Rocking to a Positive Beat

Last night as the 8:00 hour for #NYEDChat neared, a huge band of positivity champions rallied for a well-advertised Twitter chat. Voices were predicted to rise as high in the skies as the New York City skyscrapers. All were primed and ready to let positivity prevail, dissipating any notion that negativity exists in the world (if only for one hour) and so the dream unfolded. What transpired was a feat of unparallelled magnitude in #NYEDChat history. 

Nineteen positivity champions were scheduled to join the #NYEDChat conversation. Within a week's time, our usual moderating team (Bill Brennan, Victoria Day, Blanca Duarte, Dan McCabe, Lisa Meade, Starr Sackstein, Dennis Schug, Tony Sinanis, and me) plus a special band of #EduFriends (Bobby Dodd, Sean Gaillard, Reed Gillespie, Phil Griffin, Neil Gupta, Jon Harper, Jennifer Hogan, Eoin Lenihan, Craig Vroom, Jennifer Williams) prepared a celebratory event that was sure to rock the Twittersphere. With the true spirit of connected colleagues, the positivity team engaged in backchannel conversations and twitter messages leading up to last night's chat. #vachat and #OHedchat friends were called in and tweets sent across the world to our German colleague. We were ready.

From the first gif, NYEDChat flowed with positivity and a new sense of camaraderie was established. Positive thoughts were shot out in rapid succession by tweeters from across the states. Both newbie and veteran connected educators and friends chimed in. As the sounds of positivity were shouted loud and clear across the Twittersphere, the news of #NYEDChat trending on Twitter was a front page headline for us. 

Like the NYC skyscrapers only 30 miles away, connected colleagues' voices rose high in a collective chorus of positivity while posters and high fives were shared. Many interesting statements, such as those below, flowed from the topic, Positive People Do More. 

•  casehighprinc So thrilled to be a part of this evening!! Rock-star-a-palooza!!! 
•  MrsVandeborne positivity looks like engaged excitement, deeper learning, & real/visible progress, collaborative efforts & LOTS of high fives!
•  ERobbPrincipal #NYEDchat Wow a real convergence of Ed Leaders-- Great to be here!!!
•  MentorTextCentr Positivity is definitely a good-feeling energy making the workplace filled with a 'positive flow' of ideas/ collaboration.
•  iChrisLehman positivity often starts by watching and listening to kids at work. They do wonders to raise our spirits.
•  karenvaites Positivity is often a matter of mind over matter!
•  smgaillard #NowPlaying What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong #NYEdchat #CelebrateMonday ♫https://t.co/mzNiM5hW5C
•  rggillespie As educators, we've been entrusted by parents with most precious possession, their children. How can we not be positive?
•  danieldmccabe Positive people do more because they don't waste their energy complaining, making excuses or pointing fingers. Own it.

Sampling of Positivity Posters:

@mgrosstaylor

MRHS_Principal

OrganicLeaderVB 

ShannonMStark

Sample Call To Action Statements:

• Jennifer Hogan: Call to action: I'm COMPELLED to be a positive force & advocate for educators! Who's with me?!!!
• Greg Richards I'll continue to show #positivity because I'm richly blessed to do the work daily-inspired by & inspiring young people daily. 
• Melanie Meehan I will substitute "get to" for "have to" every chance I get! Such a different spin! 
• The Teaching Factor 
  I will always be positive, share the love, & hang up posters/images from 2 night's chat around my classroom 2 promote positivity.
• Danny Steele 
  "Awesomeness" is not accidental. We will be awesome on purpose!!!

Positivity poems can be read here.

You can review the amazing conversation captured by Participate Learning here.

Debby Call

As a band of positivity champs, participants and the team of nineteen joined together to see new possibilities as we celebrated positivity. 

@lauriemeston 

To round off the amazing experience of being in the company of positivity champions, I found this tweet from Jasper Fox Sr. in my notifications today: "Feeling super positive this AM after the great chat last night on that topic on #NYEDChat." I have to agree with Jasper. Rocking to a positive beat is a high-energy type of feeling. As part of my call to action statement, I spread positivity today and will continue because there is joy in being a positive connected educator. 

Two Writing Teachers
#sol16

Positively Reaching and Connecting

While gearing up for #NYEDChat's conversation on Positive People Do More, my writing colleague Kevin Hodgson, sent me poem based on the invitation to the chat that I tweeted. I then, retweeted Kevin's text to honor the work fellow poets and writers are engaging in during National Poetry Month. 

We search the gap

between the difficulties

of the world

and the silent negativity

of the complaints;

We nestle our way forward

and work around way into the warmth

of the positive.

I'll light the fire, with words if I have to,

these poems make fine kindling,

and you bring the sustenance of ideas

we can share together.
Kevin Hodgson, 2016 

Intrigued by the line lifting remix technique, I composed a poem based on one line of Kevin's poem.

Following the lead of poet Amy Ludwig VanDerwater who created Wallow in Wonder for her 2016 National Poetry Month project to celebrate learning and writing from learning, I searched Wonderopolis for an article on positivity. I found Wonder of the Day #991, Do You Have a Positive Attitude?  Below is a blackout poem that I created from the information in the article.

My fellow Wonderopolis Wonder Lead Ambassador, Paul W. Hankins, has also been writing poetry alongside Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, based on Wonders of the Day. His series can be accessed here. 

To reach out and connect with #EduFriends and connected colleagues across the globe, NYEDChat will open its doors on May 2, 2016 for a chat on positivity that will surely be a meeting of the minds. 

Join the NYEDChat Moderating Team(Bill Brennan, Victoria Day, Blanca Duarte, Dan McCabe, Lisa Meade, Starr Sackstein, Dennis Schug, Tony Sinanis, Carol Varsalona) and our Positivity Champions (Bobby Dodd, Sean Gaillard, Reed Gillespie, Phil Griffin, Neil Gupta, Jon Harper, Jennifer Hogan, Eoin Lenihan, Craig Vroom, Jennifer Williams) for an epic conversation.

In the meantime, stay positive. According to the Mayo Clinic, looking at life's challenges in a positive way has its long-lasting rewards. Here are some benefits: 

• lower levels of distress 
• greater resistance to colds 
• better coping skills

You may enjoy listening to Luke Britnell's catchy tune, Think Positive. 

Reach and Connect

The skyscrapers of New York City remind us to reach. Like those skyscrapers, connected colleagues' voices can rise high. Joined together we can envision new vistas, see new possibilities, and celebrate positivity. 

Each Monday on Twitter, #CelebrateMonday asks us to showcase the positives. To open dialogue on positivity, Dan McCabe and I will lead the #NYEDChat moderators in a conversation with our connected "edufriends" on Monday, May 2, 2016 at 8 pm EST.

NYEDChat Moderators :

Bill Brennan, Victoria Day, Blanca Duarte, Dan McCabe, Lisa Meade, Starr Sackstein, Dennis Schug, Tony Sinanis, Carol Varsalona

Connected Educator Guest Moderators:

Bobby Dodd, Sean Gaillard, Reed Gillespie, Phil Griffin, Neil Gupta, Jon Harper, 
Jennifer Hogan, Eoin Lenihan, Craig Vroom, Jennifer Williams

While the above connected educators are Positivity Champions, I recognize that there are so many more I come in contact with on social media who have a growth mindset. On behalf of the NYEDChat team I send out this invitation to join the conversation, Positive People Do More, to all who champion the "positives" across the globe. 

NYEDChat, as the voice of New York State educators, reaches beyond our state boundaries to connect with others on timely topics in education. Please join me at #NYEDChat on #CelebrateMonday May 2, 2016 for an epic conversation. The question document below is ready for your perusal. 

Ready to rock the Twittersphere as we discuss how to end the year with a strong finish, right up to the #lastbell, as Jennifer Hogan says. 

Don't forget to #CelebrateMonday today. 

Question to Ponder: 

What might you do differently to create a positive environment that celebrates the journey toward success?