A few of our happy campers from past Jr. Tech Camps here at South Side Middle had a nice visit yesterday afternoon with Linda Eller, Prof. Dev. Coordinator in the district’s technology department.  Ms. Eller recorded a podcast of our campers describing their experiences in our two previous Jr. Tech Camps.  In addition, I was able to give them a preview of our upcoming Jr. Tech Camp.  We look forward to hearing the podcast when it is uploaded to our district website!

Thank you, Linda, for your interest and support!  Thank you, jr. tech campers, for staying after school to talk to Ms. Eller.  Y’all all did a great job!  And thank you to Ellan Thompson, our South Side Middle tech savant, for all your time and expertise!

What do you do when your principal unexpectedly brings a news crew into your library to film you while you’re teaching?  Of course you do what you’ve taught your students to do… …you ignore the camera.  You just keep teaching.  That’s what I did when News Channel 3 showed up in the library Friday morning.  Since I didn’t really look directly at them, I thought they were a crew from the Board.  My principal had to stop me and call me over to talk to the reporter.  How embarrassing!

Imagine my surprise when they told me I was their News Channel 3 “Educator of the Week”!  I was stunned and speechless.  While I am occasionally stunned, I am very rarely speechless.  I can’t think of one instance in recent memory when I’ve been speechless.  Wow.  If I hadn’t been fighting back tears and marveling at how our staff and a whole class of 8th graders had managed to keep this a secret, I would’ve been able to tell that nice reporter from Channel 3 exactly how I felt.  It’s not like I haven’t repeated the following many times when telling people how much I love my job.  (I just usually don’t have a camera and microphone pointing at me at the time.)

So here, for the record, are some things I wish I’d said…

I am blessed with the best job in our school.  A job that lets me be as creative as my imagination will allow to serve not only our students, but also our incredible teachers and administrative team.  I’m doing everything I can just to keep up with other members on our faculty who consistently go way above and beyond to make our school and our students the very best they can be.  I’m awed by their energy and diligence.  I am constantly motivated and inspired by my fellow MCS librarians, by the fantastic Ed Tech team we have in our district, and by the support I receive from my administration, our teachers and all our wonderful students.  I love my job and feel very lucky to have it!

So, if you happen to see me on one of the “Educator of the Week” promo clips on Channel 3 in a week or so, you have my permission to laugh.  I know I will.  Just keep in mind that although I’m standing there looking stunned and embarrassed while the reporter tries to coax a few words out of me, I’m feeling so much more.

Happy New Year!
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Have a great 2009!