Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Acclimation

I have been forced to acclimate to a new environment. You see, the first week of school my long awaited wish of having my projector mounted was becoming a reality. I was so excited. After the projector was mounted, myself and few other teachers discovered there was no power to our newly mounted projectors. Do you think that stopped this little pirate? Heck no! I shimmied up a ladder and into the ceiling with an extension cord. I dropped the extension cord from the ceiling and plugged it in to the wall. While I was up there, I noticed a crack in my projector but thought nothing of it. Yes, I had power! The orange light was on and you could see the excitement in my face. I turned it on...the orange light stayed orange....um it is supposed to turn green was my thought. Upon further inspection, I realized my projector had been dropped and was basically shattered. I was crushed because I knew that meant I would go without a projector for a while. After reporting my problem to the tech department and them researching it, I was informed that I would be receiving a brand new projector. My happy face was back on. Well, I say all this to tell you it has been 8 weeks and still I do not have a projector because it is on back order. Do you think this has slowed me down one bit? Heck no! I'm a pirate by nature. I have taken full advantage of the 1:1 iPad initiative. My students are "creating" all kinds of stuff. Basically, they are designing their own curriculum. We have used Educreations, NearPod, Socrative, Edmodo and PicCollage relentlessly. All said and done, I am so glad that this tragic projector incident occurred and that I was lucky enough to be the teacher who had this experience! This, along with my twitter PLN, has made me a better teacher than ever before. I mention my PLN because pre-PLN I would have made excuses, but post-PLN I seek help from great mentors such as Hal Roberts, Dave Burgess, Todd Nesloney, Brett Murrey, Jess Henze, Jessica Anderson, Dayson Paison, Scott Richards, Keith Vandersluis, Kelly Hobson, Carrie Ross, Tra Hall, Rafranz Davis, Lora Krantz, Sydnee Musslewhite, Brenda Pawelek, Darin Jolly, Jimmy Casas, and Chris Kesler are a small fraction of my PLN that have had huge impacts and continue to motivate me to be a better educator.  Students deserve the right to learn no matter what obstacles are presented to their teachers. So quit making excuses, put on your pirate panties, and go give your students everything they deserve!