Currently in August

A few months ago I saw Bailey at Brave Love, which is a super fun blog that you should also follow, doing "currently" blog posts and I decided to give it a try!

Reading... nothing :(  I just finished The Blood of Olympus last night and my copy of Love and Logic isn't here yet.  I'm also eagerly awaiting Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard but that's not due out until October.

Playing... various silly iPad games. I recently found Oregon Trail and the inner eight year old inside is thrilled. No one has died of dysentery yet!

Watching... nothing currently, but lately there have been epic amounts of TLC's (ridiculous) bridal shows. B even watched a few hours of "Say Yes to the Dress" with me.  He also asked if I'm going to have two gowns.  (The answer is no.)  I'm eagerly awaiting the next season of Once Upon a Time and Arrow to be on Netflix!

Trying... to be productive while still enjoying my last few weeks of summer.  I'm trying to knock out small wedding crafts like these:

We'll do a questionnaire at our engagement shower in Sept and have people vote on who they think the statement applies to: me or B.  He has mustache ones that are currently drying.

Cooking... nothing! Just enjoying left overs.

Eating... healthier, or at least trying to! 

Drinking... a mimosa.  It's Sunday morning, it's brunch time!

Calling... no one. I'm enjoying quiet time.

Texting... my gals.  I will be off to deliver Jamberry wraps in a bit!

Pinning... wedding ideas.  (Mom, I added you as a collaborator, so you can pin ideas to the wedding board too!)

Tweeting... about my pets. I love them.  Sorry twitter & instagram followers!

Going... to the DMV this week.  I'm expecting it to be an all day adventure on Wednesday, so I'd better find a new book to read. 

Loving... naps. Plus they're encouraged during the summer!

Hating... how frequently I burn myself on the hot glue gun. I am an adult, gosh darn it! I should be able to handle the glue gun.  Also hating that the naps will be severely limited again.  Oh, and hating Waffles's love of cat poop. 

Discovering... patience.  Walks with Waffles are still an adventure.  Yesterday there was a roller blader and that was simply terrifying for her.

Thinking... about what I still need for my classroom.  I stocked up on new highlighters (although I probably need another pack of six) but am sure I need new markers, pencil sharpeners, and colored pencils for the buckets.  Good thing there are Target coupons AND Cartwheel's discount.

Feeling... lots of emotions about the end of The Blood of Olympus.

Hoping (for)... a good bunch of kiddos this year!

Listening (to)... nothing.  B is out with friends and I'm enjoying the television being off.

Celebrating... Mike & Monique's upcoming wedding!  My future siblings in law are getting married Saturday and I'm excited for them.

Smelling... nothing. Thank you allergies.

Thanking... friends for their love and support on all the wedding matters.  Thank you for not letting me be a bridezilla and giving me a few minutes each convo to provide them with updates before we talk about all the other exciting things in our lives.

Considering... a walk with Waffles before it gets too hot.

Starting... to get excited for back to school!  Not the work part, but the seeing my friends on a daily basis part! (In other words, I sound like a teenager.)

Finishing... folding laundry.  There are only two of us and it frustrates me, so I can only imagine how much there will be when there are kids involved.

What are YOU up to currently?

DENSI 2015 Take Aways

After much reflection (and reading others' blogs), here are some of my take-aways from DENSI 2015:

1) People matter.  

One of my favorite things about the DEN is that it's truly more than a digitally connected group of educators.  It's a family. It's a tribe.

I know that if I'm stuck on a concept or just need a little inspiration (DENspiration) after a tough day, they will be there.  One of our tribe members, Lindsay Foster, has a daily twitter image or message to inspire creativity and spread the love.  She challenged herself to spread positive vibes and I whole heartily embrace this.  In education, it's ridiculously easy to fall into a negative attitude because there's so much that is out of our control.  So I'd rather surround myself with happy vibes and that love for teaching was overwhelmingly evident at DENSI.

I can reach out on Edmodo, twitter, facebook, or texting when I need advice from my tribe.  This doesn't mean my work family isn't amazing (because they are) but sometimes it's nice to get other perspectives.  My tribe offers that.  From the first moment I walked on campus, I started to recognize people from DENSI 2013 or from the facebook group.  Everyone is welcoming, everyone is positive, everyone genuinely operates with the mindset that everyone should be successful.

I met people that recognized me from my TpT store picture and had previously purchased products, which was a surreal experience.  We ended up discovering this over the less-than-appetizing cafeteria breakfasts.  The friend requests are still coming in and my PLN (professional learning network) is ever-expanding.  It's nice to know I've got people in my corner.

2) Work-Life Balance.

If there's one thing to know about DENSI events, it's the importance of #napchat.  Nap chats fit perfectly with my love of naps.  Sleep is valued.  Taking care of yourself is encouraged.

DENSI focused on putting fun and joy back into the classroom.  Our jobs matter.  But home life and social life matters too.  There was time for learning at DENSI, but there was also lots of time for connecting to others.  I don't think Kate and I got to bed before midnight any day of the week because we were up chatting with others...oops!   Again, people matter.  

Last night, while B had softball, I went over to a friend's for dinner.  Several of my pals inquired as to where he was, which was appreciated.  He was not only missed by me, but my friends as well. I ended up staying for many hours after because I was having such rich, meaningful conversations with others.  The evening did include Cards against Humanity, at which point those meaningful conversations fizzled into ridiculously inappropriate ones.   

This year, one of my personal goals is to be better at the work-life balance.  I've already shared with two of my lovely grade level ladies that I need to leave by 4.  Most of this is to get home to let Waffles out, but I want to make sure I have my evenings for me.  I'll set aside one night to work late from home (whichever night B has class) but I want my nights free for our family time. 

3) Leadership matters.

I'm fortunate enough to work for two amazing administrators who aren't afraid to get a little bit silly when leading by example.

Beyond my admin, the leadership of the DEN is awesome.  The DEN (Discovery Educator Network) isn't as strong in my district as I'd like, so I'm excited to be in conversations about strengthening it to build community.  When educators in my district hear "Discovery Education", they tend to think of the benchmark assessments and the frustration that usually accompanies standardized testing.  I'm hoping to help change that conversation.

4) Have fun and be yourself.

I'm a creative person.  I like having my classroom be a slightly loud, slightly messy, melting pot of learning.  I take risks and sometimes lessons flop.  That's okay.  I learn from them and move on.  I have fun in my classroom and that's okay. 

My classroom is a reflection of me.  My classroom is a reflection of my students.  My classroom is a reflection of our learning journey. 

When you're excited about what you're doing, that enthusiasm rubs off on your students.  That's a good thing.

5) Share.

Often times, we get so wrapped up within the walls of our own classroom that we forget to connect with others.  We forget to share the great things that are happening.  We don't recognize the greatness in ourselves and feel inadequate when compared to others.

This has to stop.  There are exciting things happening in classrooms and they need to be shared and celebrated. 

We need to share with each other and learn from each other.  Part of my hesitation with sharing is that I don't want to feel like I'm doing someone else's work for them.  Truth be told, I've worked with some lazy educators over the years.  My definition of lazy has shifted because I acknowledge the importance of a work-life balance.  I didn't always appreciate that in my early years and would be unfairly critical to others who left on time to see their families.  I didn't think they put enough effort into their classrooms, but looking back, that wasn't my place to judge. 

Luckily, my tribe is filled with hard working educators who want to share their ideas with others.  

6) Take the time to laugh.

Not everything at DENSI went perfectly.  It rained when we saw the monuments.  I went eight straight days without soda.  I survived on grilled cheese and omelets.  There was ridiculous jack hammering during our trainings (not to worry, it was dealt with). Worst of all? The sheets. I had two flat sheets that did not fit the dorm bed.  I ended up in a cocoon-like ball each night and just slept on the slippery, rubber mattress.  

Could I control any of this? No.

So I chose laughter and rolled with it. 

7) Don't stop learning.

I haven't dived into my pages of notes yet, but I'm so excited to try new things in my classroom.  I obviously need to buy a green table cloth to try greenscreening and videos in my classroom.  I'm excited to incorporate mystery Skype into our geography lessons.  Doodling with note taking will be a new adventure this year.  

If I expect my students to be life-long learners, I should model that myself. 

Thank you, DENSI and my tribe, for helping me feel excited about this upcoming year.

DENSI 2013

For the past two years, I've been working with Discovery Education as an ambassador/DENStar for my school district.  

We've adapted their Launch into Teaching assessments to measure students' academic growth, but we focus more on the tools on their website.  From video streaming and board building (similar to glogster)  to online tech books and virtual labs, Discovery has a lot of tech tools available for teachers.  They also have a plethora of audio clips and images as well as suggested lesson plans, which come in very handy! 

They also have the Discovery Educator Network Summer Institute (DENSI) each summer.  Last year, I attended in Burlington, Vermont and had an amazing time.  Once again, I was the sole representative for my state so I was a little overwhelmed at first but by the end of the week, felt right at home.

I was placed in a dorm with 3 other ladies, 2 who were veterans and another newbie from California.  

DENSI was a mix of key note speakers, hands-on sessions and break-out sessions.  I set up twitter for the first time at DENSI after learning about how this social media tool could be used for professional development and teacher networking.  I tried my hand at geo-caching and well, I'm not very great at it (yet?).  We learned about sustainable farming and I milked a goat for the first time. 

(That was an interesting experience to say the least.)

We played with different apps and talked about classroom application.  We learned about chromebooks and I learned all sorts of things my new GS4 could do!  We learned more about video streaming and using Skype in the classroom.

Besides being a techy's dream, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet other teachers from around the United States and Canada.  Here is the list of attendees and their prospective websites. 

I think what I enjoyed best was the time to sit in small groups and talk about best teaching practices.  One teacher was struggling with his math block, so we talked for over an hour about restructuring it for effectiveness.  Since I want to be an academic coach, it was a great, unexpected opportunity for professional growth.

Snapshots from the week are here in dropbox.

PLUS I got a sneak peek of Shark Week! I LOVE Shark Week...and my new beverage holder!

I loved DENSI 2013 and would highly recommend the professional development.

I can't wait for Discovery to release their applications for DENSI 2014!  As soon as they do, I'll post the link :)