The Perfect Storm?

    I tend to try to live my life staying out of the peaks and valleys.  Improve gradually.  At least I try.  Don't get too high from the highs, or too low from the lows.
    I've been on quite a high since my Educon trip and I've been trying to keep the momentum.

Maybe it was just the Perfect Storm for me?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lrargerich/ / CC BY 2.0

    My beautiful wife and are are expecting our third child, there have been plenty of things on my mind lately.  I knew this trip would give me some time to 'get away' and learn.  I did travel down alone and just finding the hotel was an accomplishment for me!  *No laughing Pohanka!*

I knew some people from Twitter and from NECC last year in Washington, DC.  Thus, I had some people to talk to and hang out with (most notably the three headed braintrust of Debra Garcia, Carey Pohanka and Susan Morgan).  Right away on Thursday night we met the incredible Jenny Luca from Australia and Diane Cordell, a retired librarian from New York.  Later on, Jeff O'Hara from Edmodo fame, and his wife arrived after their flight from Chicago.  Educon was off to a great start for me.  Now, I can't list everyone that I met, however, that aspect of meeting people that I talk to through Twitter made this conference even better.  It also helped my confidence, knowing that I've already communicated with many of these people in education.

     The tour and class visits at Educon were eye opening.  At first it just seemed like controlled chaos.  
Kids were up out of their seats, working in groups, allowed to talk out loud.....and as a result, they were teaching and learning from each other.  The one room I walked in, I couldn't even find the teacher!  
     The CoreValues were displayed in every room, and the hallways decorated with student work.  Did you see the math on the 5th floor?  

Picture taken from my cellphone *Next year, remember camera!

     This table and other math trig graphs were just down from some unit in a health class about Sex Ed that may have gotten a few days of ISS at my old schools!  The students and faculty own the building (except for the 4th floor, forgot what was in there, an architectural firm, maybe?).

     I had to take two tours, one with a larger group, then as I was trying to think about all that I saw on my first trip I went to the Library.  There I sat next to Jenny Luca and she wanted to go for a tour, so I went with here and two nice young men, Javon and Hector.  They both asked what we did and then started us off on our tour to the classrooms they thought we'd like.  For me, it was the drama room with Jeff Han showing his 100-inch touch screen tv, and then down to their Calculus class with Mr. Latimer.  They talked about becoming experts in different types of differentiation and then teaching the class!  They also explained how they work together on these projects and even though they honestly grumbled about them, you could see the pride that they had in completing them.

     The next two days were filled with the Conversations that will require more time for me to think through.  
     I will just say this.  
     It was never a main point (I don't think) in any of the Conversations I attended, however, just building relationships with students, came through in all of them.  Caring for your students like they were your own children and giving them a chance to show what they can accomplish when someone believes in them.  It's stuff we talk about at our ISS meetings every Monday morning and it was all rolled into this SLA school, and working well.  It was eye opening to say the least.

     I started by saying "The Perfect Storm" because of the timing with other things in my life, how crazy work has been this year, then having HIGH hopes for this conference.  Those high hopes were exceeded and it was great to go see a school with clear goals and a faculty working together to accomplish those goals.  Follow that up with two days of Conversations with people (who are much smarter than I), and you have a very inspirational weekend.

     I had to leave after lunch on Sunday, however, I was in Binghampton before I knew it.  
                      Why?  
     Because I was talking to myself and bouncing ideas from the weekend all over the car!  Time just flew by.  I'm still not clear on everything, but realize how much more there is to learn.  
I'll continue to write some more blog posts, and maybe after a few of these I can start making things more clear.

     Thanks for the patience in advance.  There's more to the weekend from my perspective, maybe the next blog post will be about the Conversations that I went to:  
All three Conversations that I went to on Saturday were by the SLA staff, Team Canada was my only Sunday session.
       

    

Momentum

Trying to get my brain to slow down after three excellent days at Educon in Philadelphia visiting the Science Leadership Academy (SLA) in action on Friday, and then attending the conversations Saturday and Sunday.

Taken from Educon Wiki: http://educon22.wikispaces.com/file/view/Flyer_educon_10_size_8_x_11.jpg/102802807/Flyer_educon_10_size_8_x_11.jpg

I'm wondering how to continue the momentum, and will be posting more this week as I try to wrap my brain around all that I saw and learned.
Not even sure where to start?  This will take some time. 
There were all of the people I met, touring SLA, my Saturday sessions (all three sessions that I went to were done by SLA teachers), or my Sunday session from Dean Shareski and Alec Couros, or......

Need time.  Hoping to keep this momentum going and how to move forward from here.

For a guy who usually feels like I'm just helping teachers use tools, this was exactly what I needed.

Thank you Chris Lehmann and you're whole SLA team for hosting such an inspiring weekend.

More coming, I promise....maybe I'll start using this Blog Thing?!?!

Chris Lehmann

Disclaimer: This is the third in my five part series about people I'm hoping to meet at NECC this year. I apologize for missing people in my PLN and if I have any incorrect information (please feel free to leave a comment and correct).

Wednesday: Chris Lehman and SLA

This one was an easy one for me to choose. Trying to write this blog post and what I’ve learned from Chris….not so easy.

Chris Lehman is the principal of the Science Leadership Academy (SLA) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia. To me, he seems 'Scary Smart'. You can read his bio on the SLA Faculty page.
OK, I admit, I didn’t realize all of the things that they do down there at SLA, and I still can't wrap my mind around most of them. What I do know is that it must be great! My guess to why we hear so much about SLA is the positive leadership from the top.
This last January I tried to watch the live streams from Educon 2.1 while also finishing up some plumbing in the Carls bathroom. It was amazing the talent they had there.
Seriously, look at the sessions in here! Wait, I want to make sure you get this:
EDUCON 2.1

There was the original Educon wiki to check out as well.

Now, I’m preparing to go to NECC in Washington, DC in a few days, but I remember back in January, after watching some of these Mogulus streams I decided I wanted Educon 2.2 to be the National Conference I went to in 2010!

Small problem with our travel ban for the next year ….. I’ll have to work that out.

All right, enough about me. Check out Chris’ blog.
You can tell right away what a caring leader he is from reading this, and his tweets on Twitter.
I was able to squeeze into his workshop last year at NECC in San Antonio. At this workshop he talked about creating sound pedagogical practices and shared stories about how creative they've been down at SLA with his students. It was engaging and you could tell he was passionate about his work there listening to stories like his students waiting on patents to help major companies! (I forgot for what or to check on where this stands) I'm sure there are tons of other great things conquered there this year.
The one article I recently read and like to see about Chris and SLA was about Project Based Learning, which I've bookmarked and shared with other colleagues.

What about the his SLA staff on Twitter. I follow: Tim Best - Science teacher, Marcie Hull - Digital Arts and Diane Laufenberg - History. Brief descriptions are giving on the SLA Faculty and Staff page. Tim, Marcie and Zac Hall are also presenting at NECC this year. Unfortunately, at the same time as Chris and a bunch of great people on Wednesday July 1st from 10:30 - 11:30am. To me, this seems like the best hour of sessions, I think I'll go to this one, though.

Who could I compare Chris to? In my life, another principal of a Charter School, John Hawk. We both went to Fredonia State, we both majored in Secondary Ed Math (he talked me into it), however, John was that 'Type A' person and was very driven. He almost had me out in Vegas with him! Between John and his beautiful wife, not only do they run Nevada State High School, but they always seem to conquering things. Right now, I believe they're looking to open another Charter School in Reno.

My point? Many people are intelligent, however, some can’t carry it forward to others. Incredible ideas bounce around upstairs, but if you're unable to convey those ideas to others, what good is it? That is why I compared Chris to my friend John Hawk. Both are engaging. Both have that other gear (I'm still looking for neutral!) And both find a way to get others inspired and rejuvenated.

When I see all that Chris has accomplished (at such a young age), it inspires me, and I’m sure others as well, to do better. To work harder. To be that positive influence.

Thank you.

Next up for Thursday! I need to fit in quite a few....not 100% sure. Could someone also add a few hours to the day so I can get this done?