The richest conversations that I have with my kids often take place outside of math homework. They take place as they happen in the real world. The other day I was driving my niece around and she just happened to make a back handed comment about how slow I was driving. It was exactly 32 miles per hour, this distance between Ennis and Dallas. Me: If I continued to drive at this rate without stopping, how long would it take me to drive to Dallas? Niece: Probably 5 hours Me: Really? How many miles are between Ennis and Dallas? Niece: like 32 Me: What rate am I traveling now? Niece: Slow Me: Seriously? Niece: I don’t know. What do you mean by rate? If it’s how fast you are going, you’re driving slow so your rate is slow. Me: Maybe…Ok, let me change the question. How do you know how slow I am going? Niece: You’re going 32 because that’s what the speedometer says. Me: 32 what? Niece: 32mph Me: Do do you know what mph means? Niece: (thinks for a few minutes) miles per hour? Me: Yes! So, if I continue to travel 32 miles per hour, meaning stay AT THIS RATE, how long should it take me to get to Dallas? Niece: I told you earlier….probably 5 hours Me: What does "miles per hour" mean? Niece: How many miles you go in an hour… Me: So, if I travel 32 miles per hour, how many miles will I drive in one hour? Niece: (thinks for a few minutes) 32? Me: And what about two hours? Niece: 64 Me: What about 3 hours? 10 hours? Niece: 96, 320…Why are you asking me math questions? Me: So, again…If I continue to travel at 32 mph and Dallas is 32 miles away, how long will it take me to get to Dallas? Niece: (thinks for a few minutes…laughs) Ohhh 1 hour…That’s what that means? You should have said it this way before!   Much later in the day, I decided to pick her brain again. Me: Now, you know that I am not going to drive to Dallas at only 32 mph. However, I will drive 65mph until we get to Wilmer and the speed limit changes to 60mph. What if I asked you to make a chart, graph and equation explaining our trip? Does any of this relate to any concepts that you learned in Algebra? Niece: 1. Auntieeeeee!!!!! Do you ever turn this math off? 2. Yes, I can make a chart. That would not be just one equation because your rate changes. The graph would not be just one straight line, it would shift slightly lower because you went from 65mph to 60mph. 3. I remember talking about this in Algebra during class because YOU WERE MY TEACHER so since I forgot about it for a while, I guess that you will need to speak to my teacher. (grins and dodges pillow tossed her way) 4. Auntie, when I got home earlier, I looked for a video about this on youtube. Have you seen this? Reflecting as a Parent/Teacher When I taught Algebra 1, I always talked about the math of driving before we went into the specific elements of the lesson. I found that doing this helps students connect to something that they do everyday…ride in a car or drive. I am never surprised at the number of students who miss this basic connection between driving rate and time. This is a conversation that can start when kids are young and learning to say…"Are we there yet?" When my niece reminded me that I taught her Algebra, it didn’t bother me at all that she did not remember. I tend to think that she was more frustrated with my slow driving than thinking about the math of it because the rest of her connections were spot on and she had to have had a foundation in order to get to that point. In addition, I am happy that she found the STEMbites video because whether she knows it or not…another conversation is coming.

When I talk about my math classroom, I always cross post to facebook because my audience on facebook is quite different than twitter. That is where my former students are and when I post there, they get to relive our classroom too. At times, they will even comment…suggesting that I return back to school. On occasion, they talk about the lack of caring of some of their teachers. When that happens, there is almost always a fallout of sorts as well as an explanation of the "back ended" things of EDU by other  teachers. When I read those "but…but…but" statements from teachers, I am always reminded about the quote above that my mother says often and also about Disney World. Disney World is such a magical place, but there is also a "behind the scenes", the dusty crates, tools, characters out of costume…etc. No one gets to see the "behind the scenes part". Yet…we know that it is there. It has to be. We know that in EDU, so many problems take away from the great things that happen in classrooms. We have test that we have to give. We have meetings to attend and that includes meetings to plan other meetings. We have accommodations, interventions, mandates and all types of acronyms that defy all logic but we have something else that has to come before that…STUDENTS. When a student feels that their teachers do not care, we can’t explain it or "teacher-splain" it away with…"I had meetings, madates, a test, interventions, no paper, blah blah blah…" We have to listen and we have to adjust. I’m not saying that we have to hide our laundry because it’s there whether we like it or not. However, a student should NEVER feel that their teacher does not care and we should never explain our actions by telling them about "the things that cause us not to care". The thing that we have to do is be open to how kids feel.  What students should feel is cared for, motivated, challenged and supported. They should feel that they have a choice in becoming whoever it is that they become. We cannot get upset when they do not feel those things. We cannot go into "explain mode" when they do not feel that we care. What we have to do is look at ourselves and change our approach in order to address how they feel. Personally, I am more concerned with this reply… I know they do (teachers care) but sometimes it really just doesn’t seem like it. And I’m so glad that this is my last year, I’m ready for a broader horizon and I’ll get to choose what I do and where my next step will be. I will finally be able to become the person that I wanna be! Maybe I am missing something…but shouldn’t the things that this student wants be the purpose of schooling to begin with? Also, see the video of the late great Dr. Rita Pierson if there is any doubt…

Google Teacher Academy is coming to Austin and even after the let-down of Atlanta, I’m applying again. I took a different route in taking the time to try and creatively piece a video together as opposed to last year’s "last minute like" video. No, it’s not about the video…and from what I understand, it’s only a small portion but to me, this was important. I have never been a great video editor but I took the "letdown of Atlanta" as an opportunity to learn. I wanted to be better at creating the story so I looked at other forms of video and even watched a few clips in Lynda.com. None of those clips did me any good actually! Basically, I threw out all of the things that I learned in the last few months and instead created from a script and by instinct. The Question: How do you innovate in the educational community to generate positive change? I actually wrote three different versions. I wrote one that focused on equity. I wrote another that focused on math and then I wrote this one that focused on creativity. Truthfully, as much as I have done, nothing has been more impactful than sharing Braeden’s story…so with that in mind, I created this… This video represents me better than anything that I could craft…JUST to get in. This is our story…his story…my story. Creating the Video I edited every piece in imovie but I also included clips that I captured using hyperlapse as well as Camtasia Mac. Part of my sharing over time has been posting videos to instagram so I captured a few of those to help tell the story. I recorded my track on my phone in a video and separating the audio from video was as simple as detaching it. I rarely write scripts but I certainly did for this and making that small adjustment allowed me to piece together the media that I needed to tell the story. As for the title, I made it in photoshop on a transparent background which I like much better than imovie titles. I learned all of this since August and I am proud. No, it’s not perfect but it’s progress and that matters more.

Yesterday, I taught one of our Google Drive trainings for school paraprofessionals and I left feeling something that I haven’t felt in a very long time…pure joy and bliss. It was a feeling that I haven’t experienced since I taught my own math class. It wasn’t about the teaching of anything related to Drive. It was purely about knowing that we were empowering these ladies in a training that is often not available to paraprofessionals in many districts which makes zero sense. I am so proud of my district for valuing the growth of our entire community because in addition to these "during the day" trainings, we also provide 24/7 virtual learning access to every person…the kind that can be career changing or even affirming if a person desires it. Every district should do this…every…single…one. Later that evening, amidst crazy school canceling storms, I found myself looking through conference proposals and sessions. It bothered me. I won’t lie. I feel like we, this edtech community, are further drowning ourselves into a pile of buzzwords and platforms so much so that I have to wonder if people really understand what transformation, innovation, inquiry and even creativity looks and feels like. I get that one must learn about tech tools but I have to wonder why we do the exact opposite at these "learning events" that we want to see in schools. Why are we NOT putting the "how to use this app" things online and offering more discussion based sessions on things like writing better questions, learner empowerment, designing student driven lessons, community based projects, teaching beyond the test, reflection, feedback, research and soft skills…you know…the things that technology can enhance support. (See the update below for a more thorough and fluid expansion) At some point we’ll figure out that while playing assessment app games are somewhat informing, our kids deserve much more than that when it comes to technology. Scanning a code for a math problem to solve is "fun" but how is that technology really enhancing supporting learning? Did the question change because it was scanned versus written in a book or on paper? Don’t even get me started on augmented reality. Yes, some kids love competition, but how is playing Kahoot different than "insert clicker name here"…and don’t you dare say, "because it has bright colors and music!" Just…No. We need technology, don’t get me wrong but I also know that we have to talk about how we are empowering students to lead in their schools, communities, states and globally! How are we preparing students to be not just "future ready" but Globally Ready? How are we encouraging creativity and innovation? How are we giving students more choice and voice? (Not choice of apps or recording their "voice" in an app…Again, NO!) How are we personalizing learning? (And not the edtech company version of personalization) How are we creating more equitable solutions? (It’s probably NOT BYOT) Again…because it’s ALL about this… HOW CAN WE ASK BETTER QUESTIONS THAT LEAD TO MORE QUESTIONS? Put your app lessons online. We can view them there. Let’s dig deeper and make our rare face to face connections count. If this is all there is….maybe I need to just stick with EduCon. Or, maybe this is the conversation that I need to submit to EduCon. Well… there’s that.   Updated to add: The conversations that have resulted because of this post have been eye opening. The fact that we have to "App-Up the session" in order to have it approved at major conferences is appalling. At some point, we have to question this. David Jakes made a great point to this post in pushing back on the word "enhance" in terms of what technology should do. I agree with him and wanted to make sure that you read this because it is absolutely true and powerful. I am grateful to him for pointing it out. Growth is empowering especially when lived out loud. "The question in my mind is not about "how technology can enhance." That perspective is part of the problem in my mind. Enhancing implies improving what exists, and its simply not bold enough. The mindset of enhancing causes teachers to build scavenger hunts with augmented reality. Rather, how can technology support the reinvention of education? How does technology support the creation of things never done before? How do the affordances of technology fundamentally create a new condition for learning."

The other day Braeden decided that he wanted to involve "twitter" in his puppet decisions. As a kid who thrives on collaboration, making a Google form to share seemed like the obvious choice. Those were his words anyway. His questions… What should I name my lion puppet? Should I make a turkey costume for Lenny the Lizard? Which puppet should I make a Christmas costume for? After the form was created and shared, it was simply amazing watching him light up as his survey takers increased. He watched his data change and as the data changed, his questions and thoughts grew. Braeden’s Thoughts People will enter the strangest names if you give them a blank space. Maybe asking if I should make Lenny a costume was a bad question since I already knew that most people would choose, yes. Hey, how does the percentage of No stay the same even when the total number of votes change? Wait, now it’s 4 "No’s" out of 40. That’s 10% just like our minecraft lesson. I’m thinking that the more people take this survey, the better because I’ll have answers from more people. Auntie this is called a pie graph and these spaces represent the number of votes for each one. Maybe that Lenny costume question wasn’t a bad question since it’s interesting watching how the percentages change. I feel like I need at least 200 takers since I’ll get better results if more people do it. Don’t these people know that I can’t use names like "Aslan" because of copyright? Will the President take my survey? Dissecting the Results and Making a New Survey Braeden ended up with 156 responses. It wasn’t 200 like he wanted but he was satisfied with the results. He got a huge laugh out of some of the names that people submitted (Pookie was the funniest!) and to make his selection, he chose to "gray out" the names that he could not live with and keep the names that appeared multiple times.   This led to a creation of a 6 name list which garnered its own form. As of now, he has 79 responses and is still collecting because, again…He feels that he needs more votes for better data. When I asked Braeden why he felt that "more data" mattered, he said that as he watched his results come in, he had a better variety the more people that participated. He also said that if he had more submissions, he would feel more comfortable knowing that he created what people wanted.   My Edu-Auntie Reflection When Braeden decided that he would make a form, I had no idea where he was going with it. I honestly thought that he would collect his information and move on to continue creating. I was pleasantly shocked to watch him bury himself into deep thought regarding submissions. Even as he talked in more math language, I chose not to push or question him. I would ask an occasional, "what do you mean", and while he did elaborate, it was important to make sure that his "wonders" were his own. I believe wholeheartedly in the authenticity of learning and he was making connections. That was more than enough. I will say that I kept thinking that it was such a shame that he could not do this type of learning at school. What appeared to be a "simple form" was actually a gateway to deeper discussions that connected to something that he loved…his own creations. If this isn’t authentic learning, I don’t know what is!  

Yesterday, I taught what I think was my new favorite session. It’s wasn’t a "connect to twitter" or a "build your pln" session but there were small nuggets of those. It wasn’t a "Google apps" or a "coding" session but there were small nuggets of those as well. My session was all about learning through global connections/projects. What made this session great was not my joy in sharing some of the most amazing projects created by my connected community but that the teachers in attendance were super stoked about it and many were heard saying things like… Where has this session been all my career? You mean we can do this in our classrooms? Oh my gosh, I can’t wait to do this when I get back to school! Wait, you’ll come to our classrooms to help? (YES!!) We can totally get the librarian on board to connect our classes in these Classroom Hangouts! We have to do this because if we don’t our kids are missing out! A Few Tidbits I created a TACKK that our teachers can continue to access and share on their campus. I ALWAYS do this. I polled the room and found that a majority in attendance taught elem-middle school ELA so I started with the Global Read Aloud and that excited the entire room! TACKK is awesome when it works but when information gets jumbled somehow during the saving process…it can be annoying. However, fixing the resource LIVE during the training was educational. It happens. Embedded full searches from twitter was a subtle "nugget" that invited teachers to see what was happening without creating an account. I will do this every time. http://connectedclassrooms.withgoogle.com/ is AWESOME and the upcoming hangouts with Lemony Snicket and Lois Lowry also excited our teachers. Their librarians should be getting calls this morning about this one. Quite a few teachers took notes via Google docs and shared with their team immediately. That was just as encouraging as the teachers who preferred to do it on paper. It’s their choice after all. When I talked about projectsbyjen, I shared how I knew her through my Discovery Ed community. 5 of them immediately signed up for my next Discovery Ed training. We’ll connect again! Speaking of Projects By Jen…They called this, LIFE-Changing I’m teaching another "twitter for learning" session on a campus next week and many of these teachers signed up to attend If you want coding in the classroom, get teachers in a room and let them code. This year, we’ll have classes coding during hour of code. Perhaps the greatest win in this session wasn’t about exposing teachers to these global resources for the first time but about giving them a reason to connect and a path to get there in a way that suited them. The "why" matters and growth doesn’t happen without it.   Click the TACKK below to visit each resource!  

I’ve tried really hard to back down a bit from my son’s schooling. Part of that reasoning is that I wanted him to be able to find his own way without my interfering in every aspect of his education. The other part is that it seemed as though the more I questioned, the greater the target on his back. That was my thinking anyway. What I found was that the less that I questioned, the greater the target. Basically, it’s pretty much a no win situation. Except, my involvement gives him a far better chance at edu-survival than not being involved. A week ago, a sub (one with known issues towards students of color) threw him out of the classroom and wrote a few things on the referral that were so outrageous that they were humanly impossible. When the AP called to inform me that my son would be going to ISS for three days, I immediately asked if she even bothered questioning it because it was THAT ridiculous. I knew that she didn’t and upon her confirmation, I asked…no, DEMANDED…that an investigation occur. Too often, especially for young men of color, referrals are written as law and punishments are handed out without a single attempt to verify the facts of the situation. In many cases, the facts as turned in are not necessarily the truth. This was the case with my son. He ended up staying home for one day, per my request, while his name was cleared. What infuriated me more about the situation was that years ago I worked at this school and although there have been subtle changes in administration, the culture of the school is the same. Kids of color have no voice and speaking up for themselves is grounds for insubordination. I’ve written about this once. Other kids can not only speak for themselves but there are almost always follow up questions to verify the facts in the cases of guilt, those kids are too often given much lighter punishments. The other day, I had a small "back and forth" with one teacher because he told my son that he was lazy and arrogant. To be clear, my son asked for extended time to complete an essay…one that did not allow technology which is pretty important for editing. (In case you are wondering, the kids are not allowed to write using a computer since they can’t do so on the state exam) The teacher’s response… "Maybe he needs to change to a new teacher. I care about all of my kids. Maybe he took something the wrong way" Yep, that’s the answer. Don’t stop mistreating kids of color. Instead, move the kid when well-informed parents question it! (many eye rolls at this response) Also, it’s a good idea to understand the implications of words. He didn’t take anything the wrong way. What was said to him was completely wrong. Owning these mistakes is important. If only "owning incorrect actions against kids of color" was a thing. As for my son, he acknowledges that he can do certain things differently because right now, his survival is more important than anything. He’s taking the steps necessary to do so. He also understands that he is not alone and perhaps that is his only privilege.  

This summer, after the rejection that was GTA Atlanta, I sat and talked to my friend Lise while I was in Canada about my Google Teacher Academy rejection. She flat out told me that my biggest problem was that I do not talk about the things that I do enough. She reminded me of my network of connections and how I don’t "hightlight" them at all. She even said that I didn’t talk specifically about the mathematical connections that I help teachers and students make through inquiry using applicable tools. Then, there is the whole part about me speaking at conferences all over the country and teaching online webinars. Yeah…I don’t talk much about those things either. The bottom line, in her words, was that I do no sell myself enough nor do I acknowledge the things that I do and if I wanted to be considered for such a thing as GTA or any other specialized group…I better learn how to sell…RAFRANZ. In other words, stop being so modest. Honestly, I still struggle with selling RAFRANZ because in all honesty, I’d much rather spend my time helping others recognize themselves.  And then came Austin… I spent more time on the video than I did before…creating something that I believe spoke to who I am as an educator. In less than a minute, I created a look inside my life in a single day. I chose not to talk about the 15,000 chromebooks in our district, the in-summer google camps that we hosted, the countless staff developments, cross country sessions, webinars, google hangouts, cross curricular collaborations or even my upcoming keynotes. I focused on what drives and motivates me. I also directly included Braeden since so much of his story lays the framework for what I do. It’s not about his insane puppet creativity, it’s how he learned, continues to learn and shares. Without youtube, there would be no puppets. But then the questions… What holds people back from applying is sometimes the intimidation of the video but the video is only a teeny tiny percentage. The rest is all about how you share who you are on "paper". Every GCT that I have talked to, said that people needed to spend more time on the questions because they actually weigh quite a bit heavier than the video. For this application, we had 1 minute for the video and only 800 characters each on the extended questions. That’s not a lot. Question 1 was a question about overcoming hardship and I shared a specific example about the event that pushed me to go back to college…forever changing the course of my family’s life. I’m actually okay with question 1 even though I considered writing about my struggles in tech & the absence of diversity. Question 2 was more than likely my big miss. I may actually have gone all "nerd city" talking about connecting with "people like me" and the more that I think about it, the more that it bothers me because this question easily lent itself to talking about sharing the power of global learning and being able to have exposure to new ideas that I could not only take back to my school and connected community but home…to the kid that inspires every ounce of my work. No regrets though…except question 2…darn… Final Reflections Let me be clear in saying that I didn’t write this post so that people would leave sympathy comments or even comments about "why I didn’t need GTA". Please don’t. (There is a reason that I wanted to do this again and to those that care about me…and you know who you are…I need you to trust me.) I wrote this post-submission reflection so that any others who may be thinking of applying can learn from me and my mistakes. 1. From my ATL rejection, I learned that making the video was much more about sharing my story as an educator while answering "the question". Be creative. Get your story across in one minute but at the end of the day, with the video counting so little…it really is about answering the question and making something that shares who you are! 2. Take Lise’s advice. Sell yourself like crazy! What do you do? Why do you do it? When do you do it? Where do you do it? At the end of the day, if you aren’t willing to highlight what you do…why apply? (ok…fine!) 3. After you hit submit, don’t second guess any creative decisions. Don’t use voxer to whine about the things that you could’ve, would’ve and should’ve done differently. It’s done now. Instead, learn from it. Share with someone else and plan for the next event because at the end of the day, whether I miraculously make it to Austin or not, there is still plenty of work to be done. In the meantime, I’m posting my video again because I am proud of it and so is the kid…even if "the specificity of how I innovate" is unclear.  

Today I asked my niece if she felt that she knew about the world around her. Her response to that question, that she did not, was exactly as I expected. She attends school where her learning is limited to the words in her state adopted textbooks. Learning for her is 100% "sit and get" with zero application beyond district purchased worksheets.  Aside from her personal social connectedness, my niece has zero experience with making connections with the world outside of what this town makes available. She is a senior and by today’s standards, will graduate high school without being globally ready. My niece’s story is my story…the one that existed before my social journey began over 5 years ago. My niece’s world was my world…my town…my school…my classroom….my life as an educator…the one that I vowed to change. Inside My City Limits I don’t think that people really understand how sheltered one can be in a small town, unless they themselves share the experience. There are far too many void of opportunity, accessibility, visibility and voice. In my town, this is typically the case, especially if you are black and even more so if you are hispanic and undocumented. The numbers of kids that fit into that category are staggering. I worked very hard to create a space in my classroom where kids could not only feel success but feel encouraged, challenged and expected to aim higher than our town standards. My openness to understanding of the accessibility to information that technology provided helped tremendously. I know that for a fact. As a teacher, I was isolated and in a sea of negativity where "my ways" were a bit "too open" and "out there" for many, I preferred that and my isolation was just as much defense mechanism as it was necessary. I was the weird one, the one with the crazy ideas…who always had to have technology, the one whose kids rushed to and also hated to leave. My room was not my room. My tools were not my tools. What was "mine" was certainly…THEIRS. It’s still crazy to me that certain people never connected my connectedness with the kids that I taught to the empowering community that we established over the commonality of race. "He works in your room because you are black". "No, He doesn’t work in your room because your environment doesn’t allow his success" And Then Came Twitter My initial bout with twitter-edu came because of technology. I was and still am very excited about certain tools and their impact on learning. I started traveling to conferences and attending sessions by people who I was connected to…only to realize that I knew a lot more than I thought. After-all, "not on twitter" doesn’t mean "not knowledgeable". It simply means "not instantaneous". There is a difference. I found chats and the more conversations that I had, the more that I evolved as a learner and leader. I moved from lurker to sharer and all of a sudden my ideas, the ones that were confined to my room, were helping other teachers change theirs. I think that I probably chatted 7 days a week back then…constantly connecting with educators all over the world which was amazing when you’ve barely stepped foot out of your own town. Somewhere along the way…after downloading hundreds of apps, cycling between a multitude of devices, teaching countless sessions and mentoring teachers in their instructional growth, I found a much bigger purpose in connecting. I found conversations that spoke to my experience as a sheltered learner and the affirmation of the environment that I created in my classroom. I found Diana Laufenberg‘s TED talk on failure, Frank Noschese‘s talk on inquiry and Jose Vilson‘s talk on teacher voice. I connected with each of them and through their work as well as the work that they linked to, I found educational advocacy. I found that it was not only my right to refuse to remain silent on the need for more opportunity to inquiry based learning, access, equity and voice…but my responsibility. I also found that if I didn’t use my experiences as a teacher of color in a non-accessible environment to help push the conversations for more voices to be prominent and necessary for change, I was doing it wrong. I will forever have Educon 2.6 (2014) to thank for that. In a sea of devices and apps, I found a lifeboat in transformative thinking. I changed. My perception of the world changed. My mission changed. My city limits are no longer limiting but metaphorically motivational. My niece, as globally unready as she is, is about to get a crash course on the world…that has forever been at her fingertips. Much like Dorothy’s Ruby Red Slippers…It was there all along.  

A few months ago, I found the Google Cultural Institute while looking around for a few of Google’s initiatives and I have to say that this is my all time favorite thing that google has ever done. As a person who believes wholeheartedly in the power of experience through media, I love that users can take a virtual tour of a plethora of cultural cognizant artistic and historical pieces.   Other things that users can do… Click the dropdown next to Explore and visit featured projects like World Wonders which takes users on a Google streetview tour of "The World’s heritage sites" like the Taj Mahal while also connecting users to specific cultural artifacts For every adult who ever convinced kids that street art was garbage, there is a specific exhibit which takes users on a journey of experiencing street art from a global perspective Create your own gallery and share it. Use the compare feature to create a side by side view of two different works which will certainly drive discussion. Women in culture…Interactive, full of content yet so much more yet to be included! Visit the Google Open Gallery, (you’ll find a link from the home page on the right), which is a platform aimed to help artists, museums and galleries bring their content online! Combine Global Galleries with the Google Translate Extension The beauty of having something as significantly accessible as the google translate extension is that when experiencing artistic perspective from another culture, translating is only a click away! I make a point to visit this one site daily and I learn something new every single time. The world is not necessarily within my physical reach but with tools such as this, it’s always a click away.