One Year

A year ago today- I took a picture of me in my pajamas with a cup of coffee and a sign that said the First Day of Distance Learning. 

My office set up has changed so much since this picture

It has been a HARD year for SO many reasons.  I know that we have lost so much in so many ways.  But, as I look back on this year- I have to think about the good that has come from it as well and the resilience that we have to make things happen.

So-enjoy a picture overload and a year full of memories and great things that happened!

There were lots of parades! We learned to celebrate in a different way. I went and cheered for every one of them that passed by.

I walked a LOT of miles (and lost weight in the process)

We learned how to make everyone in Bitmoji

We all enjoyed Tiger King!

We moved our Girl Scout meetings to online

Because we moved to virtual- it opened up so many more opportunities-
Such as meeting someone that works for NASA

I was able to be more involved with Girl Scouts- and even had a chance to give presentations and work with other leaders throughout the US.

I got to see ALL the panels for NTTBF

Collaborating on presentations and trying new things

Changing programming and how I meet our students and community.

We planted trees

The Brownies made donations to an animal shelter for a service project

We socially distanced decorated pumpkins

We won second place in the Irving Arts Center Christmas Tree Decorating competition

The Juniors completed their Bronze award by having a coat drive.

We got a new President on my birthday and I got to virtually make a flower arrangement during lunch

4 Destination ImagiNation teams headed to State!

We had a whole virtual campout and made lots of yummy food.

We picked up lots of trash and volunteered time with our city.

Celebrated these girls and all they accomplished remotely this year!

These Cadettes were awarded Youth Leadership Award through Keep Irving Beautiful and
Super Star Award through Irving Parks and Recreation

I know that I spent a ton of time looking at computer screens- but what happened during those moments were pretty amazing and have inspired me to continue to offer opportunities in different ways. I am SO proud of all the work that has happened this year even during a pandemic.

Summer Recap

I can't believe that tomorrow starts my 10th year at Irving ISD!  That means at the end of this year I will have been in a school system for 13 years.. and wow how times have changed in just that short amount of time!  I will be posting a blog about goals for this year this week. (I apologize now for the long post :) Just know that there are a TON of other pictures and information)

This summer
-I had a chance to attend and present at the Region 10 ATPE Convention
-I had a chance to spend almost a week in Canyon with my family and Misty
-I was able to attend the State ATPE Summit where I won Support Staff of the Year!
-I spent 3 days with my amazing Podstock Family
-I was able to attend the Destination ImagiNation Ignite conference and met some awesome new people.
Since I have been a terrible blogger this summer.. I am going to give my fave 3 from each event!

Region 10 ATPE Convention:

1. Had a chance to hang out with some of the best people!

2. Learned about the changes that are happening in ATPE

3. Had a chance to present (and even did an okay job even though my computer crashed that morning!)

Canyon with Misty- I can't even begin to think of my top 3! If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you can find my hundreds of pictures there :)

ATPE Summit 2014

1. Had a chance to sit in and vote on what I wanted our ATPE lobbyist to work on this next year in the House of Delegates.

2. Was reminded again how important it is to be a part of an organization (and ATPE is AMAZING!)

3. Won Support Staff of the Year.. and had a chance to catch up with my best friend Lesley!

Podstock 2014

This year the theme for Podstock was Super Heroes.  So, I transformed into the Busy Bee (are you surprised?)  Podstock this yeas was very different for myself.  I am a Podstock Stalker (I often call myself a Podstalker)  It was amazing as always.  For myself.. I felt a little out of place (NO.. this is not a bad thing what so ever!) There were so many amazing people there.. and they were all making their own amazing Podstock memories.  It took me a long time to reflect on this.  I read the Twitter feed, Facebook feed, and all the blog posts and realize that although it was different for me other newbie Podstockers were seeing the greatness of the connections!

1. LOVE seeing all my friends old and new.. I mean my FAMILY!  Podstock is where I am rejuvenated!

2. Great extra events- I LOVED the Pinewood Derby (and of course I loved the Gift Exchange and Photowalk) and our new Scavenger Hunt!

3. Not going to lie.. my costume sort of rocked :)

Destination ImagiNation Ignite Conference

I have been a Destination ImagiNation Team Manager for 6 years now (at least.. I think 6) and this year I was able to attend a one day conference.

1. Able to connect with people from around the world! It was such a global conference!

2. Learned some new ideas to use this next year for our own DI teams at Elliott

3. Had a great evening with a new friend Peter

This summer I also had a chance to work for SMU at various technology camps.  It was a busy summer (but I don't think I would know how to spend my time if I wasn't busy!)  

What was your favorite part of your summer?

Destination ImagiNation

Myself and Megan (partners in crime)

For the past 3 years I have had the AWESOME opportunity to be a Destination ImagiNation Team Manager.  What better way to spend your time working with kids working on crazy ideas, watching them grow, and then spending a day with crazy cool people wearing crazy cool hats!

A few years ago my principal approached the staff asking for team managers of Destination ImagiNation.  I of course volunteered (surprise, surprise) But I was SO glad that I did! What is Destination ImagInation?

"Welcome to Destination ImagiNation!

Destination ImagiNation, Inc. is an extraordinary non-profit organization that provides educational programs for students to learn and experience creativity, teamwork and problem solving. Every year, we reach 125,000 students across the U.S. and in more than 30 countries. Destination ImagiNation, our core program, is an educational program in which student teams solve open-ended Challenges and present their solutions at Tournaments. Teams are tested to think on their feet, work together and devise original solutions that satisfy the requirements of the Challenges. Participants gain more than just basic knowledge and skills—they learn to unleash their imaginations and take unique approaches to problem solving. To read more about Destination ImagiNation"

Information from Destination ImagiNation Website.

The school district that I am has a great program with lots of supports.  This year there were so many things that our district offered to get our teams ready.  A DI team presents a Team Challenge that they work on for more than 3 months (usually) and the day of competition has an Instant Challenge.  

This year Audra (an AWESOME advocate for all kiddos) offered a Instant Challenge Workshop for teachers.  During this time she put out materials for Team Managers so we could work on Instant Challenges with our teams.  

How great was this! So Organized and so many great materials!  Audra even had an AWESOME hat made out of a gift bag.  It is amazing to see all of the crazy hats that people are wearing on competition day.

While preparing for the DI tournament students learn to work together, learn to budget and so much more!  The challenge our team chose was creating a movie trailer!  During team meetings they learned how to sew, learned about different cultures, learned how to record music, learned how to build sets and of course learned that they could do it!  What is great about DI is that it is all students (now.. sometimes that doesn't mean that I didn't want to pull my own hair out)  I was able to teach them skills, but in the end it was all about the students could do.  No interference allowed!

Irving also offered an Instant Challenge Workshop this year for students to practice instant challenges.  It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning.

My team didn't place this year, but I am still so proud of them! I know they learn a ton about working together and coming up with a solution to a problem (without killing anyone) but I also learn a ton from them!  It always amazes me to see what they come up with to solve a problem.  DI gives me a chance to see students in a different way. 

DI is of course all about the students, but to be a successful DI team you need some supportive parents! I have been so lucky for 3 years now to have parents that volunteer the kiddos time (sometimes those meetings last until 9 or 10), volunteer their time (and vehicles, and sanity, and tools, and time.. and the list could go on!) and volunteer so much more!  From the bottom of my heart.. thank you to ALL of the volunteers that make DI possible!