3 People Who Got Me Through the Last 30 Days
On February 10th, 2021, I was vaccinated with my first shot of moderna at Dodger Stadium.
On the drive home, I got an email about a ’30 day writing challenge’, and had heard the mention before but never thought I could hang. Renewed from the first bit of hope from that vaccine shot, I was overwhelmed with thoughts of a positive future post this pandemic and wrote that I accept the challenge.
Since the following day, February 11th, I have written something and put it out there for the world to “see”, and since today is day 30, I wanted to acknowledge 2 things:
- My learning curve during this process since I had no choice but to figure it out in order to improve, was like a 89 degree line — practically straight up in the air.
- TJ Vari, Mitch Weathers, & Danny Bauer got me through it.
Full transparency, I didn’t have a twitter account. I still don’t have facebook, but whatever dude. I have twitter now, and it’s hysterically fun. I follow educators that are reputable, and I am able to see how the value can be immense if someone is looking for resources — like 15 years after twitter came out. @travelprincipal is like the last possible unused twitter name ever.
I’ve never tagged, and I’m gonna try it in this article for the first time. I still think of the 7 train coming out of the ground heading to Flushing, Queens and seeing that large image of Biggie Smalls with the crown on his head on that abandoned building when I think of tagging. Did I tag with my twitter name? Wait, is that tagging?
My first article didn’t have an image. My first Quora post was all in bold letters. In fact, every damn time I post in Quora it’s all in bold for some reason. Again, whatever dude.
I’ve learned short cuts for my mac and have used a mac for 10 years.
I’ve never looked at so many pictures before trying to find that perfect connection to what I’m writing. I see everyone else’s and they look so awesome. I’ve realized I’m not a photographer, and that people on the web want awesome quality and clear as possible. This is an area I need to improve in.
My writing style had to change. I’ve read 2 books this past month on writing, and Nicolas Cole’s was the most useful. Here it is. I love to write, and take my time choosing words to aesthetically speak my mind in an original way. On the internet, no one gives two shits about your style. It’s gotta be quick, clear, flashy, have a title that catches your eye, and an almost elementary in it’s abridged-like version of titles, quotes, clickable links, images and graphs that are easy to follow.
No one has time to nestle by the fire in a velvet robe and cozy up to a good book anymore.
The internet is the opposite. The internet is exactly how I’ve always used it, yet I never realized there was a formula behind getting me to use what I do. I love how people are breaking this down, because in 30 days I went from putting up lengthy reads to 3 minute posts that get the same point across and are viewed by many more.
Now, this process took a ton of “suggestions” from T.J., Mitch, and Danny. They provided me with a platform to air out my grievances with technology, and I think they laughed at it the entire time — so I got a smile out of them anyway. However, a high school principal usually does what they say they are going to, so every morning, around 9am west coast time, I would post. On the rare occasion that I waited, it was accompanied with an explanation.
On to my 3 influences.
Dr. T.J. Vari, is the first of three gents you should really, really, know about if you’re in education. T.J. is a machine, a traditional work horse. He runs a Principal’s Seminar and if you’re a school leader, you should really look to this for resources and a network that is growing into what it should — a major source for real educational information and reform.
Just listen to the titles of his published works: Candid and Compassionate Feedback, Retention for a Change, Building a Winning Team, and his fourth book is titled Passionate Leadership. T.J. is a combination of all things we need in education, with a drive that’s incomparable. He’s one of those that you always want to ask, “When did you have the time to do that dude?” I believe it’s because he’s a true educator, so he never turns it off.
Knowing T.J. was publishing and writing daily, upped the rigor of the game for sure and that’s a testament to the impact he has on educators around him. As an Instructional Superintendent, he offers support to his teachers in their endeavors to improve learning that most districts pay consultant’s handsomely for. This guy is making changes for sure, and I love reading about it.
Mitch Weathers is the second chap that drove and inspired me during this challenge. Mitch and I shared our newness to daily publishing, and although his learning curve didn’t need to be as drastic as mine, we experienced the same jump from Gen X to Millenial status with this task.
Mitch is the founder of an educational company called, Organized Binder and to be honest — it’s pure, it’s logical, it focuses on the roots of true learning, and it’s all too often overlooked, because it’s not flashy at all. It’s what we threw out in education too quickly because we saw something flashier in computers and technology. Mitch brought it back, and refined it.
We forgot how to organize ourselves, because we thought technology would do that for us. We don’t need to know to spell, research, record in a way that is “studyable”, and process what we were just exposed to because we know it’s there in the virtual world somewhere. That misconnection of how to learn and endure information due to that reliability on technology to do it for us — Mitch recognized that and tackled it head on with this idea of Organized Binder. As a teacher he knew something had to change, and because of who he is at his core — he figured out a solution.
Piloting it in some classes he realized the impact that assisting students in relearning how to learn by honing in on the processing of information and the skills necessary to do this efficiently would have. Mitch figured out a way that will enable students to have improved note taking, enabled time for future reflection, track their own progress, arrange all their courses information, and therefore make daily follow through of developing these study skills — habitual. These are the fundamentals of learning.
Mitch is a damn scientist. He has a solution in Organized Binder that I believe will foster a learning environment during a transition from all virtual learning to in-person instruction smoother, by reteaching the skills necessary for students to even be able to learn anything. A damn scientist I say.
And last, but certainly not least at all, is Daniel Bauer. It was his challenge. Danny is our mastermind, so it’s expected of him to do things like this. He’s the largest wealth of the most valuable educational information that I have ever seen. He’s like a bank of education. He is always pushing us to be better and make a change. His cohorts of school leaders and “edupreneurs” in his Better Leaders Better Schools network, weekly are given nuggets of information on all things current and relevant to our times.
He’s a trend setter, based on only the ideas that are not only proven to, but they break the mold somehow as well. He’s a pioneer because he fuses all avenues without bias into a recipe of success for all educators and all over the world.
I look up to Danny as a mentor without a doubt. I’ve listened to his podcasts and learned so much from his interviews of amazing guests for what’s going on 3 years now, and he’s got over a million downloads of his 5 seasons. But I feel what makes him so impactful, is his ability to be spot on with incredible advice when we need it most as educators and school leaders.
Danny is a leader of leaders, and I want and need someone that is a proper combination of amazing information from valid and reputable sources with someone who is a visionary.
So to you 3, I say thank you.
This experience reminded me that I love to write. I loved taking the time and trying this. I loved talking about education, researching sources, reading what others are doing and evolving new ideas and methods from it, and feeling alive and in the game once again. I know I have so much more to learn and feel we’re just getting started.
At some point some day gents, first round’s on me. And to that, I end with this:
Who’s up for another 30 days? Because I got my second shot now, and I’m ready for anything.
