What an amazing weekend it has been. Participating in three conferences, five presentations, a Meet the Authors session, a keynote and participating in my first ISTE Certification class. As I went to begin this blog post, so many ideas popped into my head. Should I write about my keynote and how my woes with technology as I started and how I persevered through it? Should I write about the amazing experience of my first ISTE Certification class and the excitement of starting this new journey? Should I write about the fantastic opportunity to connect with fellow authors at the Meet the Authors? Or should I share about the exciting sessions I lead and how the participants inspired me? As I reflected on this weekend, one thing became very clear. Nothing that happened this weekend happened by chance- this weekend was filled by intentional and delightful results of my year of TRANSFORMATION.
What do I mean by that?
In late December 2020, I decided that I would take my gains from my challenge year and take them even further this year as I transformed. This year, I have taken more risks and pushed myself to be the best me that I can be. I love waking up every morning as ME and that is a result of lots of intentional efforts. Many of these efforts were risks and my imposter syndrome was fierce as I pushed the submit button each time.
I started my Saturday sharing my new TRANSFORM keynote for UnisonEDU. When I submitted my application for the keynote, I initially wasn't sure what would happen. But I knew that I had a story to tell and share in a keynote, so I went for it. Imagine my delight when I was accepted as one of the morning keynotes. Taking my older version of the TRANSFORM keynote and revising it was such an amazing process. I pushed myself to add more of ME in the keynote, share my story in a way that I had never done before. As I shared in my keynote, "Not only did technology transform how I planned instruction and how I could amplify learning, but technology transformed ME!
How did technology transform ME?
In the past few years, technology has truly transformed me. When I became a connected educator in 2017, I was skeptical at best about joining social media. But this one risk has led me to grow and transform in so many ways.
Yesterday, I began my ISTE Certification journey. According to everyone I have met who has gone through this process, they say it is one of the most impactful experience they had undergone. When I saw the NASA ISTE scholarship posted on a ISTE discussion board, I could have just looked past it. I didn't honestly think I was going to receive it- but what if I submitted it and got accepted. I took that What If challenge and applied. Now, I am one of twenty global educators in this cohort.
What If Challenges?
Another What if Challenge was when I saw the call for Authors for Fall CUE's Meet the Authors session. Once again, I applied thinking what if I was asked to join this amazing group of authors. Today, I got to do just that. I got to not only share about my book, TRANSFORM- Techy Notes to Make Learning Sticky, but hear some other phenomenal authors share about their books. It was a truly amazing experience and I am so glad that I took the chance and hit SUBMIT>
What lessons can be learned from this weekend?
Every opportunity that happened this weekend was not an accident or a coincidence. They were the results of taking a leap and trying to reach for something that I felt might be just beyond my reach. Sometimes, our perceptions can cloud what we view is possible, However, if we instead embrace the "What Ifs," we open ourselves to new and amazing possibilities. Don't be afraid to reach for what you want! Take small strategic steps towards it every single day
On Thursday, I ran 3.5 miles before work. But that was the result of building up gradually starting with Couch to 5K and now working on the 5K Pacer. Likewise, I didn't just start presenting, much less keynoting. Rather, I started presenting at local conferences and then as I got more confident, started presenting in other places. Writing a book started with blogging.
Consider your what ifs. What if you went for them rather than accepting that they were out of your reach. Maybe you will get to the next goal, maybe not. But you will never know if you don't take that leap.