I'm late again, but I'm still up so it counts for today

Today I wanted to post something from all this Twitter crap that I've been writing and working on, but I wrote it in Word and the formatting is giving me such fits that I absolutely will not post it here. I'll be giving everyone who attends my session on Twitter for Teachers the link to a Google Doc which will serve as a resource when they leave. It's a ridiculously long and dense handout, which is why I'm going to tweet the link out to those who are following me. Only those interested will seek it out and use it. And that's how I want it to be.

Today I worked with the OWP LSRI VI research team. It's super weird for me to write, but I'll be leading the professional development. We worked from 9:00-4:30, took a break until 6:00, when we had dinner and continued our conversation. It was a completely exhausting day. At 4:30 I came home to read and watch soccer. I couldn't nap, because if I did I would have slept for five hours.

It was an amazing time for work with some wonderfully smart and nice people. Linda Friedrich from the NWP office came to talk us through this whole thing, and her assistance will prove to be invaluable, I'm sure. A new book which she just coauthored has come out, How Teachers Become Leaders, and she shared it with us. It was amazing getting to pick her brain as we sat at the same table and shared donuts and thoughts on research. I'm so blessed.

Two things stand out to me as impressive:

(1) We somehow gel. Even though that's the first time this entire team has been together, although we've worked in some capacity with one another, we get along really well. There were very fast introductions all around, and then we got to work. We weren't scared to disagree with one another, or to ask tough questions. I wasn't scared to ask questions that I thought might be dumb--and that's a pretty good indicator of the acceptance and climate in the room. We laughed at goofy jokes together. We talked about Twitter and Facebook--and more importantly, internet privacy and transparency. It was a great time.

(2) I was the only "dude" on the team, and I hope to remedy that. Also, I feel woefully undereducated sitting at a table with three Ph.D.s and a teacher who has been at it for more than twenty years. I'm going into my fifth year, and I just finished my Masters. Rarely, if ever, have I found myself in a majority when it comes to education situations. I'm starting to really know and understand how prevalent it is in my thinking and awareness, and I'm really wishing that I could be part of a majority at some point. I had a great time learning from these wonderful professionals, and working with them was challenging in a positive way. It would just be nice to have some other dudes around.