It’s day 3 or day 4 at ISTE. It’s a blur. My head is spinning so this is one of those posts. I will just dump everything on the page from my little corner table at Starbucks and when my iced coffee is gone, I’ll publish. Read at your own risk. 
1.) I’m tired of talking about technology. Hold on… I don’t mean get rid of it all. I love technology. But I love learning even more. I breathe apps and gadgets. But when it comes to kids, I want to talk about the design of the learning, the way collaboration needs to be a focus, the way a good lesson is built into a great lesson. As Adam Bellow said in his presentation yesterday, “Tech is not the icing on the cake, it’s embedded in the dough.” We’ve just got too much icing. Flashy, colory, glitzy devices.
2.) I’m so eager to for the fall. In my new role as Innovation Coordinator, I’ll be exploring everything I believe in as an educator and a learner. To think I have a job where my role is to be innovative? The thoughts that keep me awake at night, wishing and hoping and wondering how to improve? Those thoughts are passion. When your passion is your “day job”? I just don’t think life gets any better. *Well, unless I get to go to the Moon sometime and leave my footprints there. I’ll keep dreaming big.
3.) There is so much out there that is just a digital worksheet. If you’ve read this blog for more than 1.4 seconds, you know I’m not a fan of worksheets. Because when I was a kid, I wanted to make, create, and climb outside of the box I was trapped in at school. A box that had no color, no fun, no escape hatch. A box I’ve been determined to not be defined by as an educator or person.
4.) I don’t want to hear one more word about how Common Core is going to be a “game changer.” No. There is no game changer. Except you. Me. Us. Together we can create change through each and every step we take every single day to help each other, to create the kind of educational system our kids need. Like, now, not tomorrow, not next year. Today.
5.) Curiosity is not a “scheduled event.” Kids are born with wonder. You can see it in their eyes. That light. A light that slowly fades throughout the time they are in school. A light that we should be firing up with inquiry and “What if?” thoughts.
6.) Let Go. I know, it’s a Frozen reference waiting to happen. Kids need to own their learning and we are often the very thing standing in their way. I’ve done it. Interjected my thoughts, opinions, and over-helping at just the wrong time. Stifling their struggle, cutting off their critical thinking, solving their problem for them. The journey is theirs. As Ken Shelton tweeted yesterday, it’s fun to be along on the ride. We are along for the great ride, but not driving. Our questions guide. Our ideas stoke their fires. But, we have to turn loose, let go, and see what happens. It’s like a firework. It’s far better to watch the launch in awe than the hold onto it.
This is it. It all boils down to this. It’s about kids. It’s not about how much time I have or what apps I should download. It’s about kids. What do they need? What will excite, engage, and invite them into learning? What will allow them to OWN their learning experience. Was this a bit ranty? Maybe. But that’s just passion boiling up. And I won’t even apologize for that, because I have for far too long. I also won’t allow my frustration for the speed of change to outweigh the excitement I have for knowing what can be if we all keep moving forward. Or hold back, because it often gets uncomfortable and it often isn’t easy. Under endless conversations, under doing things the way they’ve always been done, and under the memories of being a kid, buried in stacks of mundane lessons, with a sense of wonder that was lost under it all. And growing up to hope and promise that I never stole the wonder from a classroom. And today? Revowing to myself that I never will. It’s not lost. We just have to get it back. Let’s go. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll leave my footprints on the Moon one day, too.