I know I just did one of these last week, but there are a lot of teacher-y/education things going on lately (shocking, right?).

• Kids Say The Darndest Things

  Part of why I love this job so much is because I spend most of my day laughing at my children. And I say that in the most loving way. Last week, one of my kiddos was opening up his packaged cheeseburger, which had just come out of the oven. Naturally, there was a bit of condensation on the bun.

Student: “This is gross – is it wet?”

Me: “No, no. It’s just a little moist.”

Student: “Moist is bad.”

Me: “No it’s not. You can still eat it.”

Student: “Is moist good for you?”

They are just so stinkin’ cute. I can’t handle it.

• Progress, Progress, Progress!

  The sensory-seeking, super challenging student I spoke of last week is not only sitting through his class blocks, but he’s also showing us that he’s grasping the material in class. No day is perfect. And it takes every ounce of our energy to ensure that he is fully engaged, constantly reinforced, and given feedback appropriately. But things like this give me hope that we are moving forward, each and every day.

I’m so grateful to have incredible educators and families to collaborate with. When collaboration happens, we see this kind of success with our students.

• Teachers Gotta Learn

  One of the things I love most about Rocketship is the 300+ hours of professional development we get each year. But, in addition to that, we are encouraged to seek out other opportunities as well. I am fortunate to have discovered Twitter (thank you, Arjun!). Twitter, in itself, provides me with some of the best professional development, resources, and opportunities to connect with teachers everywhere.

  

  But it also allows me to find out about incredible learning opportunities. Through Twitter, I was able to find out about a conference in the Bay Area and I found out that TEMPLE GRANDIN was speaking at it. Holy cow. This lady’s like my idol. She has changed the lives of SO MANY in the autism community. And I am so inspired by her work and perseverance. I cannot believe I get to hear her speak. I have read every single one of her books! In addition to her keynote presentation, her mother will be speaking about how to design a custom intervention program. And there will be another speaker talking about behavior solutions in and beyond the inclusive classroom. I am so lucky that I am able to take advantage of this!

  I also found out, through Twitter, about Coursera. Am I late to the party on this? Free classes? By real life instructors? I was way too eager and signed up for two courses after reading the excellent descriptions: 1) Teaching Character and Creating Positive Classrooms and 2) Think Again: How to Reason and Argue. Luckily, I found out (after I signed up) that there isn’t too much of a time commitment for either of them. I’m just really excited to be learning and connecting with other people!

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If you could register for a course online, what would you want to learn?