geek.teacher

My second interview this year talking about Edcamp and the awesomeness. I don’t feel as if I were particularly on my game that day, because boy did I ramble.

I’m now working in my second school where the principal is a big fan of the Fish Philosophy. While I’m leery of things based out of some sort of customer service thing, I’ll admit there’s stuff to like in here.

Of the tenets of the Fish Philosophy, my personal favorite has to be Make Their Day. If that’s your goal every day, the rest flow naturally.

The past couple of weeks have been tiring. Last week, my district’s amazing library media and instructional technology specialist team put on what I think was a very successful 3 day conference for all of the other teachers in the district. Even in a more structured event, I can’t quite shake that unconference vibe. I assisted in a handful of sessions when I had some free time, and at one point I went off on my own for a bit and yet still ended up assisting some very nice kindergarten teachers with their new iPads. This week, I’m trying to set up my new lab space in between hooking up computers in other classrooms, showing people the ins and outs of Gmail, setting up their new iPads, talking to outside vendors, and talking with members of the PTO about how awesome it would be if they bought some accessories for our new iPads. Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for some new tech to be delivered to the school and am wondering if I’ll ever be ready to see kids in the lab.

But I digress.

I was reminded of the Make Their Day aspect by a couple of people who have done that for me recently. In the first case, I got this email from a guidance counselor elsewhere in my district:

A colleague of mine and I met you yesterday afternoon during the iPad Apps Session. I just wanted to say “Thank You” for all of the assistance that you gave us! I was able to help a few other Guidance Counselors with their technical issues after learning from you! I hope that the Second Graders this year are as excited about school as they were last year!

Thanks again and have a GREAT year!

You better believe that I favorited that email. I felt like a million bucks the rest of the day.

Today I was talking to another teacher in my building and she said the absolute kindest words to me about how I’ve helped her. It made my day so much that it was the impetus for me to write this post.

I’m still adjusting to the new role of being some form of instructional coach, but in a week where I haven’t had any students come to me yet because I’m putting out fires, knowing that I’m making a difference for even one of my teachers is so incredibly meaningful to me.

Making their day doesn’t have to mean saying kind words, of course. Doing something to make people feel special can make somebody’s day. Listening to people share their problems can make a difference. Joking around with somebody can make a person know they’re cared for. A small gesture of a present with the right thought behind it has powerful meaning.

While I haven’t had students in the lab yet, I have had the good fortune to do morning bus duty on the first two days of school. Yes, I got to be the very first staff member most students saw as they came to school as school started. Here’s a few ways I tried to make their day:

• I do my best to say “Good morning” to every child as they come off the bus. For the very first child off a bus, they get a very loud, booming one.
• For the first day of school, I high-fived almost every student as they got off the bus.
• Today the last few students off each bus got personal umbrella escorts from me through the pouring rain to the overhang.

I’m repaid in kind by second and third graders throwing up hands for high fives in the hallway, fourth and fifth graders going for fistbumps, and first graders compulsively hugging me.

So a question to you, dear readers: How did you make their day today?

Perhaps more importantly, how will you make their day tomorrow, and for each of the remaining days of the year?

I’d like to introduce you to two adorable cats:

Jerry

Johnny

Jerry and Johnny are a couple of munchkin cats that my sister-in-law has had for several years. Due to unfortunate circumstances that I’m not going to share here, she is giving them up.

Jerry is a sweet, but shy, female cat. Johnny I can guarantee is one of the sweetest cats on the planet. He loves nothing more than to curl up on a person’s lap. He drools a little bit because he’s so happy to be with people.

As much as we would like to, my wife and I can’t take these cats into our home. If there’s anybody out there within driving distance of the greater Boston area who would like to adopt these two healthy, adorable kitties, please send me an e-mail. If we can’t find a new home for these sweet cats in the next couple of weeks, they’re going to be brought to a shelter.

Tomorrow I go on vacation.

I’m going to sit on the beach and go to Harry Potter World. It should be nice.

I need a break badly. Between buying a house and having it renovated, wrapping up the school year, doing a whole bunch of PD this summer, seeing family, checking out Google+, and my usual time on Twitter, I’m exhausted.

So about a week ago I made a decision to disengage from the network during my trip to Florida. I’m going to hide if not outright delete my twitter apps. I won’t be logging in to Facebook. I won’t check out Google+. I’ll be archiving all notification emails.

The last time I really disconnected was my honeymoon nearly six years ago. The unfortunate reality is that I won’t be able to completely disconnect this time, because I’m using email to keep in contact with my contractor and lender. I’ll probably check out some leisure rss feeds in the evening, just because that’s my equivalent to a newspaper now.

I won’t check any teaching feeds, though. I won’t log in to my google groups. I won’t follow the #edcamp twitter feed. I won’t look at a wiki. I won’t digitally comment on a blog post or a photo or a video. I won’t have any notifications on my phone turned on.

I will jump in the waves. I will read a book or two or three. I will take lots of pictures. I will taste Butterbeer. I will go to nice restaurants and to cheap places I can’t find around here. I will relax. Most of all I will spend some quality time with my wife, without the distractions of modern life, and tell her, “I love you.”