Flappy Bird. Where Are My Priorities?

I refuse to sit on the couch and let life pass me by.  I refuse to be the one always taking and not giving back.  I refuse to let my time get sucked up by irrelevancy.

This week has been one of reflection for me.  I've been considering my priorities, reflecting on how I spend my time, and analyzing what I can do to live better.

Here are my conclusions: I care more about my health than sitting on the couch watching Netflix.  I love my friends & family so much that I want to be present in every moment with them.  I want to live a long life and make an impact for Jesus Christ, and, therefore, I will spend more time eating better food, exercising, and loving others.  I want to build relationships with students, colleagues, friends, and family.  I want more time face-to-face with these people instead of emailing them or writing on their Wall.  I want to experience life fully.

Ultimately, when I pass on, I want people to remember me for the passion I had for the Lord and others, not what I posted on the Internets.

Reflections from #TCEA14--It's Still About the Relationships

Believe it or not, this was my first TCEA convention.  I am thankful that my school foundation was willing to send me, and my principal was willing to find resources to allow me to eat, sleep, and drive there.  I learned some new things this week, was inspired to continue what I am doing, collaborated with new friends, and cemented old friendships.

When I wasn't in a workshop or presentation, I was in the Digital Square.  On the first day, one of my colleagues commented to me, "Gosh, you know everyone."  My response, "I'm on Twitter."  I follow, I RT (retweet), I favorite, all in the name of learning more, connecting more, and building relationships. After almost 2 years of being on Twitter, I can truly say I have learned more as an educator because of the relationships that have stemmed from my PLN.

But, by far, the informal conversations I had in the Digital Square were my favorite part of the whole week.  There is something extraordinary about having conversations with other connected educators.  I was able to connect with David Jakes and Christian Long.  They are involved in educational design, and all the sessions they led were very relevant for me.  At school, I am working on a huge project which is going to transform our classrooms.  I appreciated David's willingness to answer all of my questions.  Also, he is a fellow Chicagoan, so I am a little biased.

On Friday, I got to be a part of a podcast with Miguel Guhlin, Tim Holt, Scott Laleman, and Jake Duncan.  I met Miguel Guhlin last summer at ISTE and had a brief conversation that inspired me.  I can't even particularly remember what he said, but he was down-to-earth and accessible.  He was willing to chat with me (a relative nobody to him) and discuss education.  This was the first time I met Tim and Scott, but after listening to their ideas and knowledge, I know these guys are great ones to have in my PLN.  Jake always shares AMAZING tools with me.  As educators, we need to have more conversations like this, ones that challenge & inspire us.

After Jake returned from his session (tELL me a cuento, por favor), we worked on an episode for our podcast, Cutting Edgucation.  It was nice to be able to process the week with him.  Future episodes with definitely stem from our learning last week.

I'll be sharing more of what I learned in the next few weeks, but until then, if you aren't on Twitter, you should be.  Because it really is about the relationships.