Tinkerings

For those who follow me on Twitter and Facebook, you know I had quite an experience today trying to get my car to the Cadillac dealer 8 miles from our hotel.  It took me 3 hours to get there and back.  I decided then that there was not enough money in the federal repository to pay me to live in the DC area.  I know, I know, I’ve just offended a few friends who love it here, but rush hour on the highway, on the streets, and on the metro is not the way to win people over and get them to move here.

The metro ride back seemed to take forever. For about half the trip, we were packed into the train cars like so many sardines packed side by side in a tin can.  There are few smells that can turn one’s stomach faster than the smell of a metro car during rush hour with all those arms held high trying to hold onto railings and stop ourselves from falling into one another.

On an ordinary day, I would have been upset by it all.  I would have spent the day frowning, getting upset with people stepping on me and bumping into me.  I was quite put out by the whole “take the car to the dealer” thing anyway.

But today was not an ordinary day.  Today I was wearing my Discovery DEN shirt.  Today I was a brand, not a person.  Today I smiled.  I offered people more room if I could afford it.  I told them it was okay if they stepped on my foot (after all, I have another one).  I spoke politely to people.  I even hummed a little on the train (OK, I was humming the most depressing song I know, but humming is still good, right?).

Why did I act differently?  The power of a brand.  Today, I was a representative of something I love…the Discovery Educator Network.  Today, I was the only face these people might ever associate with our group.  Today I was the Network.

And it made a difference.

The question I am left with is this: What brand will I be when I step back into the classroom?  Will I care enough about my own brand to act appropriately every day?  I don’t have an answer to that question yet.  I just know that today felt good.  There really is power in a brand.

We’ve been working hard today (ok, hold down the laughter).  But seriously, we had a great general session from 9 to 10.   A lot of introductions, but I won’t bore you with over 60 names I’ve now commmitted to memory just in case someone decides to build an assessment quiz in DE Streaming Quiz Builder!

I sat through the bloggers session with Steve Dembo from 10 to 12.  Great stuff coming to the blogs, at least on the dashboard side, as we move to the newest version of WordPress.  Learned to do a few things I didn’t know I could do, so I might be blogging a bit more soon on the TN DEN blog in order to learn them all.

Lunch was awesome as usual.  Great sandwiches, salads, and chips from the Whole Foods grocery store across the street from our hotel.  I am so full I may not need dinner.  Of course, need has nothing to do with it when the food is actually put on the table.

This afternoon I am attending 2 of the 3 sessions available.  I learned a lot from Steve Dembo (again) related to Media Share.  It has sort of been on the back burner of my to-do list for a while.  I am looking forward to uploading resources for the teachers at my school.  You can also embed videos, presentations, and more so that people who look at the asset can actually see what it is before downloading it.  As we start to use Media Share more, look for updates on the TN DEN blog.

Right now I am sitting in a session on Wufoo.  Wufoo is a great site for creating online forms.  Lots of cute bells and whistles.  Discovery provides this for the LCs as a courtesy for our use.  However, I have to say I am very comfortable using Google Docs to do the same thing, so I don’t think I’ll be getting on this bandwagon anytime soon.

Since Teryl is actually helping to present the session on Google Docs (and since we use these with our LC already), I am taking my car to a local dealer to get the air conditioning fixed.  I hope to be back before the unveiling of a new sneak peek in DE Streaming.  Then, tonight it is dinner and fun times.

Learning a lot!

It is not quite 9 AM and the crowd is growing here at 1 Discovery Place.  Our sessions begin at 9.  We have a general session for about an hour, then we break out into our respective roles on the Leadership Councils.  I have a 2 hour session on using the blogs effectively.  After that, lunch!

This afternoon consists of 3 breakout sessions that we will rotate through.  After a short break, we all head out to an undisclosed location for dinner.

I turned in rather early last night since I’m just getting over the head cold that attacked me at TAMS in Sevierville.  I’ve been through the watery eyes and runny nose day, the fever is attacking me day, and am now on the coughing my head off at night day.  I won’t even try to describe what it is like to blow my nose right now.  You’ve seen the movie, “The Blob,” right?

I’ve had a couple of cups of real coffee and have gone to the decaf stuff before the shakes set in.  I’ve had my everything bagel and fruit.  I’m good to go for a little while before the chocolate chip cookies are put out for snack time.  (I will try to be good, but I can’t make any promises).

I’m really pumped to be here.  Out of all the people who are part of my Personal Learning Network (PLN), the people from the DEN are the best.  They are here because they want to make a difference in the lives of teachers (who, in turn, make a difference in the lives of students).  They are here because they love to share what they know (and some of what they think they know).  They are here because they love to laugh (we will do a lot of that this week).  And they are here because Discovery is here for them.

Relationships are a two-way street always.  In a marriage, one partner can’t do all the work to keep it together.  In parenting, the kids have to participate, too.  In teaching, it is a give and take between teacher and student, or it isn’t anything at all.

Discovery knows this rule.  They are here to build relationships.  And we are the welcome recipients of their overtures to teachers.  If we can share just a little bit of that with the teachers we work with in our schools, our districts, and our states, then the circle will be complete.

Have a great day.