Reach the Summit

In July of 2017, I was selected to attend the Keystone Technology Innovators’ Summit (KTI) at Shippensburg University - a week-long foray into all things new and exciting happening in education. To keep it short, it was (and still is) the most amazing professional development I have ever experienced. The ideas, energy, and learning were nothing short of mind-blowing. The friends I made and the PLN that I’ve curated after becoming a KTI Star has been amazing. 

After almost 20 years, KTI 2017 gave me the courage to put my classroom ideas and pedagogy into a world-wide conversation I didn’t realize was even happening.

I submitted session proposals that were vetted by educators from across the state of Pennsylvania and the world, and fellow educators, peers, and colleagues decided my ideas needed to be heard by others in our field.

I was chosen to present at four conferences so far this year - the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference (PETE&C) in Hershey, PA; the Education Leadership Conference (EDLC) in Clarion, PA; the International Society for Technology in Education Conference (ISTE) in Philadelphia, PA (with my #KTI2017 buddy Samantha Fecich); and the KTI 2019 Summit in Shippensburg, PA.  

Speaking at these conferences on topics ranging from the importance of copyright in the digital age to creating virtual pre-service teacher co-op programs has been invigorating. Attending other awesome educators’ sessions from coding in the classroom to the growth mindset and the #failforward thought process has been recharging. 

But ultimately returning to where this journey began has been the peak of my summer.  Even just for the day, attending KTI as a Lead Learner (that’s what presenters are called at the KTI Summit) reminded me of the power and energy a room full of like-minded educators brings to the teaching table.  

I met a young teacher named Paul Goraczko, #KTI2019 Star and English teacher at Wissahickon High School. Paul left the KTI 2019 Summit with a ton of ideas and an egg crate foam mattress topper someone else was throwing away so he can create a mobile recording studio for his English classroom. (Teachers are resourceful, aren’t we?)  Paul attended my session called “Not Your Average Research Paper,” and after Summit ended he Tweeted: 

“@bshsmspero your session at #kti2019 is going to revolutionize the way I teach. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”

My response:

via GIPHY

This young teacher said my words are going to revolutionize the way he teaches.  Wow. I am momma-bear proud. Momma-bear proud in that not only do I now get to watch my classroom students grow, I also get to watch other educators who have been in my classroom grow. And I get to learn more every day just being a part of it all.

 (BTW - We are planning to create a dueling blog to bounce ideas off each other and maybe - just maybe - we might create a podcast of our journey together. I’m so excited just thinking about it!) 

KTI did it again. This summer has been the summit of my journey as an educator of educators. Being chosen as a presenter is a true validation that my educational philosophy and approach to teaching and learning is on the right track for the students I impact.

But this summit is only the first of many. I see many peaks in the distance, and being involved in world-wide education conversations and conferences is my life-line to reach those peaks. Thank you to all the people who have pushed me to climb these mountains and who continue to support me as I reach towards others. 

If you are not sure if you want to climb into the educational world outside your classroom, I encourage you to look into the local conferences near you, take a look at what you’re doing in your classroom, and give it a try. The summit may look far away, but the climb is worth the effort, and I promise you, there’s a like-minded community of educators right beside you to help you reach the top.

Edge the Line

Edge the Line. A former student and current admired colleague left me this comment after my last blog. She says I taught her as a student and as a teacher to Edge the Line. I really like the sound of that. And as I sit here on a snowy Wednesday afternoon, I’m drawn to those words and what they mean for me as an educator.

And those words start my freshman year of college when I met the man who would indelibly form my educational philosophy. I walked into the English department offices at Lebanon Valley College and met Walter Labonte. This lover of all things educational philosophy and baseball was a former high school English teacher turned college writing professor. I spent hours in his office, chatting about his time in the classroom, my excitement and fears of becoming a real-life teacher, and the ever-present friendly rivalry of his Boston Red Sox and my Bronx Bombers.  He taught me the importance of what empathy and compassion can do in a classroom, how revision and second chances create life-long relationships, and how a teacher must work as a facilitator to instill discovery and a love of learning in students. He taught me at every turn to take the chance, take the road less traveled, edge the line of what teachers were doing today and push myself to try things that felt right to try even if nobody else was doing it.

All this I learned between 1994 and 1998.  

That was eons ago.  

Flash forward 21 years. Two weeks ago, I attended the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference in Hershey for my second time. I attended sessions about hyperdocs and edtech tools and educational philosophies that are up-and-coming, sessions given by phenomenal educators from across the state of Pennsylvania. I had the priviledge of being one of those presentors, and I spoke about copyright in the digital age and the virtual co-op program at Grove City College run by Dr. Samantha Fecich. The words and ideas flying through this conference revolved around the concepts of growth mindset, empathy, discovery learning, and so much more! But the phrase I heard that stopped me in my tracks was this: The teacher is the facilitator of learning.  

I lost Walter a few years ago.  He mentored me far beyond the few years I knew him as a professor. He was my first connection to what is now an immense PLN, and sometimes I wish he was still here for me to ask questions or bounce crazy ideas off of, and yet, at that conference, there he was. Something I’ve been holding as part of my educational philosophy for 21 years, something I rarely heard outside of our conversations was out there for all to hear.  IS out there - and thriving as educators all over the state, this country, and the world do what he instilled in me those many years ago. We do what we do to make learning accessible to our students, and the best of us do that by constantly looking at ways to attack problems and push our students to their limits and beyond. We facilitate learning and by doing so we constantly Edge the Line.

I look back on my years in education and know that I have spent my career on that Line. It is a place that allows me to try the impossible and hope for the best. It gets me frowned at and high-fived. It gets me a tsk-tsk and an atta girl. It gets me a raised eyebrow and huge smile. And that Line keeps me exactly where I need to be. At the place Walter knew I would stand strong. At the Edge of the best educational practices out there. And as sometimes terrifying as the changes and ideas that are flying at teachers every day may be, for my students and myself, I will never look back.  I will stand on that Edge and keep pushing that Line.