeting her needs as a learner.  If that same conversation were to occur today, I feel better equipped to ask her probing questions and provide her resources that would be more closely aligned to fit her needs.  

I am beginning my third year in a "new to me" district.  As their newest leader, I have made mistakes.  I have also done many things well.  Most importantly, I still have many things to learn.  I will never be a perfect leader, but I will be a leader who is focused on using reflection as a way to constantly and consistently improve.  As we begin a new school year, let's commit to becoming more reflective practitioners together and sharing our learning.  And as we reflect, let's remember...Reflection isn't about perfection, it is about growth.  

A Crazy Little Thing Called...Twitter?

     As I set sail on my maiden voyage into the sea of blogging, I decided it was important to share what has led me to this place.  So, I'm going to take a little trip back in time to share what I've learned:

March through April:   The Twitter Journey Begins

The perception I had of Twitter was that it was for all things entertainment: actors, musicians, movies, television, radio, sports, etc.  I'm not one to be enamored with the famous or infamous.  Granted, I appreciate the works of many in the aforementioned category, but not enough to want to read about their daily lives.  Then, one day at work, I happened to receive an email from a fellow principal to join the Twitter universe.  I knew two colleagues that also had Twitter accounts, so after several weeks of ignoring the invitation to join, I decided to "check it out."  

Still skeptical, I created an account and followed the three people I actually knew in addition to organizations I trusted (@BattelleforKids @ASCD @OAESA @NAESP).  I had a private profile b/c I didn't yet trust this thing called Twitter.  After all, what was it and why would I need it? 

As I began receiving updates from those I trusted, I grew curious about who they were following and who I might know that followed them.  It was within that first week of twitter that I discovered @PrincipalJ, @Joe_Mazza, @CurtReess, @donalynbooks, and @NMHS_Principal  I was blown away by the content that they were posting and the conversations they had with one another.  (However, at this point, I wondered if this was just a #NewJerseything or a #Wisconsinthing).  As I began to feel more comfortable, I actually started to explore the idea of Re-Tweeting and using Favorites and even composed a few Tweets of my own.

I continued to follow others, stayed up-to-date with those I was already following, began reading their blogs and articles they posted.  This was when I began to understand the potential of Twitter to grow me as a leader.

April through May:  Jumping in to the Land of Hashtags

Finally, I set sail on my Twitter journey.  I began navigating the tweets as if I had been doing it for years.  Then, I became curious about the power of Hashtags and Twitter chats.  With the encouragement of @bCurrie5 and @drjolly I decided to first "lurk" them participate in Twitter chats.  I also noticed this amazing thing happening, I discovered other Ohio leaders on Twitter.  I connected to them and discovered #OHedchat  What could be more important in discussing the many changes and challenges happening in my "own backyard?"  These first chats were mind-blowing experiences!  I could hardly keep up with the amount of information that was flowing from the number of educators.  The more I read, the more I began to reflect and reconsider my past and current practices.  I was made aware of great professional books for principals and so with my Amazon account having been neglected since spring break, I ordered several titles, including @donalynbooks' The Book Whisperer, @burgessdave's Teach Like a Pirate and @ToddWhitaker's Shifting the Monkey and The Ten Minute Inservice.  These books were completely inspirational and transformational.  As I wrapped up the year, I knew I would be spending more time on Twitter and connecting to others who read these books and responded to them in the way that I had.

June through August:  The More You Read...

During this time, I was able to participate in more Twitter chats, connect to more educators, and introduced Twitter to a few teachers.  I even met a small group at Panera one evening to "teach" them how to use Twitter.  I was "hooked," but in a good way.  As educators, we often work in isolation, sometimes not even talking to another adult for hours at a time.  As a principal, you are sometimes even more unconnected.  As the only principal of my K-6 building, I don't always have the opportunity to bounce ideas off others or share questions or concerns with another with like responsibilities.  This is where I have found "salvation" in my PLN from greats like @twhitford, @courosa, and @gcouros!  I no longer feel isolated and know that I can post a question and receive ideas and support.  Recently, because of Twitter, I was able to attend hands-down one of the best conferences I have attended in a long time!  I was able to learn first-hand from @RickWormeli @NLHSprincipal @snbeach and @RichardCash.  The best part of the conference; however, was found in the #ILEOhio feed.  The conversation between participants was amazing.  This enhanced the learning times 10!  I have continued to connect and reflect.  

August and Beyond:  The future's so bright...

So, where does this leave me now?  From my PLN or tweeps, I have developed very clear goals for the upcoming school year.  I have made a commitment to use what I have learned and put them into practice.  One of my favorite sayings is "You don't know what you don't know."  This couldn't have been more true for me than what I have experienced in these past few months.  And so, now, even though I still consider myself a "newbie" to this Twitter universe, I am beginning my next steps into becoming a better educator:  a more reflective, yet connected educator by blogging.