I Am Poem

Today's post joins two things that I am passionate about: poetry and reflection.  I love writing poetry because it is very expressive and creative.  And reflection is such a valuable tool that we should really be taking more advantage of.  We learn so much through reflection.  So today I am sharing an I Am Poem, which is a reflection tool I picked up at a leadership conference.  Here's how it works:

1st Stanza
1. I am (two special qualities about yourself)
2. I wonder (something you are actually curious about)
3. I hear (sounds you enjoy)
4. I see (your favorite sights)
5. I want (an actual desire)
6. I am (repeat the first line of the poem)

2nd Stanza
1. I imagine (a place or situation other than here)
2. I feel (feeling you experience in your daily living)
3. I touch (or influence someone or something)
4. I worry (something that concerns you)
5. I cry (something that makes you sad)
6. I am (repeat the first line of the poem)

3rd Stanza
1. I understand (something you know is true)
2. I say (something you believe in)
3. I dream (something you hope for)
4. I try (something you really make an effort to do)
5. I hope (something you actually hope for)
6. I am (repeat the first line of the poem)

And here is my version:

I am creative and unique

I wonder if we’ll ever find life in outer space

I hear the trains at night

I see a baseball game

I want to make a difference in the world

I am creative and unique

I imagine a world with Woolly Mammoths

I feel anxious

I influence the students I work with

I worry that I will never find true love

I cry because people don’t want to get to know the real me

I am creative and unique

I understand that everyone is different

I say you should always be trying to make yourself better

I dream about writing a best selling book

I try to make the world a better place than how I found it

I hope that I will be remembered as a good person

I am creative and unique

I invite all of you to write your own I Am Poem and share it with your friends.

Cool Job Titles I Wish I Had

Recently I have come across some cool sounding job titles that I think would be awesome to hold.  Now I'm not saying I actually want the jobs that come with these titles, but it would be fun to introduce yourself as such.  Not that my title, Strategic Learning Specialist, is boring by any means, but these just sound so much cooler.

Deception Specialist - From what I can tell this is basically a magician, but Deception Specialist has a much better ring to it.

Penguinologist - I'm guessing this is someone who knows a lot about penguins.  While I have very little interest in actually studying penguins for a living, how awesome would it be to introduce yourself as a Penguinologist?!  I'm assuming you don't meet one of those very often.

Smarties Expert - This title actually refers to the candy, but still.

Technical Evangelist - I would assume you could 'Evangelist' to just about any job title and make it sound cooler.

Imagineer - Most of you have probably heard this one before because Disney has been using it for decades.  I would actually legitimately like to hold this position.

Chief Happiness Officer - I can't make this stuff up.  This job actually exists!  I don't know what exactly a Chief Happiness Officer does, but I wouldn't mind having it on a business card.

Paper Airplane Engineer - I saw this one on Conan.  The guy designs paper airplanes for a living!  Who knew this even existed!  Again, I wouldn't actually want this job, I just want to be able to introduce myself as one.

Director of Storytelling - Once again, I'm not exactly sure what the job responsibilities of a Director of Storytelling are, but I can sure can tell a story.  I don't even know how to find a job like this.

Well, there you have it, some awesome job titles.  How does yours rank?  Have you heard of some others that should be on this list?  If so, let me know by leaving a comment.

Life's Simple Pleasures

We all have those simple pleasures that make us smile no matter what.  But how many of us actually seek them out to make our bad days good and our good days better?  I try to.  My simple pleasure is root beer.  It just makes me feel good.  I like to try new varieties and keep track of what I've tasted.  This is my running tally of root beers tested.

This is really a paltry number of root beer varieties.  I want to continue to find new types to try.  So for those of you who live outside of Arizona, if you see a root beer brand that I might not be able to find locally, feel free to send it to me.  I would greatly appreciate it.  You see, the thing about simple pleasures is that they don't bring you any pleasure if you don't take advantage of them.  So find yours, and start smiling more.

TED Talk Commentary

Recently, TED and PBS collaborated on a special featuring talks regarding education in our country.  I've spent the past few days watching the talks.  You can find them all here:
TED Talks Education

I do have a few thoughts, however, on what I heard.  First let me say, that most of the speakers have hit the nail on the head.  We are still using an antiquated education system that puts too much emphasis on passing standardized tests and not enough emphasis on learning.  In order to fix this system, it's not about devoting more money or reducing class sizes.  It's about revamping how we teach.  It's about instilling curiosity in our students and making the information rigorous and relevant.  And it's about caring about the student, not the number he or she produces on the test.

And speaking of standardized tests, how do the tests measure what students learn?  Seriously, I'm asking.  How do they?  With so much emphasis placed on performing well on standardized testing, how can we expect teachers to be creative and inspiring?  And why do we think teachers will want to stay in this profession when they don't have the freedom to teach more effectively?  The answer is, we can't.  Which is why we need a change.

Many of the speakers, including Rita Pierson, Pearl Arredondo, and Geoffrey Canada, talked about caring for the student as a person.  They each brought up instances of inspiring positive thinking and showing your belief in the student.  How do we train our teachers to be better at that?  As a former teacher I can tell you there was a lot of talk about it, but no training as to how to do it.  Maybe there should be.

And Ramsey Musallam talked about instilling curiosity in our students and using that to inspire our teaching. Walt Disney listed Curiosity as the most important of his Four C's.  Curiosity leads to questions, which lead to learning.  We should be encouraging students to take ownership of their own learning, not forcing them to learn what we want when we want.  We should be giving students the skills they need to be lifelong learners.  And that begins by encouraging curiosity.

There was a lot of good discussion brought up in these talks.  And it is discussion that needs to happen if we expect the state of education to get any better.  But discussion alone isn't going to get us anywhere.  Many of the speakers are implementing the changes they discuss on the small scale, but how can we start implementing these changes on a larger scale?  How can we start to abandon our ancient philosophy of education and move into a new, more effective way of thinking in regards to educating our future generations?  I wish I had the answer, but discussion is the start.  I applaud, better yet, I high five, TED and PBS and all the speakers for initiating the conversation.  And I encourage all of you to watch the talks, share them, and keep the discussion going.  I also encourage you to leave comments here regarding anything I may have said.  Thank you and I hope you enjoyed reading.

Awe-Inspiring Moments of Supreme Coolness

In my recent travels to Washington D.C. I saw many cool sights.  I was able to see the Capitol Building from my hotel room, said hello to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., and knocked on the White House door (not really, but I did walk by).  But perhaps the coolest thing I saw during the whole trip was at the Air and Space Museum.

While perusing the many galleries in the museum, I saw the Spirit of St. Louis, the Apollo 11 Command Module, some sort of spy plane, and many other cool air and space marvels.  But it wasn't until I ventured into the Wright Brothers exhibit that my mind was completely blown.  The exhibit had a lot of history about the entire Wright family, detailing their life in Dayton and work with bicycles.

I learned all about their experiments with flight and how wing warping was the key to sustained powered flight.  And in the middle of the exhibit hall was what I thought was a replica of the plane they flew in Kitty Hawk in 1903.

I say thought because it turns out this was no replica.  This was in fact the actual plane that the Wright Brothers flew in 1903!  Let me repeat that.  This was the actual plane that the Wright Brothers flew in 1903! Once I read that I stood in awe for a few minutes taking it all in.  I was standing in the presence of the first airplane.  There are some things that are so awe-inspiring and supremely cool that you can't help being blown away.  This is one of them.  It's the Wright Brothers' plane!!!!!  In terms of historical significance, few things can compare to this.  And here I was standing next to it!

This is one of the coolest things I've ever seen.  I have a feeling I won't be able to stop talking about it for a while.  The actual plane the Wright Brothers flew in 1903!!!  Here are some more pictures for you to enjoy.  But I will admit, pictures don't do it justice.

Why Tree-in-a-Box is the most creative thing I've ever done

I've been doing a lot of reading recently about creativity.  I've always thought I was a fairly creative person, but my latest readings really got me thinking about that assumption.  I started thinking about what I've done that could be considered exceptionally creative.  I've written some poems, made a Nemo Halloween costume, invented an alter ego.  But all of that pales in comparison to what I thought was going to be my million dollar idea: Tree-in-a-Box.

What was so creative about Tree-in-a-Box, you ask?  Well, to start it was truly a collaborative effort.  The genius idea was born in a car ride with my best friend.  I don't remember how exactly the conversation started or how it got to the end, but I do remember a lot of zigs and zags that led us down the path to creativity.  After reading the latest book by Keith Sawyer, a leader in the field of creativity research, I realize that zigs and zags are how creativity functions.  (I encourage you all to check out Sawyer's blog: http://keithsawyer.wordpress.com/)  Back to the story.  As the conversation unfolded, more and more details emerged and we began to get a clearer vision of what this product might look like.  But instead of letting the idea just die after the car ride, we went out the next day and purchased the materials to make a prototype.  And while making the sample, more ideas started to flow.  It wasn't enough to just put the tree in the box and paint a background mural, we had to write the back story that would make these bad boys sell.  As a writer, that may have been my favorite part.  My mom called us idiots while we were making this, but we believed we were geniuses.  And I think the final product proved us right.

I know.  You want one.  Unfortunately, this is the only one that exists.  But maybe after reading this post demand will soar to the point of mass production.

But I'm sure you're still wondering what makes this more creative than any of my other pursuits.  Well, like I said earlier, it was truly collaborative unlike some of my other creations, so it was born out of randomness and evolved to become what it is today.  Now I've had many other random collaborations, but unlike Dogs Delivering Mail, Raccoons on Airplanes, or Another Bad Vanilla Hammer Edition, Tree-in-a-Box actually materialized into something physical.  It's true that Tron the Ride was actually developed, but that was more an homage than an original idea.  So I further contend that the most creative thing I've ever done was Tree-in-a-Box.  But I guarantee it won't be the last.  I'm committed to further developing my creativity and I challenge you to do the same.  If you need some help getting started I highly recommend reading some of Keith Sawyer's books.

Appreciating Life's Random Moments

Every now and then, random thoughts pop into my head.  Often, those thoughts lead to spontaneous moments of levity.  For instance, today something inspired me to start acting out the Saturday Night Live Wild and Crazy Guys skit while waiting for an elevator.  I'm not sure what inspired this action, but I just went with it and had fun.  I didn't care if anybody might see me or what I might look like.  It just made me smile.  Moments like these happen to me all the time.  Don't deny it, you all have them too.  The question I have for all of you is, how many of you do the same thing?  How many of you sing along to the cheesy music in the grocery store?  Or start acting out movie scenes with yourself when you hear a trigger word?  For those that do, I applaud you.  Way to have fun and do your own thing!  For those that don't, why not?!  Have fun, be random, enjoy the silliness!  That's what makes life worth living.  Who cares what other people might think?! You never know, maybe they might join with you in one of your random moments.  You'll never know if you don't act on them.  Although, I will say you should exercise some judgement and common sense when choosing to do this.  Busting out a rendition of "End of the Road" might not be the most appropriate thing in the middle of a job interview.  But try appreciating some more of life's random moments and see how it makes you feel.  I can almost guarantee you'll smile more.