Of course we have all heard the phrase, "Practice Makes Perfect." In a conversation I had with a young child recently, I was just about to say that phrase when I knew that I didn't quite believe it. I certainly understand its sentiment, as noted in my blog post from earlier in the year. I understand the phrase, but I don't agree with the destination or desired outcome. As we all know, there's no such thing as perfect. Every thing that amy be deemed as perfect can always go through another revision. And so, the phrase, "Practice Makes Perfect" isn't something I wanted to say to the child. Instead, I wanted to shift the focus to ongoing learning, ongoing effort, ...
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#FlipgridFever has definitely hit educators all across the globe. Flipgrid is a tool for creating video-based discussions online and has been used in so many ways already. Teachers, students, administrators, and even parents have used the platform to share ideas, answer questions, respond to prompts, collaborate, and crowdsource projects. Flipgrid definitely helps amplify voice from all learners in classroom and beyond. It's one of those services that extend the classroom and learning environment beyond the four walls and the 6 hours of the school day.
​ This summer, @TOSAchat is using Flipgrid for its book study of Trevor MacKenzie's book, Dive into Inquiry. It's been an incredible experience so far reading Trevor's book, answering each week's prompt on Flipgrid, and engaging in conversation with other readers. Head over to @TOSAchat's dedicated site for the summer book study to check out the online discussion. [Another blog post reflecting on Trevor's book will come later.] Check out the #booksnaps of #DiveintoInquiry. Plus, hear Trevor speak about the book study in the video below.
It has indeed been such a pleasure and privilege serving as the Math & STEAM Coach / TOSA for PAUSD's Elementary Education Department. What an honor it is to work with so many teachers, their students, and administrators to influence and impact the learning and discovery of students. I recently wrote a Year 2 reflection and it was incredible to reflect on my second year in this role. This post is meant to accompany that earlier post with the following image I recently completed. Inspired by Ryan O'Donnell (@creativetech) last year with my Year-End Reflection after year 1, I just completed my process of tallying, calculating, and summing my second year. Again, this in no way reflect every aspect of my 2016-2017 year but it does give a glimpse into my work as a Math & STEAM Coach / TOSA and offers a nice overview of my work. Just like last year, I was surprised by the numbers. There are many highlights to my second year as a Math & STEAM Coach. Here are just a few:
It has truly been another incredible year collaborating with teachers in PAUSD and beyond, connecting with coaches and TOSAs from all over the globe, partnering with administrators, and ultimately continuing to impact students. JOY My #OneWord for 2017 is Joy. This one word definitely represents everything about this year. Live joyfully, experience joy, and share joy with the world. This morning I was tagged on a tweet by Jennifer Williams reminding her PLN about the #OneWord campaign. It was a mid-year check-in. Her tweet included her blog post from the beginning of the year sharing her story of her word - intentional. It was such a wonderful tweet, blog post, and reminder for everyone in her PLN to reflect on their #OneWord. How have I been doing with JOY? There are indeed so many reasons this year of 2017 is characterized as Joy. Here's my pie chart (as inspired by Jen's post). My pie chart will detail how I am living with joy in terms of fitness, work, relationships, and personally. Fitness: I have always known the importance of setting a priority to stay fit and live healthy. With a family history of diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and other ailments, I have made it a point to focus on fitness. Baseball, touch football, basketball, track and field in my youth started me off in many organized team sports. During college, I picked up golf, tennis, rock climbing, and cycling, which included three separate century bike races. In the past five years I have really picked up my running. It's been an incredible journey on my feet. (I use my Instagram account to chronicle my running) I remember my first 5K, back in 2012 where I struggled to keep up with my friend and my goal of finishing under half an hour. Five years later, I have many done many races, including 19 half marathons, and will be running my first full marathon at the end of this month. I feel incredible pride and joy about my accomplishments so far in fitness. JOY
Work: I recently wrote a post about this incredibly joyful journey I'm on in education. After 10+ years of teaching first, second, and fifth grades, I have had the privilege and pleasure of serving as a Math & STEAM Coach for PAUSD's Elementary Education Department. It has been such an honor to partner with, support, and, as my boss always emphasizes, influence and impact the work that teachers, administrators, and district personnel do on a daily basis. I absolutely love the work I engage in with teachers collaboratively and collectively assisting children in their discovery and development of their interests and passions. JOY Relationships: The joy I've experienced in the area of relationships is by slowing down, being aware, reflecting, being mindful, and experiencing everything my relationships bring. Sitting with a friend, going on walk and talks with a colleague, sending a tweet to my PLN, connecting with the #TOSAchat tribe, phoning family and friends, writing a card to celebrate someone's special day, and more are all ways I've experienced the joy in relationships. In addition, I accept and thank others for their compliments and feedback, receive gifts with gratitude, listen to stories without distractions, and more. Joy in relationships definitely isn't just about the positives. I experience all the frustrations, confusion, misunderstandings, and hurt feelings. Those uncomfortable feelings are indeed part of the pie in any relationship and I know the importance of not only experiencing them but working through them in order to maintain/grow the relationship. JOY Personally: Joy in my personal life is hearing, seeing, and holding my baby boy as my wife and I welcomed him into the world on June 22nd. He is in fact laying on me as I write this post on my iPhone. He is my JOY. JOY is my #OneWord for 2017 and I have so many incredible reasons to live joyfully, experience joy, and share joy with the world. [Thank you Jen for your tweet and inspiration to do a mid-year check.] |
Joe YoungMath & STEAM Coach / TOSA in Palo Alto Unified School District. Categories
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