It's Time for #SpringCUE 2020!

With the month of March comes many things. Trees are beginning to bud, temperatures are creeping up, the sun is sticking around longer each day, and one of my favorite things, baseball, is back and ramping up for the regular season!  But perhaps one of the best things about March for me and for many others is the annual sojourn to Palm Springs, California for three days of learning, connecting, and shenanigans at Spring CUE!  This year, for the most part, promises to be as amazing or even better than years past.  But why "for the most part?"

Image courtesy of cue.org.

Over the past few months, unless you were holed up in a remote cave somewhere in the Sierra Nevada, you have been inundated almost non-stop with news, information, and emergency declarations about Covid-19, or the coronavirus.  As the virus has spread from China to other areas of the world, more and more governments and organizations have been employing a variety of tactics to stop the spread of the virus.  Now that there have been confirmed cases in the United States, these tactics are starting to take effect. 

Sporting events have been postponed, canceled, or played before empty arenas.  Concerts and conventions have also been canceled.  People have made runs on stores, stocking up on masks, hand sanitizer, water, and toilet paper.  The stock market has tanked in recent days and there are signs that prices on various goods, especially gasoline, or going to plummet as demand falls (and with oil, a large supply release from Saudi Arabia has also contributed to the dip in prices). As of this writing, there have been less than one thousand confirmed cases in the United States, but the fear of a mass epidemic has certainly gripped the nation and the world.  

The question for many has been, "Will Spring CUE continue, even as other events throughout California and the rest of the country are put off?"  Again, as of this writing, the event is still on.  CUE has been urging extra caution for the event, such as avoiding physical interactions with attendees like handshakes and hugs, washing thoroughly and carrying hand sanitizer, and staying home if you feel sick.  However, many people have already announced that due to restrictions from their schools and districts, they will not be attending the event this year.  And CUE has even gone as far as stating that if a person cannot attend, they will be able to redeem their registration for another CUE event within the next three years!  

I for one will still be attending the event.  I look forward to this event every year, I have not had any directives issued toward me about attending or not attending, and I have a lot of things on my agenda for the three days of the conference.

Image courtesy of cue.org.  

First will be a live recording of The BeerEDU Podcast on Thursday, March 19 at 3:00 PM.  This will be an extension of the Meet the Podcasters event (more on that in a moment).  While my partner, Ben Dickson, will not be there, he is planning to join remotely. Those that are walking by can stop and introduce themselves and chat with us about their conference experience and what they are taking away from the conference.  And we will have various podcast swag to give away!

Then on Friday morning, I will be back in the "booth" to record another episode, this time with my friend Joe Marquez and The Podcast by Sons of Technology.  Like the Thursday recording, those that are passing by can chat with us about what they are doing to buck the status quo and take risks in their teaching. 

Image courtesy of cue.org. 

After we are done recording, perhaps the event I am most excited for, Meet the Authors, will take place in the exhibit hall!  When planning the final details on To The Edge: Successes & Failures Through Risk-Taking, I expressed that I wanted the book to be released prior to Spring CUE so I had a great opportunity to share my story with the world.  I will have a limited number of copies of the book for sale at the event and will also have stickers!  So come by the exhibit hall on Friday from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, grab a copy of the book and learn more about my story and the stories of the other great authors that will be there!

After a quick break, I'll be back in the exhibit hall for Meet the Podcasters.  Like Meet the Authors, this one will give attendees an opportunity to mingle with some of their favorite shows, talk a little bit about some of the technical aspects of podcasting, and of course, there will be swag from most, if not all, of the shows that are there!  There may even be an opportunity to arrange to be a guest on some of your favorite shows!

Find me during the conference to purchase
a copy of #ToTheEdgeEDU! I have stickers...

Then lastly, literally lastly, I will be presenting a session to close out the conference.  At 3:30 on Saturday, Joe and I will be presenting a session called Changing the World by Building a Brand.  This session will cover the importance of branding for students and educators and some of the various ways that you can build a brand and start making a presence online and in your community.

Because of the hectic schedule that I have on my agenda, my opportunities for sessions are very limited.  Many of the events that I am a part of overlap sessions, so I would miss a great deal of the material presented.  However, I have been looking at the schedule and there are a ton of great sessions, not to mention other awesome events, such as CUE Boom (an event that I opened in 2019), the Kids CUE Boom, LeRoy's Big Idea, and the many keynote speakers sprinkled throughout the conference.  Then it's getting to see all of those that have become friends over the years.  Between sessions, over coffee in the morning, over beers at night, it's going to be great to see so many awesome people that are passionate about teaching!   And then meeting new people, some of which I have interacted with virtually and those that I have never had a connection, building up my PLN even further!

If you are going to be Spring CUE, I look forward to seeing you!  If not, be sure to follow #SpringCUE and #NotatCUE over the course of the conference and get your learn on remotely!

Until next time...  

DIY Professional Development

In my last post, What Educators Can Learn From Punk Rock, I talked about how punk rock can truly be an inspiration to educators by bringing passion, questioning the status quo, and much more.  Since that post, as I mentioned at the end of it, I have found a crew of people on social media that I didn't even know existed: other educators, like myself, that love punk rock and want to incorporate aspects of punk culture into teaching.  So if you aren't already, follow Mike Earnshaw (@mearnshaw158) and Josh Buckley (@JoshRBuckley) and their podcast, the Punk Rock Classrooms Podcast (@punkclassrooms, #punkrockclassrooms) on all of the podcasting apps.  

One major aspect of punk culture is a DIY attitude.  Whether it is fixing up a denim jack with patches fastened on with safety pins, making your own tapes and album liner notes to hand out at shows (definitely a 90s things), or setting up your gear for the show, punks know how to do it themselves.  And as educators, we should all be experts in DIY culture as well since we need to improvise many things with slim budgets and a lack of resources.  Another aspect of teaching that should incorporate a strong DIY attitude is professional development.  If you are reading this, you most likely already have that attitude, but hear me out...

Are you getting much from a mandatory professional development day
on a regular basis?  

Think of the last time that you attended a school or district mandatory training.  Was it interesting?  Was it engaging?  Did you leave that training with new ideas that you could immediately implement in your classroom?  The answer to these questions, in my experience, has been a resounding "NO." Most of the required trainings that I have attended in my career as an educator have reiterated points that we already know (my personal favorite, the 7-hour lecture by an "expert" about how lecture doesn't work for our students), reviewed procedural mandates that are already emphasized regularly, or some other topic that has most attendees disengaged.  Or, knowing ahead of time how excruciating the day will most likely be, many teachers simply do not attend by arranging for doctors appointments, taking a personal day, or "coming down sick" the night before or morning of the training. 

While you may not have much control over those mandatory professional development days, you can most certainly control your professional development in other aspects.  You are reading this and you most likely are reading other educational blogs, perhaps even writing your own.  You are probably engaged in social media as a professional and listening to podcasts.  Are you engaging in meaningful conversations and planning with your colleagues?  Are you attending local events hosted by educational groups?  Are you going to large events like ISTE, Spring CUE, or other regional and national conferences?  Are you connecting with educators outside of your school or district?  If you aren't you are missing an opportunity to take ownership of your professional development. 

When you immerse yourself in some or all of the items above, you are giving yourself the choice in what you want to learn more about.  When you make the choice, you are not fed something that you most likely know or will not engage with during the training.  And if you choose to read something, listen to something, or attend something and don't like it, you have the choice to move on to something else. 

Now don't get me wrong, there are times when the mandatory trainings are very important.  You should not tune out in a meeting that is introducing a new school or district policy.  You should pay attention during the test security meetings so you know what not to do when proctoring a high stakes test (opinions on testing, while valid, definitely for another time).  But if you have been in education for any amount of time, you have most likely sat in many trainings where they simply did not speak to you. 

So, are you ready to embrace a DIY attitude and take control of your professional development?  Are you ready to rely on yourself to learn rather than whatever is thrown at your on those mandatory days?  I know you are!  Find some blogs and podcasts (and even better, write and create your own and share!), connect with other educators on social media, find some local events to attend, and every now and then, pony up some cash and go to a big event outside of your area, or see if your school or district will pay to send you to something; the worst that can happen, if you ask, is that they say no!

Image courtesy of
https://genius.com/7-seconds-slogan-on-a-shirt-lyrics

In closing, while I was writing this post, I was listening to 7Seconds' Leave a Light On album, positive hardcore punk from Reno, Nevada, the city in which I live (and a group that my podcast partner, Ben, used to see frequently and even play with occasionally when he was playing in punk bands).  The third track on the album is a song called "Slogan On A Shirt" and it really spoke to me while I was getting these thoughts down.  The lyrics that really jumped are as follows:

We've got our PMA (positive mental attitude)

We gotta spread this sh** around

And make it more than just a slogan on a shirt

Simply put, wake up each day, find something good, share it with the world, and own it; don't just let it be words.  

Until next time...