#CSDFebInst -- Turn Your Spark Into a Fire!

Last Friday's institute day was so much fun for me because I got to see my friends and colleagues share with everyone some of the cool ways they make learning engaging and meaningful for students. I got to see the teachers in this district work together across grade levels, buildings, and disciplines -- this is better than any vertical articulation meeting we could plan, in my opinion! I got to talk with teachers as they left breakout sessions about the new things they wanted to try and ask me to help them. Finally, as I've been reading your feedback from the day, I feel so grateful for the overwhelmingly positive feedback -- and no one has said that they day was a waste of time. That is my primary goal: to make sure that our institute day is not a waste of anyone's precious time!

As I tried to say at the end of the day Friday, I hope you've got a spark that will start to burn brightly. Share that spark -- with your students, with your co-workers. Friday is over and done, but the excitement and the learning doesn't have to be. Here's how to keep the momentum going:

• Share your feedback to make next year's institute even better. What did you like? What could be done better? Complete the survey if you didn't do it on Friday.
• When you use something from the institute day, share it on Twitter! Use the hashtags #CSDFebInst and #ChannahonPride. Maybe you can even tag the person who shared this idea with you in the Tweet.
• Share your ideas and enthusiasm at the Dotstorming page. Then give props to the posts you agree with or think deserve some recognition.
• Go back to look at the resources from the institute day. They are all available by going to the schedule on the institute day website. You can look at all the resources -- including the ones from the sessions you didn't get to attend but wanted to. Don't limit yourself to only the ideas you picked up in the sessions you attended.
• If you have a group of teachers in your building who would like a presenter to come talk with you, let me know. I can work on trying to find a way to get those people over to your building for a team meeting or grade level meeting before or after school. We have terrific teachers in this district, and tapping into their expertise costs nothing to the district. Why bother paying for outside experts when they are right here with us!
• Get in touch with me or even Jeremy to come to your class to try some of the new things you want to do. Neither of us likes being cooped up in our offices; we really want to be there in the classrooms with you and your kids trying out new tools and seeing what happens.
• Share a comment on this post about your take aways from the day. The power of that institute day comes from using and sharing what you learned.