Lounging before the cool

I'm sitting here in the Qatar Airways lounge waiting for the flight to board to London. It's December 2nd, Monday. Not a normal day to be heading to London when you're a school teacher.

But here I am...heading there for the third time in less than a year. And up to January I had never been there before.

So...I'm off. On a Monday night. I've prepared my sub plans, did my rehearsals for our Middle School show, went on my field trip, attended my meetings and now I wait.

There was a lot to prepare for this run. And a lot to leave behind. I love teaching. I love my kids. I miss them when I'm away...so it makes it hard to leave them each time I go somewhere.

But I know I'm going for something special. Something unique. Something different.

This thing, the Google Teacher's Academy, is nothing short of an honor. I've got no idea of what to expect. I've been told things during a google hangout. Been encouraged, and excited. The past few nights I've had a bit of a restless sleep out of excitement waiting for this thing.

And now that I'm in the airport, leaving for it, the excitement is building. Not just for the Google Certified Teacher designation (something only bestowed on about 100 or 150 people per year), but also to learn straight from google. To ask questions. To meet gifted and talented 21st Century Educators. To help grow my teaching practice so that I can bring it to the kids in my teaching career. Wherever that may be.

So, I sit here next to my dear friend Mandy Hollingshead. Hoping, waiting, getting excited. Wanting to share. Wanting to be a vessel to learn. Desiring new knowledge, new ways to care for, educate, scaffold, and get my kids excited about learning.

I'm going because I think this will be one of the best experiences, let alone Professional Development experiences, of my life. Because when I come back full of Googley excitedness. When I come back ready to show the whole staff, students and parents the cool stuff I learned. when I know that there will be more excited learners around me. It makes every ounce of it worth it.

I'm aware that my kids will miss me. I'm also aware that I'll miss them. And I'll miss being in the classroom. I'll miss introducing my kids to Aurasma and introducing the staff to the stuff we learned from Bob Garmston's Adaptive School's training.

What I'll get to absorb from teachers from all continents (except South America in this situation I think), will be infinitely more valuable.

So I sit, a little sleepy, waiting for the call. To board my flight. To get to the cold, wet, beautiful city of London. So, ultimately, the students at Qatar Academy can get a better teaching experience.

Cheers.