Why I love this job so much

The only way to communicate this effectively, I think, is to do so with pictures.

This means the world to me.  Some of my College Comp 2 seniors (who are now juniors in college) got this for me.  I had them sign it. I laminated it.  It's the first thing I put up every year.

My redesigned bulletin board and my new south wall.

The view to the north of my desk.

And what my classroom looks like from the east side of my room where my SMART board is.

And as if starting a new school year in a remodeled room with every student having a $1,000 laptop given to them wasn't great enough, I ended up having the best week EVER on Twitter.  Our principal gave me a copy of Teach Like A Pirate.  I wrote a thorough blog entry on it.  Then during a discussion on the book, with the hashtag #tlap, our principal mentioned that one of his teachers blogged about it.  Then Mr. Zutz shared the link to my blog entry.  It took a couple days, but the author found it, read my blog entry, and not only Tweeted at me, but he also sent me a direct message via Twitter.  Amazing!

Since this marks my 16th year, I was given a plaque for my 15 years of service and I was also given new business cards.  I attached a Lego brick that was gift from a former student and put this above my door.

See what I mean

about having the best week on Twitter EVER!

As if that wasn't enough, I saw this message from a former student one evening during the first week.  To say I was on cloud nine was an understatement.

Some of my students using technology to have a discussion (we had read the first two chapters of the book The Dumbest Generation.  Then I created a Padlet wall which allows for us to have an interactive discussion that can be projected up on the SMART board.  I also shared the link with all my kids, so they had the discussion wall up on all of their laptops.

Then we listened to a podcast featuring the author drag their generation over the coals.  While listening, students had to list two reactions and then offer feedback to at least one other student's reaction.

Why is it so vital to be a connected educator?  Because you can offer feedback like this on a Saturday morning to a student who hits the assignment out of the park.

And you can get feedback like this from them.  There is not better job on this planet.