Thinking About Stuff

Saturday Football

2010-09-25T16:45:00.011-04:00

This is the part of the stadium that I live in - the Press Box!

This is my friend, colleague and team statistician - Joe Marks.

This is me getting ready to do my job!

Well, it wasn't the ending that I would have hoped for but it happened just the same. We lost 22 to 42. Our kids run fast, hit hard, and really try to do their jobs - sometimes it just isn't enough.

I find that I look forward to the kids football games. And not just because I am the videographer. I get to go to the games with a friend, Joe Marks who keeps the stats. Sometimes, Carol Zortman comes along. The air is crisp sometimes. The sun bright and occasionally hot, occasionally cold, sometimes dreary (like last year at Eastern!), and sometimes just perfect. The sound of the National Anthem and the kids at attention, team and cheerleaders, spectators with their hats in their hands make my eyes burn. I feel hometown/small town America.

This is the field during the National Anthem. The only thing that was missing was the fly-over by the US Air Force! When you attend the Protective Services graduation, you get the fly-over!

Then the ref blows the whistle and we are playing a game full of sounds - grunts, armored bodies hitting armored bodies, whistles, cheers, the banter from the press box and lots of other sounds that are so familiar to me. There are smells too - the fresh mowed grass, hot dogs, and sometimes I think that I can smell the sweat of the players.

This game has lots of benefits too but the one that I cherish the most is the comraderie of the staff and the kids on the field. I put the diecut helmets on the Media Center window and soon they will be signed by the team and their friends. The kids wave at me through the windows that separate the Media Center and the Mall. I get high fives from the players when they come to use the library. I was amazed when the 9th grade team stopped in to mark time waiting for a bus to take them to an away game. It was on Thursday and the Math tutoring program was in progress. The team kids enjoyed the extra Math help on their homework. That was GREAT!

These are a few of the dedicated teachers at Tech who take time to come to the games on a precious Saturday morning. Smiling faces all the way around!

We have a sports program that is working. Kids participating in the educational community that is York Tech. Teachers too. We are teaching kids to be productive citizens. We are not waiting for Superman!

Need a Break

2010-08-10T08:09:00.004-04:00

In this life, God occasionally sends messages that aren't really good. I got one of those on Friday. It has made me think about what is really right about my life and there are lots of things. I have a wonderful family, friends, a fabulous job that I really enjoy and the accoutrements that go with that. But as I was sitting enjoying the calm of the evening, I thought about the quiet that the ocean can bring into one's life.

I sat listening to the surf. The waves making their way to shore and I could see the mist rising from the waves as they caressed the shore. I could taste the salt from the ocean on my lips. I felt the gentle breeze as it touched my face. Life is good when you think of life's simple pleasures. I hope that there are many more of these kinds of moments.

Just checked with Wordle and that is what it is all about today!

Did you know . . .

2010-06-28T19:37:00.004-04:00

Nope, I didn't go to ISTE 2010. That is the BEST national conference on the planet - if you are a computer GEEK! My friend Carol loves the Swag that we come home with and my friend Josh B., who is there, has bags full already! But I have been monitoring the conversations that have been ongoing since Saturday through my PLN (Professional Learning Network).

Anyway, I came across this blog entry and was thinking that I am failing someone or something at Tech. Many of us have seen the video shared on this blog. It made me think about how I would do things when we get back to school later this summer. The teaching to the test thing is driving me nuts! I no longer desire to enable the kids at Tech!

Here is the short blog entry. I have posted this to the Diigo account, too. And, yes, I have read several other blog entries at this site and will be adding this to my Google Reader.

I know that it is summer and just thinking sometimes hurts. It helps to lay in a comfortable shady place under the trees in my park like back yard with a breeze going to help clear the head!

Continue to enjoy the summer.

Marge

Educating our Kids to Solve Problems that Don't Exist Yet
http://blog.k12.com/2010/06/22/educating-our-kids-solve-problems-dont-exist-yet

I Wonder

2010-02-06T09:03:00.004-05:00

Yes, I have been awake for hours. I have been following my Twitter and reading my RSS feeds on Google Reader. I have been listening to the sounds of the snow storm. I have been waiting for the cardinals to come for breakfast. I have been listening to Jeff snore (It scares me when I can't hear this sound!) I have heard from one of my children and know that she and her husband are safe. I am waiting for the ABCD's to make contact. I wonder if they will take a picture of David in a snow bank. He is only one next week and is going to be a holy terror! I know that Collandra will be holding him in the picture because she is very enamored and protective of her baby brother. I wonder if she will let him have some of the fun experiences that she had when she was small. I wonder if I recommend a really great bog entry, will some of my colleagues read it and understand the enormity of the task they call teaching truly is. I wonder if my colleagues know that teaching is the greatest thing a person can do. I wonder if the staff thinks that I am crazy when I say that I am the luckiest person on the planet! I have the bestest job ever! I work with kids! I teach kids! I laugh with kids! I cry with kids! I pat kids on the back! But . . . I do the same thing with my staff - work, teach, laugh, cry, praise . . . I have a GREAT job!

Isn't that what it is all about?

Here is a recommend for reading. It is part of the Lessons Learned from Students series

I Only Thought I Knew My Students (by Ric Murray)

And that is what I think this morning!

Yep! It was all about wondering!

Educational Philosophy

2010-01-23T05:59:00.001-05:00

Tom Whitby’s post struck a discordant note in my head. I teach at a comprehensive vocational-technical school that has all of the accoutrements to provide an excellent base for any child to get and maintain a job. But, as a staff, we know that these kids will hold many positions in their life for which we have not given the specific skill subsets. What that means is that we must provide these kids with the means to retool, learn, unlearn and relearn, and move forward in jobs that, may, for the most part, as of this moment in time, do not exist. It also means that we, as educators of the upcoming workforce, have an obligation and a responsibility to make these kids realize that in order to succeed and have a modicum of a lifestyle for maintaining a family and a community, they must be the chameleons of the “new” workforce. That means that they need to be the “life-long” learners that Dr. Whitby has identified in his most recent post. Chameleons change with their environment and so must our students.

I not only think that Dr. Whitby is right, I know that he is right. We are preparing kids for employment, and, yes, layered systems of employment defined by education, collar color and pay, but what about the other 16 hours in the day? What about a person’s soul. That can’t be fed by a job.

This has made me think about my Dad. He was a plumber – a very good plumber, and plumbing is not what he wanted his children to do! He read extensively and he was a voracious reader of everything. He was an eloquent speaker, philosopher, and debater. But that was because he had music in his ears, poetry in his heart, a love of all things unknown, and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Everyday brought new questions. His question to us each day at the dinner table was “What did you learn today?” And we clambered and competed to answer that question so that we had bragging rights to who learned the best thing that day!

I don’t think that the education that we are giving the collective today reflects a philosophy of what is best for the soul but what is best for the wallet. That is not bad but it is sad to not have a legacy of the quest for knowledge or that which would render the soul fulfilled. Education for the soul. Would this kind of education keep kids in school? Give them a love for learning beyond the school room? Give them tastes of what could be?

Standards - O Captain!

2009-10-07T22:57:00.005-04:00

Wow! It has been a long time since I wrote on this wall but tonight I felt compelled to chat!

I was following my Twitter feeds and came across a reference to the new national standards proposal. You know that very rarely have I been out of the educational initiative loop, but this took me aback. I have known that this was coming but I thought that it was farther in the future. How very interesting these standards are and they could be coming directly to us soon!

Have a look! The reports are in PDF format. I am listing the link to the CCSSI site. They are looking for feedback. Anyone interested?

I was just thinking about the guys who are taking course work now with the PSU/Workforce Ed peeps. What would the discussion be in class about these tentative standards? Would these standards even be a topic for discussion? Would anyone question the validity of the need for these particular standards on a national basis?

Just where would we stand when these are the mandated standards? Would it affect our curricula? Hmmm . . . Or would it . . .

The Common Core State Standards Initiative
http://www.corestandards.org/

And they used one of my very fav poems by Walt Whitman as an example and it is only on page 10 of the following document! I am liking this!

College and Career Readiness Standards for Reading, Writing, and Speaking and Listening
http://www.corestandards.org/Files/ELAStandardsSources.pdf

And that is how I feel today!

I did ok! It is all about "Standards"!

"The Speech" and Me

2009-09-07T22:50:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow, Tuesday, 8 september 2009, will be a day for me to remember long into the future. It is the day that President Barak Obama will address the children of the United States of America about their responsibilities toward their own education. The alarm was sounded on Friday before I left the building when I was asked about "The Speech" by an administrator. What did I know about it and what was the staff discussion about "The Speech". Yes, I knew about the speech. and, yes, I had heard other staff members discussing "The Speech". Some were concerned that the President was going to press his agenda on the kids of America!

Alarm bells should have begun to ring then but I must have been in another time zone. After all it was Friday afternoon and I was on my way to a movie with my nine year old granddaughter. I was looking forward to a weekend with the family. As I was leaving the building, I was stopped by another staff member asking about the Obama speech on Tuesday. Another set of bells.

When I got home I quickly Googled the topic of "The Speech" and found the overview, lesson plans, and the contest that would capstone the whole event. It was easy to deduce what "The Speech" would entail - education, responsibility, goals. . . Some wonderful thought provoking questions and activities. I wasn't worried. There would be nothing subversive in "The Speech". Alarm bells! I should have paid more attention to the whispers - propaganda, subversive material, socialism, Hitler, social state, mind control, brainwash, etc.

The Sunday News was a real shock to me! Front page, above the fold! How were the schools of York County going to handle such a critical speech from the President of the Uniter States. I can't remember a time when I have felt so very distressed about my personal belief that the President would never attempt to brain wash the children of this country, a general shame for the citizenry of this country. The article was definitely an eye opener. And I became curious about the comments that were attached to this article and those alarm bells rang with a clarity that would have frightened even the faintest of heart. I have kept a watch on these comments as they have grown from less than 20 to more than 160.

Those comments rang of fear, racism, facism, and a host of other ideologies, epithets, untruths and threats.

"The Speech" will be watched by myself in my Media Center and I will record it so that it is part of the collection for all to watch, dissect, and perhaps applaud! It is refreshing that someone is going to address the children of this country and ask them to be the best, do better, be responsible, learn, be respectful, do a good job, have educational and life goals, work hard, become educated citizens, not burdens on this society. The comments have warned me to be very circumspect about "The Speech".

"The Speech", I am thinking that it just may be a catalyst for US children to do better. I remember another time in the history of education in these United States and Sputnik was a menace that only education could resolve. Were we really a second rate country then? Are we one now?

What can "The Speech" do for education tomorrow? Will the alarm bells continue to ring? What will the alarm bells fortell? Is my country that fractured?

"The Speech"

And that is how I feel today! Alarmed!

Ps Today was about the Speech!

How Does My PLN Work?

2009-08-22T05:54:00.009-04:00

Ok! Thursday was the pits! But, I'm back to being me!

I was perusing my twitter and I came across an interesting tweet about the blahs of first day activities. I followed the bread crumb trail to the blog and then to the activity itself. I do this regularly. It always is fascinating to me where these things lead. So I felt that this would be a subtle teachable moment for the staff on how I make use of my PLN (just in case you don't know what that is - Professional Learning Network). I emailed the staff the following email to demonstrate how this works.

* * * * *

Hey Youse Guys!

Are you tired of those First Day same-old same-old activities? I was reading a tweet by edteck (Peter Pappas) and was pointed to his blog about using a mystery to introduce the class to each other. Here are the links to this creative way to get the class and you to know one another. It sounds like it would be fun! If you try it, let me know how it turns out.

Marge

First Day of School? Don't Pass Out Books - Problem Solve!

http://peterpappas.blogs.com/copy_paste/2009/08/first-day-school-pass-out-books-problem-solve.html

The Detective Game

http://www.edteck.com/rigor/lessons/detective/index.htm

* * * * *

I hoped that I modeled this strategy for my staff so that they too can do the bread crumb thing for their students! I hope that I am leading the staff in their quest to use technology in a way that will flow down to the kids. This is certainly a way to search for further information - a 21st Century Skill.

And that is how I feel today!

PS It was really about the staff today!

OMG! What A Day!

2009-08-20T20:43:00.005-04:00

Today was a travesty of a day! In one fell swoop, I was told thank you very much for a wonderful job over the past three years as the Technology Coach in the Classrooms for the Future program but with the demise of the program your personal services are no longer needed in that capacity and someone else has been assigned to do the job! That wasn't bad enough! This was said in front of the entire staff (perhaps 150 people including teachers, ancillary staff, and office personnel) during an inservice faculty meeting to talk about building changes.

It would have been nice to have been told prior to the event so that shock and dismay was not evident in my demeanor throughout the rest of the day! Above all things, I try to remain a professional. I had a real hard time with this today!

When I was getting Chemo Therapy, my husband would say every time as I was leaving for a treatment - "Play nice." I will certainly have to play nice with that happening in the back of my mind! But first I will beat the dickens out of the poor pillow into which I have been crying! "Bad word! Bad word! Bad word!"

Life is not fair and I clearly understand that. I still have a wonderful job with an extraordinary group of people! But that doesn't help the hurt.

And that is how I feel today!

PS Yep! Just as I thought! It was a very bad day!

My PLN and Vacation

2009-08-18T21:13:00.004-04:00

While I was on vacation, I neglected to take care of my Google Reader. I left almost all things technology in the cloud! Now, I am making an attempt to catch up on all things technology! I am currently following about 80+ blogs. That is certainly a huge amount but because Google Reader allows me to scan and peruse a brief portion of the blog itself, I can dispense with the blogs effectively and efficiently. Take my favs first and then the prolific! I have discovered that I have become very "up-to-date" on the happenings within the educational arena! YAY!

These are my PLN friends. From 2¢ Worth to Dangerously Irrelevant to Tipline-Gate's Computer Tips to Weblogg-ed, I discovered these bloggers in interesting ways. I looked first of all for people that I had heard at conferences. Those were the "no brainers"! It is interesting that the rest of the family was gained via recommends within these blogs to Twitter microbloggers! Sure, I follow some fun stuff on Twitter but I am also following an eclectic group of educators from around the world who have made me aware that because of them, I know more about my craft than before I was part of the cloud! How very lucky I am.

I wonder how many of my colleagues can say the same?

And that's how I feel today!

PS Looks like today was about blogs!

Going to LFS for today

2009-08-18T08:10:00.001-04:00

This is the posting area for the LFS Training at York Tech.

LFS Training at Tech

Back to School!

2009-08-17T22:24:00.004-04:00

Today was my first official day back! The Cabinet met today and I was on the agenda! My responsibility was to give an overview of the Graduation Project Rubrics that had been developed by the Career Teachers. The staff did a GREAT job on the Presentation Rubrics but did not develop the rubrics for the projects themselves. This will be a challenge for the career staff because there is no model for them to use and they will be individualized and program specific. Big job!

I shared a three wonderful sites with different departments today.

Grammar Ninja - A wonderful grammar game that can be used to warm up the class. It is interactive and can be used with the Promethean Board.

Geosense - A marvelous game place to practice geography - US or World!

SpanishEnglish Beta Database - practice for the Spanish Students.

Today ws a very busy day! I am not looking forward to tomorrow - Learning Focused Schools training - LONG DAY! I hope that we backchannel! It will help keep me focused!

And that is how I feel today!

PS It WAS all about today!

I'm Back!

2009-08-15T21:27:00.005-04:00

I've been doing some family stuff! You know the drill - contact family, set up picnic date and time, shop for stuff, clean, and PARTY! My brother Joe came from Oregon and the family get-together was a BLAST! My house because I have the most room for an event of large family proportions! That was last weekend.

Then, last Sunday, my granddaughter and I, went to the beach (OBX) and to see a castle (Biltmore)! The time was fun and way too short! I tried to stay away from my computer and all of the distractions that it causes! I gave a cursory glance at my Google Reader and it is in overload mode! I now have a gazillion blogs to read! I tried to keep my cell phone usage to pictures and texts to family and friends letting everyone know what fun we had, while away, and that worked until I was in traffic! Then I resorted to my internet access on my phone and Twitter! I am such a pushover!

Now, I am back and school starts on Monday. Where did my summer go? There are headsets waiting to be opened and grouped for staff use, flat screen TV's to be mounted, books to be processed, the Media Center Wiki needs to be updated for the Learning Focused Schools training on Tuesday and Wednesday, and, perhaps I really do need another vacation!

Overwhelmed!

And that is how I feel today!

PS Today was obviously about FAMILY!

I Do Believe

2009-08-05T07:22:00.006-04:00

This summer has been an interesting summer. I haven't been in the building all that much and therefore have only seen people who have asked for help for course work or projects. One of my colleagues took a course in technology use in the classroom and we had a wonderful time talking tools and methods. The one thing that struck me was the uncertainty of the ability of her summer school students to participate in and complete some complex projects. She didn't know if her students would be able to do the things that she wanted them to do. Although she was teaching summer school students, she wanted to try out some assignments using some new tools. We discussed the tools, reviewed how they worked, and discussed the educational projects themselves. She said that she felt more comfortable trying out the strategies in the smaller group than during the hustle and bustle of full day teaching. She was so successful that she laughed at how easy she thought that it will be to replicate the asssignments in her classes in the fall.

She considered herself lucky to be able to try out something new in a very non-threatening environment - small class size, few interruptions of the daily life during the regular school year, and hands-on-help if needed. The biggest thing that I noticed is the real belief that when school starts in a few weeks her students have the ability to do these projects. Her belief system has grown. And that is one of the bases of good teaching practices - the sincere belief that students have the ability to succeed! How successful can a teacher be if they do not have a belief in their students?

My question to the rest of my staff is what are your expectations for your students in the fall. Do YOU believe?

The following came to me in one of my blog readings yesterday!

And that is how I feel today!

PS Here is the Wordle of the day - Students is the winner!

Distractions!

2009-08-03T21:01:00.005-04:00

I have the attention span of an Irish Setter! And I am off and running and never in a straight line!

Started the day off with Twitter! Shared a voice app for Twitter called Chirps. This Twitter tool is for all core subjects. Can't ya hear a Math chirp about FOIL posted to the class tweets!

Next on the list was blog reading made easy via Google Reader! Will Richardson has become my first of the day! He is an eclectic reader and consumate professional! I have decided that geekdom comes with the peril of technoslavery! Yes, I have become attached to all of my cloud accoutrements - hardware and software! When I was finished with the blogs for the day, I had probably weeded through 80 plus entries! That was pretty simple using the Reader - take a peek - read/not read - move on! Attention span was taken care of. How will this work when school starts. . . hmmm?

Throughout the day, I track my Twitter account and discovered that there are people that I am following who are conducting class on Twitter, recommending blog reads, sharing kool stuff, just plain adding to my professionalism. This is really distracting (?) because I am pulled to where ever the tweeter points. I guess that is because I have chosen to follow people that have been recommended by my PLN! I have been careful when add to those I follow on Twitter. That is the secret choose wisely!

I added a gazillion new entries to my Delicious account too! As I read, I may not want to forget something that was significant in some way to me, the kids, my colleagues, the school. This is my job - to keep abreast of the world of education and that which affects it! What do ya think tomorrow will bring?

Check out the new additions to my Delicious! Interesting! Is there something there for you?

And that's what I think today.

PS Today's wordle review! It was all about Twitter!

Mind Boggles

2009-08-02T15:54:00.009-04:00

Where to begin? I find myself checking my Twitter, Facebook and Google Reader occassionally throughout the day! I decided to do that regularly because I never know when something really GREAT will appear. I found myself making a notepad full of thoughts, ideas, and website addresses that I think will be interesting to others as well as to me.

Hmmm . . . (note to self: need followers because no one is listening!?)

My day really started with helping a good friend with his new web page. Pictures say more than words sometimes . . . nope! Always! Never place your back to the words. It makes them seem invisible or unworthy or just not noteable!

My very first blog read note today was to say something about Will Richardson who had an interesting encounter with an apparant luddite! His chat today was about Technoslavery. Yes, I too have a handheld device that keeps me in touch with the cloud universe. Yes, it has presented some interesting comments by onlookers, who, I am sure wished that they could use the time standing in the grocery line - laughing over a friend's Twitter comment or reading an interesting comment in a blog! Rock on, Will!

Then I read about Learning Systems on the Committed Sardines Blog and thought about the statement that I had read in an early summer WR blog - "If we didn't have the schools we have today, would we create the schools we have today?" (2000, Tom Carroll) What do you think? Would we? I would hope not. I vote for the JG statement - "I demand a world class education for my kids!" which requires a teaching paradigm shift and an unprecidented committment to the amoebic like process that we now call education. I truly think that I certainly wouldn't create the walls, in a variety of formats, that I deal with today. And it isn't just the bricks and mortar that are a hinderance. I also think that fear of chaos, NCLB with its high stakes tests and legal ramifications are also walls with which to reckon. Moving on . . .

There are several issues that we are dealing with at Tech that made my blog reading really worthwhile for the staff at Tech:

Teach Paperless, now here is a blog with some real suggestions for assisting to make Tech a paperless environment. When Steve D said that we can do this; people said how? This can help!

How about cheating via computer? 6 Steps on how to reduce cheating on online tests had some good practical advice. Read it!

Are you a somewhat newbie to the tech in the classroom movement? If so this one is for you, Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools for Young Learners. Remember that I usually say take some baby steps. Here are some tools that are simple to use, easy to incorporate, and you won't look like a "newbie" to the kids. Remember, sometimes (?) they are smarter than we are. Introduce the lesson then the tool for the activity, maybe give an example of what it looks like almost done (you did this in the time that you really don't have, but you did it just the same), and let the kids go! Voila! Engaged kids! (Remember, the Media Center has equipment!)

Here are two for the English Department at Tech! (Nahhh! Everybody benefits!):
Daily Writing Tips has short explanations, examples, and two side bars filled with access to articles and categories.
The English Blog has many suggestions, assistance for grammar, spelling, punctuation. Just remember that it is from the UK and is slightly bent eastward. Otherwise, don't we speak the same language?

And finally something that Mr. Rogers and I discussed in the cloud. 2 Million Minutes, thats the time a freshman has until graduation. I will be getting the DVD and posters.

The following two videos demonstrate that failure is not a reason.

It is part of the journey!

Failure and Michael Jordan

and a companion to this video. . .

Famous Failures

And that's how I feel today!
PS Here is today's Wordle and it really was about today!

Thoughts in a Wordle

2009-08-01T02:22:00.004-04:00

I was reading my new ISTE copy of "Learning and Leading" tonight and came across an article called "Words in a Cloud" by Samantha Morra. She mentioned how using Wordle in conjuntion with her writing assignments has generated conversations about the language her students use when writing, prompting her students imperceptibly to revise what they say within their compostion. I thought that I would try it with my blog writing from yesterday, and, guess what? Voice was the biggest word in the lot!

What does that mean to me when I consider what I wrote yesterday? Well, I think that it simply means that I discovered that I have a presence in the cloud! Perhaps todays wordle would start with the word "I" - sort of a self-discovery thing. Wordle.net is another tool to use when writing. It can assist in developing your "voice" in a cloud! WOW!

And that's how I feel today!

PS Wordled todays blog and I was wrong! Today was about WRITING!

Today was Awesome!

2009-07-31T00:49:00.007-04:00

I don't know what to say about today! Perhaps I could describe how elated I felt this week when I had some big names request to follow me on Twitter! Somewhere in the cloud, I have had a voice! How exciting it has been. Yes, I chose to follow the astronauts in space. In return, they are following me. Yes they have many followers and yes they are following many. It is just the thought that someone cares about my voice made me feel important! That is only one example. I can only imagine what kids feel like when someone in the cloud notices their work. WOW! In Jim Gates words, "That is powerful stuff!" Motivation to try again!

On the other hand, I had the opportunity to follow two conferences via CoverItLive this week. Not only that, I also participated in the conversation. I had a voice once again! I was part of the dialogue - part of the conversation!

I can only suggest how to use technologies in the classroom. Until the teachers themselves experience the elation of being a voice in the cloud will they understand my need to continue. I want to be part of the game - a player! What must a kid feel like when they "get in the game"?

And that's how I feel today!

PS I Wordled this blog to see what I thought was important. I guess voice, follow, feel, part, cloud, and conversation were important to me today. Question to self: How will that change? Or, will it?

My PLN and Me

2009-07-29T08:16:00.004-04:00

It has come to my attention that I have become addicted to my PLN (Personal Learning Network). I find it fascinating that a simple tweet or a brief blog comment can send me on a very interesting quest! I have become more brave in the use of Twitter. I don't think that I am a "lurker" anymore. I think that I will try this blogging thing because my blog reads say that it will help in making me write more clearly since a blog should not be any longer than three or four paragraphs max!

I saw a media moment yesterday. It was a conversation between Tom Peters and Seth Godin. Their brief conversation very succinctly described a daily journaling in which I need to become very active! I feel that I need to get good at this so that I am a good example to my colleagues!

And that's how I feel today!