Finally.

Today, I am grateful to finally be in Boston for NCSS. 

I went down to the Boston Public Library to work on my presentation. After weeks of thinking about what I wanted to say. I want to be able to bring the vibes that I have been able to co-create with the young people in the classroom to share. I spent a few hours listening to music and getting my thoughts organized.

After the library, I walked to the Convention Center to get my regisitration. After wandering around a little bit, I realized my presentation room was open so I hooked up my stuff to see if it would work. 

A little less anxious today.

Today, I am grateful to be able to travel to Boston to present what I am doing in my american history classes.

I love traveling. I love flying. Roadtrips are dope. I would prefer to be on a high-speed train. I love going places.

I love leaving and being able to see all of these spaces that I have driven and lived in daily from a different perspective.

I love being in different places, new places. I love figuring out my next steps with a loose plan. I know when I describe this, many people become anxious for me. I hate making plans because then I can be disappointed if something doesn't happen. I love the feeling of having a trip without a plan so that then when people ask me if I did this or that, I can so "nope" I guess I have to go back :)

I have never been to Boston. 

This trip is a celebration. This trip is a work trip. This trip is going to be dope.

Today, I am grateful for being able to select texts to have students engage with in my classes. 

This text was used in my Psychology classes. This quarter, 2nd, is all about social behaviors, mental health and physical health. 

This text, Who Moved My Cheese by Dr. Spencer Johnson, is a parable all about how four characters interact with change. Two, go. When they experience something changing in their lives they continue to move after the change knowing things will change. Two decide to not accept that change is happen and resist changing their behaviors and insist on being made whole for being personally harmed. One of the two who resist realize a change in mindset is the most healthy way to move foward and starts taking steps, hoping his friend will come along but in the end does not.

We have choices. 

Change is coming. Change is happening. Change is inevitable.

How are we going to respond? Are we going to dig our heels in? Are we going to fight for the change not to happen? Are we going to be like water, going with the flow?

We have choices.

I love my young grasshoppers experience this text. I have all four levels of students, freshman-seniors, all experiencing different levels of change. 

Spending my day with young people is dope!

Today, I am grateful for the joyful moments that I have been able to create with my children.

This is the fourth year that we have celebrated my birthday and then come home to set up the Christmas tree.

I love the whole thing around getting a present for each of my children to give to them on my birthday. I love having them walk in with their ornament present for the year and we get to open them and talk about them. This year, I gifted their first letters of their name. I love adding, at least, three new oranments with new dates and new messenges on them as we move through all of this. 

Dayt got the fireplace on and then got all cuddled up in the recliner. 

Kayleah helps get the space set up. Moving chairs and plants to make space for the tree in the corner.

Trin sat on the couch :) lol.

I get Justin Bieber's Christmas album on and we set up the tree!

All three helped get the ornaments on. Dayt through his paper airplane that has not become a thing because it happened one Christmas. Whereever it lands is where it is now going to be!

Kayleah was the one with the honor of putting the star on top and she gets to choose where we have Christmas dinner. Last year, Dayt picked sushi! Trin, for her Senior year, gets to do both.

My life has so much joy and love in it! 

Today, I am grateful for being able to spend time with my children.

My divorce has been super positive. Out of it, I have more joy and the ability to recreate what our patterns and traditions are going to be. 

We have decided that on my birthday we go and get dinner. Play cards. Talk. Eat.

Dinner is also when I give my children, and a friend, shout out Kamil (2023), an ornament for the year. 

We have chosen to make Four Peaks our place to get food. We all have things that we really like there and I like getting one or two drinks!

The joy that this tradition brings me is so dope!

Today, I am grateful that I was able to spend time doing a couple of things that I love.

To start the day, I went to the annual AEA Research and Policy Day. This is where a breakdown of how the elections went and what we are going to need to do to move forward. The Union is strong and we need everyone to do their role. Knocking on doors. Setting up strategy. Developing learning opportunties. There is so much work that needs to be done to fight and build the strength of public schools for our educators and our students.

After lunch, I drove to Glendale Community College to support Tempe High's Marching Band who was competing in the State Championships! I love being able to show up at these events and see the students perform. I love when my former or current students see me and act like they have never seen a teacher in the wild. lol. They ended up getting 3rd but it was still a huge accomplishment! Scored higher than McClintock and Marcos de Niza! Best in Tempe!!!! 

​Today, was a good day!

Today, I am grateful for these results. 

With all realness, this is the only data that I find value in. Test results compared to other people in other years, lame. Multiple choice test results, lame. 

For the last 8-9 years, I have asked the young people in my classes to do self-evaluations of their learning. We are not playing a game. They know what they have been doing and what they haven't been doing. They know. I want all of my young people to feel empowered in this space to tell me what they deserve for a grade on their learning journey. 

I also ask questions about the classroom environment, behaviors and feedback on me and what I do. 

These results give me joy and energy to keep doing this work.

I love seeing and feeling that my students know that we got them. This does not mean that we are going to make things easy or to ignore the learning that needs to happen. We have a lot of work to do. 

One hundred and twenty-three young people told us that they trust us and what we are doing.

I have to shoutout my student teacher, Mr. Schulz, for helping foster this environment in our space. 

Students know they are heard. They are cared about. They are going to be successful through what we are doing. What that success looks like will absolutely change between the different students. But, all students will be challenged and supported in what they are doing!

Tempe High young people are so dope!

Today, I am grateful to bring flowers and plants into the classroom. 

I love the joyful spaces that I am able to create.

This is my birthday week. I will bring joy and peace into my spaces. 

I know flowers are not permanent but they serve a purpose for a short period of time and that is not bad. 

Plants can keep the vibes going. 

Flowers are that spell and beauty that is not always lasting.

Today, I am grateful for buying my own flowers and bringing them into my professional space. 

I need our young people to know and experience joy and peace in our learning spaces. 

This space is radical and I want to be an example of someone who is passionate about what I do and that is so many things happening that are connected and interconnected and meaningful to develop this space.

Today, I am excited and grateful that I am preparing to present at a national conference about what I am doing in my classroom!

On November 21st, I will be presenting about our Q2 Project that we are doing in American History. 

This project is dope. Thinking about incorporating Environmental Justice, Racial and Social Justice learning in what we are doing with our historical learning. So awesome!

I am proud of having the framework of identifying inequality, then what equality looks like, then what equity would look like, then finally identifying what justice would be if we addressed the root problems.

I have known about this for a while, but it is all becoming more and more real. 

Plane ticket is bought. 

Registration for the conference has been purchased, how wild having to register and pay to present.

It is happening and I am freaking excited!