Adventures Abound: A New Job!

I'm excited that I can officially announce my new position - Interim Director of Fine & Performing Arts for my district! Basically, this means that I am overseeing music, art, & theatre programming for 57 schools. It's a big job, but it's an exciting one as well!

Week #1

In my first week, I have really fluctuated between complete Impostor Syndrome (what am I doing here?!?) and confidence that I can, in fact, get the job done. All part for the course in a transition, I think! I'm still in the time where doing a "simple" task takes 5x as long, because I have to learn how to do it first. Throw in the fact that this position has been vacant since the beginning of the school year (although the previous director has stayed engaged in a few things to tide us over), and there is quite a backlog of work to be done. Slowly but surely, I'm trying to tackle the mountain.

Focus on What's Important

While it's easy to be overwhelmed by the tasks that need to be done, I'm also very cognizant of the fact that there are some "important, non-urgent" things that I need to make time for:

• Proactively communicating with stakeholders
• Going to schools to see what is actually happening
• Advertising & sharing the great things going on in the arts programs
• Connecting with my team in Instructional Services & Equity
• Making sure I refresh and have some semblance of work/life balance
  

Background

As I have started this week, I have been amazed at how different experiences have prepared me well for this job:

• My years as a music teacher taught me what it is like to live day-to-day in the arts world! This gives me a huge amount of empathy for the teachers I am leading.
• My time as a summer school leader, and summer camp director before that prepared me for being the one who leads, makes decisions, & sets the vision for a group of people, as well as dealing with the day-to-day realities of carrying out that vision.
• My time as an ed tech specialist showed me how important it is to work things on a systems level, rather than solving each individual school or classroom on its own. This district perspective is extremely important!

Who knew, when I was doing all of those things, that they would lead me to where I am now?

What's Happening?

One of my first big goals was to send an anonymous survey out to teachers, asking the following questions:

• What, in your opinion, are some of the greatest successes of your program?
• What are some of the greatest challenges you are facing?
• What kind of support do you hope for from the district level?
• Anything else you want me to know?

This will help me determine what I need to focus on from my teachers' point of view. The responses so far have been incredibly helpful!

I also had the chance to get out and visit a few classes last week, which was so refreshing and fun! It helps me feel more connected to what is really happening in the district.

We are CREATORS at Lafayette - drawing & painting sea creatures! Kids explained how, wherever you colored with the crayon, the paint won't stick. #artsed #bvsd pic.twitter.com/zM5YgaPXDj

— Aubrey Yeh (@Ms_A_Yeh) September 27, 2018

Amazing #musiced and #artsed work going on in #bvsd! Celebrating #dotday! We love our Dragons who are on FIRE! pic.twitter.com/OY6H8ffWxo

— Aubrey Yeh (@Ms_A_Yeh) September 27, 2018

Loved seeing the integrated nature of this artwork at Meadowlark today! Thanks for hosting us, @MLPK8Principal ! #bvsd #artsed pic.twitter.com/7mT0wRnaSS

— Aubrey Yeh (@Ms_A_Yeh) September 27, 2018

What's Next?

Thank you to everyone for continuing to follow my journey - it is an adventure, to be sure! I may be in a new role, but my passion and heart for kids & education is still the same, and I look forward to sharing new perspectives!

#GoogleEI #DEN18 Application

Here we go again...

Earlier this year, I shared about taking a risk by applying to the Google for Education Certified Innovator program, and my reflections when I was not accepted. At that point, I said that I was pretty sure I would be applying again in the future...and here I am, doing just that!

Stepping Back

Before reapplying, I really needed to take a step back and just take time away from my application. I spent so much time on it at first, and was so invested, it was hard to think about what I needed to do differently. Giving myself some space helped me think through some fresh ideas without being boxed into what I had already done.

Talking it out!

If you know me IRL, you will know that I am an external processor. I learn the most when I can talk through ideas and bounce them off of others. This summer, I started chatting with friends about a new idea for my #GoogleEI project. I received a lot of great feedback, insight, and advice which helped me reignite and refine my ideas. If you are thinking about applying...this is something I would highly recommend! Talk about your idea with friends, both near and far, and really listen to their reactions & feedback. We are #bettertogether!

Completing the Application

In some ways, this was the hardest step. I made a new video, but I struggled with the short answer questions - should I keep what I had written last time, or completely change it up? It felt almost lazy to reuse answers, but if I really liked them, should I change just for the sake of it? In the end, I ended up writing new answers for several. I then asked a few trusted friends to look at both answers & help me choose which one was stronger. In every instance, they preferred my original answers, so I went with those (slightly tweaked). I did feel good, though, about exploring other options and not just copy/pasting what I had before!

Friends & Editors

As I mentioned above, I had an amazing group of friends who looked through my application and gave me feedback every step of the way. Some of these friends I know pretty well, but others are those who I met at a conference & wanted to reach out to. This is another thing I would highly recommend - sometimes, when you are so engrossed in a project, it is hard to take a step back and look at it from an outsider's point of view! They helped me see what I was communicating unintentionally and where some gaps where in my application. Be bold with asking for help!

#JustPushSubmit

And then...the moment of truth. Time to press submit. It can be terrifying, but the worst that can happen is that you don't get accepted...and, I can attest from my previous experience, life goes on ;-)! Truly, what have you got to lose?

The Waiting Game

Here I am again - back in this waiting period. I'm actually less nervous than last time - I really, REALLY am hoping to get accepted, but if I don't, I know I'll be okay. I have lots of friends applying in this round, too, and I hope for the best for all of us! Waiting isn't always fun, but I am sitting here with a sense of accomplishment for not only completing the application, but having the courage to not make it in and try again - #failingforward. What's next? Well, hopefully we'll know in early October!

#EdCampLongmont Bites

What a great day at #EdCampLongmont! As with any conference (or unconference), there are so many takeaways, so I'm just including little bits here:

• It takes a lot to put an event like this together. I showed up at 6:45am to help set up, and there were several others already there! That is impressive for a Saturday morning!
• BreakoutEDU continues to be fun, and the conversation is shifting more to how we can use it as a creation tool for students!

• I love helping people figure out how to use Twitter professionally - it's made such a difference in my life, I'm happy to pay it forward! I also loved some of the PD Bingo going on in #svvsd, and want to steal this idea in my own district!

• I completed my first demo slam, and it wasn't quite as scary as I thought!

• Connecting with friends can be just as valuable as attending a session. I felt so encouraged by some of the one-on-one conversations which helped me gain a deeper understanding of how different districts work!

• My day ended with some awesome art teachers who were willing to share their wisdom with me! It struck me how important it is to just listen. Our teachers are amazing, and experts in their areas! We can learn so much from just listening to them. I'm so grateful for the expertise & ideas from my new friends!
• Oh yeah...I also won a Google Home. Can't go wrong with free swag! Thank you to everyone who donated!

And there you go...another great #EdCampLongmont! I have to say, providing breakfast & lunch & FREE childcare is amazing - makes it so much easier for teachers to attend. I am walking away feeling energized & excited about the great work we all do in education - what better compliment is there than that?

Stepping Up: Moderating #HackLearning!

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of moderating my very first Twitter chat! I have enjoyed Sunday morning #hacklearning chats for quite awhile, so it was a great place to jump into my first experience leading one.

Here's the thing: I love engaging with people online, but I am not usually very quick at coming up with my responses. I like to think through things, and I was just hoping that I could keep up through these 30 minutes! Pro tip: Scheduling the questions & my answers with TweetDeck was a lifesaver!

I was inspired to chat about this topic after reflecting on several years of experience working with families of ELL students in my own community. When I work with them, I am not a teacher - I come to the schools as a friend of the family, and more in a "parent" position. This has given me so much insight into the assumptions that are often made and how we can break down barriers for better communication.

So how did it go? It was a blast! Here are a few thoughts, in no particular order...

• Wow, everything goes fast. I used two columns on TweetDeck to keep up - one with all of the new stuff and one that was as much as I had gotten through.
• I know that it can be tempting to like everybody's answers, but my goal is always to dig a little deeper - asking questions to push the conversation further. It takes more time, but results in better learning (in my opinion)! I did a mix of both during the chat.
• It's amazing how many good thoughts people have - this is not a new realization, but it's awesome to be connected to a #PLN to constantly help you grow & refine your ideas!

If you get the chance to moderate a chat, I highly recommend it! It really helped me dive deeper on this topic & hear a variety of perspectives. At the same time, it helped me grow in confidence as I continue to share on social media. Thanks, @hackmylearning and the whole crew for the opportunity!

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

Something I have been thinking about lately, and trying to improve in, is telling our story. Many people have ideas about what school is like these days - some accurate, some not so much. Of course, a picture is worth a thousand words...here are a few recent ones that help tell our story!

What story are you telling?