Music and Marine Biology

It's been a month, exactly, since I have had a chance to write.  That's not entirely true.  It's been a month since I made the time to write.  It's been a weird realization, getting anxious when I haven't shared thoughts online about learning and education or from some random series of events in my life.  I am, however, glad the anxiety is there because I do not want to stop writing.

I allowed life to get in the way a bit.  Here are a few fun and interesting things I have done recently:

• The first cohort of Change.School (CS1) ended.  I really grew to love and appreciate this community of education leaders.  I made some amazing connections and continue to share ideas.
• I embraced a balanced personal and professional life, and I went out of town for a beach trip during Memorial Day weekend.  I had an amazing time on my first visit to Fire Island.
• I worked my butt off during the heat wave last week into yesterday, walking at least 7 miles a day, sometimes 13, to ensure that my middle school students were registered for their high school credit exam.  Last crew took their exam today.  So proud of them all!
• And I found a new apartment in Brooklyn.

No surprise though, learning has been on my mind.  I was escorting a young lady in middle school to take a high school exam today.  She is quirky, but so great to talk with.  On our way to the test site, I was asking her about her high school plans.  She plans on being a Marine Biologist, and by taking her high school classes early and testing out of them, it will allow time to take Marine Bio courses a year earlier, and have time for AP classes, too.  My, my, she is driven.  I asked her, "Why Marine Biology?"

NK's Story
When I was younger, I was SCUBA trained and certified.  On a trip with my family, we boarded a boat that took us miles out to sea.  We stopped over water that was 12 meters deep, but it was as clear blue as the sky.  I slid into the water, and about 6 feet from me was a whale shark.  It was so much bigger than I thought it would be!  I swam next to it, and touched it, but it's so huge that I didn't even register to it.  As I swam beside it, I just, disappeared.  I knew, in that moment, Marine Biology was what I was going to make my life's work.

"Wow, [NK], that sounds amazing."  So many pictures were flying through my head, so many possibilities for new adventures.  I began thinking about getting SCUBA certified myself.  NK was, of course, full of information to guide me toward learning this new skill.  She also was insistent that the experience would change me.  

How do you say no to that?

How can we say no to kids being able to drive their own learning?  How can we not believe that kids can drive our learning?  Help them explore passions and interests - both their own, and those they don't know they don't know.

Are you learning anything new right now?  I know that I am working my fingers to death trying to learn to play the banjolele.  I'm able to play 3 chords now, and I can kinda switch between them.  Now somehow, I have to figure out when I can fit in SCUBA.  Apparently, it is going to be worth it, or so an expert told me.

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