To Spain and Back Again

About 1 year ago I sat in my old high school auditorium with every teacher and administrator in my county half listening and half checking my email on my phone. Honestly I don't remember much from the speeches- a Harry Potter story and a motivating speech from the teacher of the year I think. One thing I remember clearly though, my superintendent said he had been at a global event and thought our teachers should be showing at events like this. I was about to return to my email when he mentioned a trip to Barcelona Spain for the Microsoft Global Forum this year. At that moment I leaned over to my principal and said, "I want to do that!"

After quite a journey, with lots of ups and downs, I found myself just days away from flying out across the ocean to the Microsoft Global Forum.  Naturally I had pretty high expectations of deep meaningful conversations, seeing incredible new products and forging relationships that would challenge me. And even though all of those things did happen it was completely different than I expected and taught me a few things I least expected. Some of them it's taken me this whole month to really wrap my head around. So instead of the obvious here's a few things I brought back with me from Spain.

 1. Don't limit your friend list.
When I left for Barcelona I was pretty sure the US team would be the only people I would hang out with outside of the work sessions. Not because I didn't think the other educators would be mean or boring, I just didn't really see how we would have much in common and it seemed natural to me that we would sort of stick together. I couldn't have been more wrong. I had a great time with the US team, don't get me wrong- I was just surprised how much fun I had outside of the conference with teachers from around the globe. It didn't seem to matter that we were from different parts of the world or taught different subjects- we are educators and still face the same struggles and frustrations.
When I got back, I couldn't help but wonder what teachers, even in my own building, had I been avoiding because of some preconceived idea that we wouldn't have much in common. I've been trying hard to break out of my shell and reach out to teachers that, in the past, I may have just waved to in the hall and walked right passed, and I have been surprised at who I've found.

2. Sometimes it's good to go it alone.
In all honesty, I was pretty nervous going across the ocean basically all alone. Every other conference I've attended was with a group, it always gave me someone to talk to right after I heard a new exciting idea and I loved it. By attending sessions alone though, I realized I had time to think about the information on my own for a while first, without anyone else influencing my opinion or thoughts. What made the global forum even more exciting was that once I wrapped my head around it, I had hundreds of educators from around the world to spin that opinion on its head again! Had I been with teachers from my district, I probably wouldn't have pushed out of my comfort zone and would have never considered the other perspectives.


3.  There's hope for education.
Teaching is hard. A lot of days it feels like you are all alone and no ones got your back. After being at the Global Forum I realized just how many of us are in the same boat, facing the same challenges. Not only did I meet teachers who encouraged me but I realized how many people outside of education are investing in education. I had a chance to meet representatives from companies who also believe in educators and want to give us tools to be successful and to help us reach more students. Not only is Microsoft making a stand for educators, but companies like Corinth, are also pushing forward in educational technology and making it accessible to educators and students. It might not always make me feel better when I have a stack of papers to grade, parents to email and more meetings than my calendar can handle. But when I step back and look at the big picture, it is encouraging to know that there are non-educators out there trying to help. Trying to improve. Trying to help us and our students thrive.

The Microsoft Expert Educator program was an experience like nothing I have ever had. Not only did I get to see cutting edge educational technology from Microsoft and other companies, meet incredible teachers from around the world but I gained a whole new perspective on what we, as a whole, are capable of if we work together.

What's in a name?

So it turns out for me, the hardest part of creating a blog is coming up with a name. There's a lot of advice out there about the topic and just as many viewpoints. Some advise creating a unique name, a new word totally all my own. Others told me to create a logo before creating a name and some even suggest just flipping to a random page in a book to find good words to use. Some advice I took, some I didn't.

I landed on Out of the Foxhole for a few reasons. I liked the idea of using my last name and kept coming back to the idea of a foxhole, which by definition is a defensive hiding place meant to protect you from an enemy. A lot of teachers tend to look at their classrooms like that, a foxhole where they can hide from people who might critize them or try to tell them a different way of doing things. Teachers are often fiercely defensive of their clasroom and students and feel they have to protect it. As a proponent of 21st century learning, I hope to inspire teachers to come out of their foxholes and be open to new ideas and ways of thinking about education.

The idea of coming out of a foxhole can be pretty scary- it was for me. You never know exactly what's out there, who's going to try to shoot you down or who's going to support you. And it's something you can only find out by climbing out of the foxhole. It took multiple administators and fellow teachers to encourage me to do just that and I am so glad they did. I've taken my share of fire along the way, and I didn't always handle it with the most grace, but every step was worth it.

My hope is that through this blog, I can embolden teachers to take that step out of the foxhole and see what's out there. Education is rapidly changing and we need teachers to be bold and couragous. Also, that those of us already pushing the boundaries will reach out to other teachers who may need someone to encourage and inspire them. Otherwise, teachers will stay hunkered down in their foxholes and miss out on this incredibly exciting adventure of teaching.

Check back in frequently for stories and thoughts from Out of the Foxhole!