"Biggest Day in Teaching...So Far..."

as my principal puts in. Today was a big event for my students and I. I was selected to do a class demonstration for the Thinkfinity.org partnership launch that took place in my classroom. My students were very excited and nervous for this event; they were told that they will be on TV. I told them that they will be famous!

The event went smoothly, a video conference from my classroom to the State Capitol, Sac-Town! Big names from the corporate and education worlds met. Then there was Room 504 and Mr. Trang. The President of Verizon Business introduced me and the stage was mine. My introduction worked. Me putting on a racecar helmet that resembled a space helmet worked. Then there was the technical difficulty that happened. My computer and tablet didn't work. It froze! Uh Oh....

So I stood in front of the room for what felt like eternity trying to troubleshoot the problem. "Ah crap, game over; I'm screwed" replayed over and over in my head. The good thing was that I didn't break into sweat or turn red. But damn, I was nervous! Then out of nowhere, when I opened a new Internet browser, it started to work..."alright, let's get this party start..."

I somewhat lost focus but I got through what I needed to do. Energy, punchlines, and a big smile got me through the way. And, the VP of Verizon Business was introduced by one of my students...it was over!

When the event was over, I realized that I put on a shitshow. I also realized people are very good making a unfortunate event turn good. "You demonstrated true mastery in fixing the problem" "It worked out better that there was a technical difficulty; it's more real" "Grace under pressure" "You suck!" The latter, that's what I told myself.

True, obstacles come up in the classroom everyday! I knew something unplanned was going to happen. That's just life, no matter how much you plan, something will come up and what everyone needs to do is just go with it. Be flexible and adapt to it! Ladies and gentlemen, let that be a life lesson.

Look who made it to the Wall Street Journal...Link



My classroom set-up


The Flyer


Jack O'Connell, CA State Superintendent of Public Education



Getting Introduced by Tim McCallion, President of Verizon


Blastoff!


Teaching the class about the gravity launch game


Who wants to play?

PS- Thanks, Josh for taking pictures and the support. We beat RE5 tonight! What up!