Keep the Fire Burning

I have a peace, y’all.

This school year was outstanding. My students made some amazing extra curricular projects. We had fun and relivant lessons. My classroom dipped it’s toes into gamificiation and it rocked. My peers nominated me as teacher of the year for our school. I found a powerful weekly professional learning network on twitter (#XPLAP Tuesday nights at 10pm eastern).  I also got to try my hand at speaking at conferences, which was unforgettable.

So...how do you top it?

Well, that is where the peace comes in. You see, right now I am standing at the edge of uncertainty. My home is on sale, my wife and I have resigned, and some time in the next two months we will move ourselves to Ohio. After 12 years of becoming who we are; growing, learning, and meeting a lot of great people, it is time to go home. For all that is yet to be revealed, there is one thing I know. I can not stop now.

I have a job with the Forest Hills School District in Cincinnati and I can not give up on the momentum. I have aspirations of a fully gamified science class built on students being given a classification based on what kind of gamer that they are. I get one group of math, and you can bet it is going to be one piratey group. I want to go all, or mostly google classroom. I am already brainstorming a couple of project ideas based on the work of Kevin Honeycutt (If you are an educator and you don’t know him, look him up). I am hoping to get back into being involved with the Extra Life charity and having another evening of gaming for children’s cancer research. I have every intention to collaborate both in and outside of my building. I am going to seek out opportunities to speak, and remain a regular with my weekly twitter chat folks. The fire is burning and I don’t want to stop.

Personally, I get see my Mom and Dad. My kids get both sets of grandparents. My wife and I get a little bit of a reset. For the things I don’t know, there is a lot that I do. For this reason, I have a peace, y’all.