The Yellow Footprints

It had been nearly twenty-four hours since we woke up and our final destination was at last outside the windows of a well worn white bus. I had never been on a bus ride that was dead silent, packed to the gills but no one said a word.
The door suddenly opened and a thin, foul mouthed man jumped onto the bus and just started yelling. I’m not sure what he said but he was angry. After adjusting to his speed and pitch all he really wanted us to do is call him sir and move like lighting. He wanted us to move and stand on some yellow footprints outside the bus in the dimly lit area next to a building.
The stress began to mount as he had us stand and then sit over and over again. We did not move fast enough. We did not yell loud enough. No matter what we did it just wasn’t good enough.
Once outside and on the footprints we faced a sign that held a number of new laws we were subjected to. I really had no clue what it really meant other than I would be held accountable in some unseen and unfamiliar court if I violated some obscure law. 
I had a vague understanding of the pain and suffering that would soon follow. I could tell some deeply regretted the choice they made to land them here. I just had one small movie clip running through my head, over and over again. There was one scene from An Officer and a Gentleman where Gunny Foley was trying to run Mayo out of the military. Mayo stated that he had no where else to go. 
I had no where else to go. I really had no options, no future, nothing. If this didn’t work out there was no where to really even send me home to.
Backed into a corner like that powers you to move forward or cower in the corner. I chose to move forward.

Little did I know then these footprints were the first steps to living life and not just surviving it.

Epic Spring Break

Today was an epic spring break day. We decided to pack a lot in as this would be the best weather day of the week.

Our first stop was at the history museum. I really liked how the exhibits are easy to engage with at various levels. The kids are watching a video about a historic home ownership case that started in St. Louis. If you didn’t want to watch the video you could have read one of two posters. One was for kids, pretty much summed up what you were looking at in two sentences. The other poster was larger but still easy to read within a minute. 
We were all shocked at how much of what we read and watched was very recent history. 
The other exhibit we saw was about route 66. I loved this old juke box. Only about 22 total songs on this thing. I’m pretty sure I have access to at least 22 million on my phone so why can’t I find anything to listen to?
We stopped by the loop for lunch and happened by the Chuck Berry statute.
Lunch at Mission Taco.
I count spring break, even when we don’t go anywhere, as vacation. So I splurged a bit and bought myself some nitrogen infused coffee. I’m not even sure how to explain the flavor but it was worth every penny!
We can’t make it out of the loop without stopping by the book store. We only purchased one book today, The Wicked Will Rise. I really like this place as it is one of the very few independent bookstores left.
We stopped by the new Korean ice cream place. It was the most interesting thing I have seen in some time. They pour the liquid onto what looks like a super chilled pizza plate. Then they start working it.
After maybe 5 minutes the ice cream is spread out into a flat rectangle.
The final step is to scrape and curl the ice cream.
It was delicious but expensive.
We stopped by Micro Center to pick up a Raspberry Pi camera and I impulsively picked up the new Zero. I don’t really have a project in mind but I thought I should have it anyway.
Back at home I decided to mount a few pictures I took awhile ago. I don’t like frames so I had some floating shelves made. I now just mount my pictures to foam board. Makes it much easier to decorate with new images. Today I started mounting them without my wife’s input. We shall see how this goes!
While I worked Sam read her new book.

I’m thankful for…

I downloaded a new app to monitor my data usage on my phone. It appears I have used over 20 gigs on Spotify? While I’m not sure that is entirely accurate I do listen to a lot of Spotify.
I’m on an unlimited data plan so I’m not really concerned with how much I’ve used. 
 There was a movie years ago about that Apollo spacecraft that ran into trouble. The engineers on Earth had to solve the carbon monoxide issue with just a few random parts. I’m sure you know they were successful. 
I have heard that it is easier to innovate when you have a limited set of resources. 
Sometimes when you have little you can start to think about all the other possibilities that are available once you start opening up your mind.
Just thinking about some new ideas on how to help teachers. 

Everyone has a story to tell.

I am not stationed in a school building which makes it difficult to connect with other teachers outside of professional development sessions. Some days I really struggle to make an actual meaningful connection.

I was reading about a method a sales person uses to grow their business. So I modified it to fit me and it has really made a difference.

I used two simple cups and five paperclips. When I make a contact with a teacher I move a paperclip from the start of the day cup to the end of the day cup. My only rule is that the contact has to be face to face, electronic does not count. I already have plenty of virtual connections, I wanted to increase my human contacts.

This physical cups are right by my coffee reminding me to get out and find people.

I sometimes just go to a building and walk around. These walkabouts have made new connections that I would not have had otherwise.

I think if I was back in the classroom I would do something similar but each paperclip (or stick) would have a student name on it. I would strive to make a contact with each student once a week. My goal would be to talk about things that were not classroom related. The best conversations I remember about my classroom were things that were not directly related to any standard or lesson. I’m positive that is what my kids also remember.

Side note. I do get hassled about my messy desk. Below is a wide shot of what it looks like right now. Below, on and above my desk is full of stuff. There is that saying about a messy desk and a messy mind. Totally get that. So what does that mean if you have an empty desk?

It is always the darkest before the light.

There are so many changes happening here in the district. I think this uncertainty will be with us for the next two or three years. That is a very long time to be living on the edge. 
I was just about to start a session with some teachers and the sky caught my eye.
There were times in my life that I spent many hours outside. It was always the coldest and darkest just before the Sun started to rise. 
I took another picture a few minutes later. While it was still pretty cold the colors began to really emerge. 
While it is always darkest before the light, the light always comes. Sometimes not right away, sometimes not exactly how you imaged it but it comes.
Maybe the survival tactic is being the light for those who can’t see the light, those who don’t remember that the light always shines again.
Then again maybe it the old idea of some see the glass as half empty and some see it as half full. Did you know that there is a lesser known third option? That same exact glass is simply refillable. 

A Small Moment – Connecting a lifetime ago to today.

I can’t recall how we even got on this topic. Maybe it was the birthday dinner at a Japanese restaurant or my son and his obsession with Nerf guns.

Somehow the kids got me talking how the small town outside the base in Japan. Kinville, also know by some other names, was a two street town right outside Camp Hansen, Okinawa. The streets were lined with restaurants, bars, a few shops and the best vending machines I have ever seen.

One day after I arrived I was wandering the streets looking for somewhere to eat. Someone on base told me to look for the White Kitchen and to order the yakisoba. Down a narrow and slightly dank street I found what had to be the right place but the sign read White Kichen.

I told the kids of my adventures ordering off a menu that consisted of a language that I couldn’t read and tons of slick looking pictures. The first time being this far away and totally alone, it was pretty much the best day of my life up to that point.

I ended up ordering what would soon be my all time favorite dish, squid yakisoba. The food arrived and on the side of the dish sat chopsticks. I had never used chopsticks. The staff could tell I had no idea what to do, before I knew it they were teaching me! The language barrier was pretty big but we worked together until I had it down.

My visits to the White Kichen stretched from that day to the day we left the island. While the food was amazing I would give just about anything to return and have one last meal with a few of my buddies.

I would have paid big money for this book!

Today I experienced something that was out of this world. If only I would have had this years ago!

Years ago I would read a book on writing but something would get lost in translation. I could never make the jump between what it was telling me to do and actually being able to do it in my classroom with actual kids. I would try but the books just seemed too wordy, I just couldn’t picture myself doing whatever it was with actual people.

Today I was a part of a small group of teachers. Our task was to look at a piece of writing and using a flow chart see where we might start with a writing goal for that student. I have not taught writing in ten years so I was pretty sure what I had picked would not even be close to what the student needed. To my shock, we all picked the same exact thing!

I don’t think it was some magical ability that I have but it was through the power of this book that made it happen.

If I would have picked this goal when I was teaching I would have struggled to find the exact lesson or plan to help that one student with their issue. Through the magical book we were able to turn to a perfect min lesson that was just what this student needed.

The book, The Writing Strategies by Jennifer Serravallo, alone would not have brought me all the answers. While I watched the webinars, the facebook live chats and listened to a few Heinemann podcasts they could only get me so far. The class that I am in is being taught by one of our mentor teachers. I have learned more from her in the last few weeks than I have in the last ten years. No joke.

While I am not in the classroom, other than teaching a PLTW class to some 5th graders, I’m sure some wonder why I am in this class. I think the minute we stop learning is the minute we start dying. Learning for the sake of learning is pretty sweet and I’m fortunate to have this opportunity. The other thing is I am curious about how writing is being taught in the classroom.

Spent hours on one lesson

Never volunteer for anything, that is one life lesson taught to me in the Corps. 

Well… this year I volunteered to teach a one hour class to a group of 5th graders in one building.. This was my 10th year out of the classroom. It is not like riding a bike! While the class sizes were larger than I anticipated, about 32, I’m making some progress.
I’m doing a pilot for the elementary version of PLTW. Some of the science has been difficult for the kids. I can empathize the teachers who only get 47 minutes to teach a subject before the kids leave for the next subject. Some days it feels like I don’t get anywhere before the bell.
I spent much of today reviewing, testing and creating a lesson that might take a billion years or two hours to complete. 

some days I hate iTunes!

iTunes – some days I really do not like you.

There is one music teacher who has everything set up in iTunes. Playlists ready to go at one click, tons of music for any occasion.
Backing up and moving these files to another computer isn’t always smooth.
Today I was back to fix a similar issue on a different computer. The best part was the solution suddenly came to me the other day while I was at the gym. Love when that happens.
The fix was just one tiny file, a directory of sorts – that needed to be moved from the old system to the new. Once installed it was like magic. All playlists were filled, missing files suddenly showed up.
My big takeaway was think time. I had to get away from the problem for a bit for the solution to come. Do we give ourselves enough time to do that?
This makes me think a meeting the other day. We jump to solutions so quickly before we really understand the issues. We try to fix things for others removing the opportunity for a struggle. We, the outsiders, force the solution because we believe we know best.
Embrace the struggle. Allow time to pass. Solutions will come.