What I'm up to...

In the course of normal conversation people often inquire, "Where do you live?" and "What do you do?" ... I used to be able to answer those questions easily. However, since June of 2012, the answer has been complex and at times complicated. The short answer, for the record, is that I am largely self-employed and nomadic. I am on the road so much that I actually keep a running googledoc for my family, listing dates and where I will be. The unexpected benefit is that I have pretty good record of everywhere I have been in the past 20 months. 

So, since I am at a bit of a transitional point, I thought I would take a minute to run down what I am working on presently and give the longer answer to "What do you do?".  My continuing work in Philadelphia consists of supporting the new SLA campus - SLA@Beeber, assisting the teachers and administration of McMichael School, assisting in the implementation of the recent grant from Dell Giving to support both SLA campuses, working with a team to receive a grant to start SLA-Middle School, and pushing through the final year with my SLA advisory as they head into graduation. My online work currently includes writing online professional development modules for St. Vrain Valley School District in Colorado.  Additionally, I am still speaking at conferences and conducting school based professional development workshops.

And now for the place-based work that I have just launched into... for the remainder of the school year I will be the 7th grade Social Studies teacher for Alpine Leadership Academy in Flagstaff, AZ. This is the same program I was working with in November and December. Circumstances conspired to bring me back and I was happy to be in a place to step back in and finish the year with them. It is an amazing program and I will be doing all kinds of awesome outdoor activities with the students over the next 4 months.

This will be the longest I have 'settled down' in the better part of the last two years. I am incredibly grateful to have easily secured a place to live while I am here and even more grateful for the warm welcome from my Flagstaff family.  I will still be in Philly for 4 weeks before school dismisses for the year (week of March 17th, Week of April 28, Weeks of June 9 and 16th). Nothing like spending your spring break from one school... working in three others ;-). I hope to spend 6 weeks of the summer, lakeside in Wisconsin in the RV and doting on my 7 nieces and nephews. Also, I plan to be at ISTE and was invited to speak in India in August. 

I am not bored. Someone recently commented that it seems like I am doing all kinds of different things, and I am.  However, the way I see it is that while I may be working with a variety of different entities, the work is all so related and really is on a similar path. My hands are in many different projects, but they are all trying to pull the conversation forward about how we can be doing this teaching and learning thing, better.

So, I will be in Flagstaff until May 29th, 2014. I will be easier to 'find', most of the time. I will be incredibly busy teaching full-time, but could not be more excited to be in a classroom for the rest of the year!  Expect more posts from the classroom over the next few months.