Celebrating Voice

As soon as I retired from public education, I created a dedicated space to ponder, reflect, and converse about life, literacy, and learning. It is here, at my blog site, that voice has been my connector to educators across the globe so this week, I celebrate voice and the opportunities writing brings.

#1  The joke in my household is "tell me when you really retire" as I walk out the door early in the morning to travel to a district or BOCES center to deliver professional development training on some aspect of literacy learning. What started out on July 24, 2013 as an "unretirement" state of mind has now slowly grown into professional pursuit. I am enjoying working with different teachers across Long Island as we grapple with ways to create a culture of trust and positivity and impact teaching and literacy learning. This week I broke all records with four days of presenting. (This is not the norm but because of the extreme weather conditions, professional development had to be postponed in several instances.)  I celebrate the pursuit of "unretirement" opportunities. 

#2  I celebrate the ease of creating presentations in Google Drive and now converting then into Google Slides to share with educators. My thoughts are now being housed in the cloud for easy access. Long gone are the days when I forget to download presentations on flash drives and wonder what to do. Google Slides on Drive have provided me with a new avenue to worry free presentations. 

#3  I celebrate the creation of inspirational images to provide messages of positivity. I release images like the one below across the Twittersphere. There are for teachers to use in their classrooms or for PLNs. Motivating everyone to raise their voices with others across the globe is a focus for me this year as I listen more intently. 

#4  I celebrate new to Twitter teachers I worked with this week who are intrigued about new possibilities that await them in the cloud. Here is my tweet that I sent out this evening. 

Believe in the poser of Twitter to open doors to educational possibilities. Make connections. They are real! #NYEDChat #satchat #edchat

#5  I celebrate the many educators, business contacts, friends, family, and even three elementary students for participating in the Finding Fall Gallery that I just updated with a poem that was hidden under an image when the gallery first went to post. Please enjoy a stroll back into autumn to read different perspectives on the season before I start designing the next collection, Winter Whisperings.  

Enjoy your weekend as you find the positives that lead to daily celebrations! Voice Counts. Let it be heard.

Now stroll over to Ruth Ayres' Celebrate This Week site to read the blogging community's posts on their celebrations this week.