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Today was Day 2 (and the last day) of the Innovative Learning Environments conference.  I started the day with a session on creativity and, oh my goodness, I’ve never had so much fun at a conference session in my life.  We ate a raisin, we drew abstract words and we even had a drum circle.  A DRUM CIRCLE!  I felt like a kid again and I’m feeling very creative.  I need to go home and use up that second canvas I bought.

Something else the session made me want to do was this thought experiment that I’ve been thinking about (and trying out on people) for a while.  In the session it was explained that part of creativity is the ability to have some naïveté, to remember what it’s like to see something for the first time or with new eyes.  So what I’ve been thinking about is My Perfect Day.  And what I mean is not a perfect day where you get to fly to France and have coffee near the Eiffel Tower with Oprah or something, but a perfect regular day.  If you could make your own schedule in your daily life, what would it be like?  What would you do?  What I think this makes me do is to see my plain old regular day with new eyes.  Rather than slogging through a day of to do lists of things you just wish were finished already, imagine you had the power to structure your own day.  This should be a day that you could do over and over again, full of things that you really enjoy.  So, here’s how I see my perfect regular day (at least right now)…

I would wake up early, just as the sun was coming up.  I’d lay in bed for five minutes, feeling the snuggly softness of the perfect nest of sheets and blankets I created all night, appreciating the dim light coming in through the window.  Then, I’d get up, head downstairs and brew some fresh coffee.  I’d make my oatmeal breakfast, find a book and take my coffee out to my scenic patio to read for about an hour (Did I mention I don’t live in my current apartment in this scenario?).  Then, I’d come inside, get dressed to go running, and take a run through a nearby wooded park (or maybe on the beach).  It would be a short run, 3 or 4 miles at a leisurely pace.  I wouldn’t listen to my iPod; I’d just run through nature and be quiet.  When I got home I’d stretch leisurely and then take a nice, hot shower.  By this time it would be about 9’o’clock.  I would take my laptop back out on the patio and write until lunch time.  I would write whatever I felt like writing, a mix of academic and creative work.  Then, I’d make a big salad for lunch, made from produce I had picked up from the farmer’s market that weekend.  Dan would join me for lunch on the porch and we’d chat about our morning and Dan would fill me in on the news of the day.  In the afternoon, I’d spend a couple of hours doing something creative like painting or baking or photography or creating a digital story or doing some sort of craft, or I might even do some more reading (When I have kids I imagine this will be even more fun).  Then, I’d spend a couple of hours doing chores or running errands, cleaning just one room per day, picking up just enough groceries for the night, shipping a package for Dan, or working in my little garden.  I’d get home just as Dan was finishing up work for the day and we’d decide to either make dinner together or walk to a nearby local restaurant.  We’d eat at a leisurely pace and talk about our next vacation, which would always be just around the corner.  Then, we’d take a walk around the neighborhood, holding hands, and waving hello to our friends and neighbors.  When we finished dinner or got home, there would be various things going on.  Either we’d have a recent movie waiting for us from Netflix and we’d lounge in some big comfy chairs and watch, or I’d head to my writing group at a coffee shop where we read our writing together and offer critique, or I’d head to the community center to teach a technology class to kids (blogging, anyone?).  When the evening activities were finished, it would be about 8’o’clock, Dan would head downstairs to play some games and I’d put on my pjs, make some tea, call my mom or Beth or Marcy or my sister and chat for a while before settling in to bed with my laptop to write my blog, check facebook and maybe read a bit more before setting everything aside and drifting off to sleep.  And then the next day, I’d do it all again, and I could because, you know all that writing I did in the morning?  It’s selling like hotcakes. 

I think this version is probably seasonal too… this one would be late spring/early summer.  So, tell me, what’s your perfect regular day?  Please share.  Once you start writing this out, it will be hard to stop, I promise.

This is an exercise that I’m doing for a workshop with Laurel Richardson at ICQI.  Merge writing about self and larger world.  Use a few sentences from each as a jumping off place. Okay, I will.

Primaries are starting.
A woman president would be great.  Monumental.  Or, a black man.  Monumental.
Plus, my politics.  Well, mostly.
I am sure to vote.  I watch the results intently.  It will be Barack.  I know that he will go all the way.
This is fascinating to me.  I enjoy watching the world.  I enjoy being a part.  I enjoy thinking about what would be best.  Why it would be better.  And otherwise.

Getting antsy now.  What am I doing?  Who am I?  Is this it?  I love Heritage.

I am married.  But not settled. My new life with Dan is great.  Just what I always wanted.  I am happy.  I am comfortable.  But, at work, I am bored, frustrated, unsure.  Thirty years seems like a long time.  I’m not sure I can do it.  I think about more school and it seems like the right time.  It will pay off.  In the long run.  For both of us.  It excites me and frightens me.  I apply just to see.  And I get in.  And I don’t have to pay.  The stars seem to align.  But it’s hard, leaving family, friends, job, for something frustrating, challenging, uncertain.   What to do?  Back to school?  Is this right?  Is this right?  Dad, should I?  Here I go.

Once in school, I am exhausted, reading so much, getting up at 5am, so tired, but feeling alive.  I stay up late one night, just to watch the election results.  I watch carefully.  Barack is in.  And I look around, and I realize that I am able to think about the world and pay attention to this election.  And, I am moved.

(Ugh, I don’t like this one that much.)

This is an exercise that I’m doing for a workshop with Laurel Richardson at ICQI.  Five years in the world (same five years that I just wrote about, 2003-2008) in three word sentences only.  Ready set go:

There is war.  Kids don’t know.  People die everyday.  In other countries.  Bush is president.  Makes me angry.  Unjust, this war.  Everyone knows it.  But, we stay.  Can’t leave yet.  More people die.  Mostly Iraqi civilians.  War drags on.  And on, on.  Students don’t know.  Happy in WestChester.

Lakota is strapped.  Need the levy.  Does not pass.  Does not pass.  No more busing.  Less and less.  Am I riffed?  Not this time.  I help picket.  Levy passes, finally.  Things get better.  For a time.  So many students.  Need new levy.

A tsunami hits.  Because of plates.  Under the water.  Somewhere near Thailand.  I tell students.  We learn more.  We raise money.  Try to help.  Happy in WestChester.  But somehow connected.  Fundraiser is hard.  Too many pennies.  All students counting.  Secretary is mad.  Did we help?  We sure tried.

Little boy lost.  Somewhere in Cincinnati.  Everyone looks around.  It’s a lie.  He was autistic.  Put in closet.  Left for weekend.  Didn’t make it.  How could they?  Here at home?  A little boy.  This is wrong.

Bush can go.  Primaries are starting.  I pick Hillary.  But, like Barack.  I am happy.  Change is good.

This is an exercise that I’m doing for a workshop with Laurel Richardson at ICQI.  Five years of my life in three word sentences only.  Ready set go:

I start teaching.  I am scared.  Just lost Dad.  In a fog.  Kids staring up.  Looking to me.  I stammer often.  Hope it’s okay.  What I’m teaching.  Principal evaluates me.  Things are good.  I do well.  Begin graduate school.  In my first year.  Can’t sit still.  Thinking of Dad.  Feeling very sad.  Keeping very busy.  The year ends.  Who was I?  Hard to remember.  Was I good?  I don’t know.

Heritage is calling.  I switch schools.  Teach new grade.  And new subject.  Feel at home.  Students are difficult.  Parent is angry.  Yells at me.  I become anxious.  I can’t sleep.  Have terrible dreams.  Zach scares me.  Teachers help me.  Miss dad dearly.  Visit the doctor.  “Anxiety,” he says.  “No pills please.”  Pills won’t help.  The year ends.  Finish graduate school (The first time.).  I feel better.

Third year begins.  Students are different.  It feels pleasant.  Old anxiety hangs.  But nightmares disappear.  No more panic.  Maybe I know.  Maybe I’m good.

Fourth and Fifth.  Getting antsy now.  What am I doing?  Who am I?  Is this it?  I love Heritage.  I am married.  But not settled.  What to do?  Back to school?  Is this right?  Is this right?  Dad, should I?  Here I go.

Today, I worked on my presentations.  I will be giving two in the next two days.  I was feeling strangely calm about the whole thing earlier, but right now, I am feeling a little tense and I have a headache.  I don’t know why I’m getting anxious, I am actually pretty excited to share what I’ve been working on.  My body just needs to listen to my head and relax.  This is a good thing though, giving presentations, and here are the two different conferences where I will be sharing:

Digital Media in a Social World

Miami University’s Graduate Student Conference on Social Justice

I taught a class tonight and decided to go to the library for awhile afterward.  On my way, I realized that I don’t venture out onto campus at night much.  They have white lights all around mirror lake and the library was looking very nice surrounded by the glassy snow.

Thompson Library

I better get to work.  I need to pick Dan up from the airport at 11 tonight.  Wish me luck tomorrow!

Yesterday morning I went to the eTech conference.  I got to listen to the keynote and attend a few sessions.  Then, I taught another lecture for my middle school almost-teachers!   I felt a bit rushed, but was pretty happy with how it turned out.  I was exhausted when I got home and it was only compounded by the fact that, today, I had to present at eTech.

See my presenter ribbon?

I started my morning with my last Digital Tools class, which wasn’t as smooth as I’d like, but it wasn’t terrible either.  It was my last day with this group and next week, I’ll have new students.  Do over!  I like do overs.  Anyway, after that, I came home for lunch and then headed back to eTech.  I was able to attend a session before it was time to present.  I was nervous, but tried to calm myself down.  It’s just one little presentation in the grand scheme of life, right?  I presented on blogs and their implications for learning and identity, especially for girls.  I was kind of worried about presenting this because I thought it might not be “practical” enough for people.  So, I sort of prefaced my talk by saying that I was hoping to share research and have a conversation.  There were lots of presentations at eTech about “how to” use blogs in the classroom, and mine was much more… now that we’re using blogs, what’s happening?  What do we need to pay attention to?  I felt like the presentation got off to a slow start, but part way through, people started to participate and really ask some interesting questions.  We ended up having a good conversation about the blending of public and private and the types of stories girls/women are telling the world about themselves on blogs.  By the end, I felt totally comfortable and really glad that I was able to share my research and ideas.  It was neat!  AND THEN, it just so happened that this big wig tech lady at Ohio State was in the audience and she stayed a bit to talk and I saw her name tag and told her that I knew who she was and she complimented my presentation and said that we should talk sometime on campus. 

This morning, I woke up early to read.  Then, I got ready to go Bergamo, my first academic conference where I would be presenting my own work.  I was pretty calm most of the morning.  It wasn’t until I was on my way there that I started to get nervous.  I tried to just drive, to look at the fall leaves, to remind myself that I should not spend hours worrying about a measly 20 minutes that would be over before I knew it, but you know, it’s hard to do.  When I got to the Bergamo Conference Center, I was delighted to find a small Catholic retreat in a wooded area.  Walking in reminded me of being in St. Joe’s church basement, and I sort of felt at home. It was like this little crazy Catholic summer camp.

Bergamo

I checked in and then went to the session before mine to listen and talk.  It was small (the first session of the conference), but the atmosphere was very different than the other conferences I had attended.  People actually talked to each other.  The presenter had a dialogue with us and I felt really relaxed.  At the beginning, the presenter asked where I was from and I said, Ohio State, and he asked who I was studying under and I said, Patti Lather.  From my left I heard a slightly gasped, “wow.”  I guess I’m still getting used to the fact that she is such a big name in this field.

When I got to my session, I was feeling relatively calm, but for some reason any time I have to present information (especially my own), I start to play this tape in my head.  And the tape says, “This is not interesting to anyone.  You don’t know what you are talking about.  You used that term incorrectly.  Etc, etc.”  So, what happens then, is that I start to talk really fast and I forget to make some of my points.  It’s the eyes on me.  I don’t know why, but it is.  Once I was finished “presenting” though, people asked all sorts of helpful and curious questions about my blogging work and a good discussion was stimulated.  That made me feel really good.  There was another presenter with me and he presented this idea that teaching should be more improvisational and he likened it to jazz improvisation.  It was really interesting.  I like that conference!  I had a good time having nerdy discussions about education!

Next year, I plan to get a room at the Catholic retreat and stay the whole weekend, but this year, I am home in my bed, preparing for Marcy’s wedding.  Tomorrow I leave for Canton for the rehearsal dinner and I am very much looking forward to it!

ELTU conference planning

Today was the unconference and it was really neat.  When we all got there, we planned the sessions collaboratively and then moved around flexibly.  It was great to share and to hear others’ ideas.  I learned about a bunch of new open source software that I can’t wait to check out!  See the website link above for a list on the wiki.

After the conference, Dan and I headed down to our old home sweet home, Cincinnati (or the northern suburbs)!  We got there and chatted at the table with Ma and Pa Angelone and then headed to The Cone!  I’m carb loading in preparation for the marathon, which basically means I’ll eat nothing but crap for the next two days.  And after ice cream, we played some Wii Bowling, so it all evened out.

Joyce and Pete

The final sessions yesterday went well.  In the very last one for the day, I got to listen to a PhD candidate talk about his dissertation.  He studied the ways that his student used blogs in his classroom.  Needless to say, I loved it. I’m kind of sad the conference is over because I feel like I learned so much, but I’m also very tired and ready to be in my home that is full of wonderful wireless Internet.

This morning, I woke up early to run 12 miles in the San Diego sunshine.  I ran along the boardwalk again down to the USS Midway where there’s a HUGE statue of the Navy guy kissing the nurse from WWII.  I only came up to the nurse’s calf, it was so big.  Then, I ran the other way down to the swanky Hilton and back again.  It was a perfect day.  High 60s, sunny, no clouds and no wind. I hear it’s nice at home too and that makes me happy!

Our flight is currently delayed 40 minutes, so I’m sitting in the San Diego airport using their free wireless (which every place should have) and hoping that there won’t be any more delays.  If all goes as planned, I’ll be home by midnight.

The trolley outside of the hotel and convention center.

Yesterday was busy.  I went to sessions from 8:15am-6:05pm.  The first one I went to was a session on “digital spaces” and, man, this one guy really loved the iPhone and it’s possibilities for education.  He talked about it so enthusiastically and told us about so many new apps that I couldn’t contain myself and had to pull mine out to start downloading some right then and there!  Then, I went to a session on dilemmas in qualitative research.  I mostly went because my professor was presenting again.  It was a good session.  After that, I went to one on women in higher education and there was a really interesting paper on how women turn on each other in higher education and how we need to learn to be more supportive of each other.  For example, one study showed that, if not blinded, women will evaluate other women more harshly than men.  I thought that was very interesting and I believe it too.  Why are we so hard on each other?  Well, she said it is because we all grew up in a sexist society, so we all (not just men) sort of “learn” that women are weaker, dumber, etc.  I shared with them my drteacher.com site because it’s basically about women in higher education supporting each other and I hope to get some good responses! Then, I went to another session on how women balance grad school and life.  This was very interesting and I shared my website again.  It was nice to hear others’ experiences and it made me feel like maybe I can really do this.  Lastly, I attended a session on Gifted Education since I thought I might learn something useful for my work at ODE.  It was okay, but basically, what they were saying was that the field of gifted education is fractured and they need to define what gifted education is. Dude, get on it.

After all of those sessions, Jason and his fiancee, Brie, picked me up for a nice dinner in La Jolla, which is a fancy schmancy part of San Diego.  We ate at a nice restaurant on the water and had good conversation and an awesome view of the sunset.

Jason and Brie

After they dropped me off at my hotel, I was exhausted.  I went to bed early with the plans of getting up early to have a nice breakfast at a nearby diner.  I found a really cute one using Yelp on my iPhone!  I had a pumpkin waffle and a cup of fruit.

Cafe 222

It is now the last day of the conference and things are really winding down.  There is not much going on in the way of sessions, so I decided to go to one on grassroots activism on college campuses.  It was really interesting and I realized that my drteacher.com site is a form of grasroots activism meant to help more women complete a PhD in Education.  My mind was blown (as it has been many times this week).

I have a few more sessions to attend (one on science education, one teaching online and one on teacher power and social media) and by 4 everything should be wrapped up.  I hope to take in a few touristy sites tonight before I leave tomorrow!  I will try to update later on these last sessions, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to get to my special corner of free Internet, so we’ll see.  I know that’s just what you all want to hear about.