Voxer Update

I'm still...if not more...in love with Voxer than I was before.

I've started using Voxer for personal and professional uses.

Personal: It's much easier than texting.  I can talk into the "walkie talkie" piece instead of texting.  Which comes in handy when I want to have a brief conversation with my friend as we swap pregnancy stories full of tmi questions.  It's so much easier to share those awkward questions when you know your friend can hear the embarrassment in your voice or you don't have the word to explain what is happening.

It's also very handy for my friends with kids and in different time zones.  Messages can be shared, questions can be asked, and/or stories can be told when you think of it (because clearly that's important for me at the moment - because I can't remember anything past 2 minutes).  Then the Vox that was left can be listened to when the kids go to bed or the next morning and they can be responded to at everyone's convenience.  Often the responses are longer and more personal than the emoji we have time to text.

Professional: Now the professional benefits are really the same.  My partner teacher has kids so when it's bedtime and I have a question about tomorrow's lessons, I can Vox her and I know she'll get back to me as soon as she can.  Another colleague has high school athletes and she is often attending games.  She can't be on the phone during the games, but we can brain storm conference planning or tech night or compare notes on the days events with short voxes back and forth.  It's been an incredible tool when connecting with "strangers" who have become friends from a #TLAP chat who all had an interest in blogging.  We came together to challenge and support each other.  That started last summer and it's still going....but now we push each other in so much more than blogging.  We share ideas to use for conferences, in the classrooms, in extra curriculars, etc.  I'm also part of the #edumatch Voxer group.  This is an incredibly active group and I love listening to the light hearted and the intense conversations about education.  There are constantly questions about podcasts and content and more!  There's so much to gain from this group!!  My final group is the Catholic Ed Chatish group.  As a Catholic school teacher, it's a wonderful little group that shares my unique situation.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment here or reach out and Vox me!  

                     
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Time...

is one of those things we never have enough of.  I don't care who you are or what you do, there's never enough time to get everything you want accomplished AND still have time to breathe and appreciate all of life's blessings.

My one word this year was breathe.  I need to breathe in order to stay sane and not freak out about the fact that I don't have enough time.  And I'm talking time today and time over the months and time over the year.  Yes, because I'm a BIIIIIIIG picture planner.


My professional life has always been a huge priority for me.  When I stumbled by accident into the ed tech world, it changed education for me.  When I worked closely with an instructional coach or 2, it changed education for me.  Both of these things showed me a professional path that I am exceedingly passionate about.  My ultimate goal in my professional life is to be in a position of influence where I can inspire teachers, get them excited about teaching and their students, understand how to use, and the many benefits of technology in their classroom.  I'm excited just writing that sentence.

GOALS

1. I thought I had found the perfect job at OSU.  I was getting to work with select high school teachers around the state of Ohio and do exactly what I described.  It was perfect!  But it was a grant and short lived.
2. I found myself back in a classroom but working with the teachers at my school to build some technology integration excitement.  I knew that I wanted more though.
3. I want to BE someone in the world of educational technology.  I so admire Tony Vincent, Matt Miller, Alice Keeler, Travis Allen and the iSchool Initiative, Jesse Lubinsky, Todd Nesloney, and Dave Burgess just to name a few!  Now I never want to on their level...but I want to be on my own level...enough to inspire teachers out in the world.  To do that I try to cultivate a presence online...Twitter, Instagram, blogging, etc.

Enterprise Architecture - SDSU Spring '18

4. I thought a great first step is to learn to be more than a coach but to be a true leader at a school.  So I decided to enroll in an MA program for Educational Leadership with a focus on Educational Technology.  Perfect FIT!
5. This year I ended up transitioning from the technology teacher position to a 4th grade teacher position.  I couldn't love it anymore.  However, it does involve a lot of planning and time and energy.  Couple that with the MA program that I'm enrolled in (see #4), and I'm overwhelmed but juggling.

Inspirational Ed Tech Goal + MA student + 4th grade teacher

I love my life.  I don't have time for everything but I surely juggle the best I can.

INSERT SURPRISE

My first week as a 4th grade teacher I found out I was pregnant!  It was definitely a struggle those first weeks figuring out everything I needed to do, working on homework, and being completely exhausted.  However, I have an incredible partner teacher who supported me the entire time (and still is) and an exceptional husband who picked up the slack at home so I could get work done, eat, and sleep...not always in that order.

We are over the moon with this wonderful blessing.  But for me, that means I literally cannot continue to do everything I've been working on.  Clearly, I cannot stop working.  I won't stop my program...I'm almost DONE - August!  But I can't, now or when the baby comes, focus so much of my time on my goal of being someone in Ed Tech.  I will still be on Twitter, I will still engage with my PLN on Voxer, I will still blog.  These things all bring joy to my heart in a professional capacity, but they can't be a priority.

Being a mother has to trump all of these things and more.

I'm writing this post, for me...because 99% of the time my posts are for my own peace to get my own thoughts out of my head and "down" somewhere.  It's therapeutic for me.  However, I'm also writing this post to point out, because while not the exact same circumstances, there are teachers all over the world, struggling to balance everything.

Goldfish Division

To them, I want to say, don't...it will all be there tomorrow.  What is your priority?  What is the most important thing to you?  Focus on that.  Then add the other things but don't burn yourself out trying to do and be everything.  We are only humans, we can't.  If what speaks to your heart is your biggest priority, you will find happiness, even while juggling.

Twitter Chats - CAUTION long post...I'm twitter pated

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Where to begin...a long, long time ago...just kidding.

I did my very first Twitter chat in 2014.  I know random how I know that right?  But here's the thing...it had THAT big of an impact on me.  It was spring...and I had been in my new job for almost a whole school year.  One of the things I was determined to figure out was Twitter and why/how it should be used in education.  Little did I know, that chat would set me on a path that I never imagined!

From there, I was on chats a couple of nights a week.  Learning so much from so many!  I don't remember their names...none of them are my friends...but I still found them all to be SO valuable!  I started finding my own personal rock stars that I could go to their feed when I needed tips or tricks or even just pick me ups.

Fast forward through the summer...I went to #ISTE14, tweeted about that, followed the very first #edcampVegas through twitter (injured ankle made it hard to walk), and continued my regular chats.  I decided that Las Vegas was no longer the place for me and started looking for jobs in Ohio...it's not as random as it seems in this brief history.  Anyway, I searched #ohedchat.  Low and behold, OSU, THE Ohio State University...is hiring for a job that I CAN DO!  So I tweet the original tweeter...and set the ball in motion.  That was in October and by November I was moved to Ohio.

And it all started with a Tweet!

Anyway...jump forward a few years.  I am back in Vegas...miss OSU terribly...but have a whole new adventure as a technology teacher in a K-8 school.  I'm disengaged.  I love the teachers I work with, and I love "coaching" them, but I am frustrated by how my classroom position goes.  At the end of this school year, I know that I have to make some changes.

I'm also started a MA in Admin program and the more I dive into that the more I feel called to work with teachers directly and with students indirectly.  However...I know that isn't an option.  It's not an option Erin.  You need to be a technology teacher.  I also need to recognize that I'm learning how to teach middle schoolers, I'm learning how to teach technology, I'm learning how to teach in a Catholic school again, I'm learning...and that is OK.

Now...let's jump to tonight.  Monday, June 12th.  I saw @ryan7read post about a #tlap chat.  I know that I'll have to participate in a chat soon for one of my assignments, so I decided I would join in.  I put it on my calendar.  (Cause you can't do anything if it's not on your calendar right?)  It just so happens that I was on Twitter an hour before and was able to join in the #edtechchat as well.

Let me preface...I've done an #edtechchat before, numerous times...and they have always been fantastic!  Tonight...I wasn't feeling it.  I was glad when it was over.  The questions were good, thought-provoking questions...but the conversation wasn't there.

I think I need the additional feedback and conversation to see what others are thinking to expand my thought process.  I already know what I think...I want more...I want to know what you think.  Are we on the same track?  Are you going to give me some insight that never dawned on me?  Are you going to reaffirm what I'm thinking?  Are we going to continue to learn from each other?

I know that #edtechchat does those things...but for me, tonight, it didn't.  I was fully ready to close my laptop and just call it a night on Twitter.  But I decided to search #tlap anyway and see what happened.  The reality is, I could leave and nobody would know if it wasn't what I needed at that moment.  So I saw @daveburgess initial introduce yourself tweet and did.  Then as I saw everyone else tweeting their names and sharing bits of who they were...I was getting some likes on my name alone.  That may not mean very much...but the reality is...in the Twitter world to me...it says "Welcome, we are glad you are here".  And well so I shared my next bit that it was my first #tlap chat and my notifications expanded about how great the chats were and how many connections I'll make and how wonderful it will all be.  Now you've welcomed me AND you are making me excited about learning from you!  I'm "hooked" (haha pun intended...get it Capt. Hook...pirate.  hahah I make myself laugh).

From there on...the questions came rolling in and the answers didn't roll out.  I loved that I could take a few minutes and be contemplative.  I could answer a question and had time to go back and review and like and comment and question and ENGAGE!  There were conversations and side conversations and it was all so positive and interesting!  I learned that a fellow teacher snorts when she laughs and that it creates a beautiful effect where the students then laugh and it's ok to be that happy and unguarded!  I learned how to address hot button topics with middle school students so parents don't get angry...send home a letter.  Duh Erin.  There was lots of talk about blogging.  We all have such a powerful voice inside us.  You won't reach everyone, but you will reach someone...share your voice. Reach that someone.  And I got a couple of blogs that I will have to share here so that if you read this...read theirs.

Mr. T's Jibber Jabber by Scott Titmas: https://mrtjibberjabber.wordpress.com/
Fearless Educators by Shawn Ford: http://fearlesseducators.com/
Love Learning. Love Life. by Krista Pedrod: https://lovelearninglovelife.wordpress.com/

At the end...I feel excited, I feel connected, I feel rejuvenated.  I can do this...I will do this...I will make mistakes and get yelled at (and then cry)...but I know that I do ALL of this because I care about the kids.  And I want to be the absolute best teacher I can be.  And on top of all that...there are educators around the world that feel the same way...whether you cry or not...and we are connected.

So thank you.