Here we go, again. I have a brand new Conversation-Changer: Challenge a school community to write 1,000 thank you notes in 7 days. These ideas just come to me and I get curious. I can’t help it so I’ve decided to work with it and see what we can do to connect with one another. After all, that is what a community is.

1,000 Thank Yous – WATCH the video & TAKE the Challenge! 

This is my conversation:

Can we do this? Of course we can!

What difference could it make?  If I am excited enough, I think others will be, too.

Really? Why now? It’s a busy time. Exactly because it is a busy time, we need this MORE now, precisely because it is a busy time. This is the time when we get caught up in things like grades, finals, shopping, worries about money, having stuff or not.

So, here we go. I’m committed to make this happen. Once I get the idea out there, we will see where everyone takes it.

I want to change the world, but I can do it alone!  I need help! What to join me in this mission? Someone out there needs to hear your message. How about it?

My Gaudy Goal

• 7 days – 1,000 Thank Yous (per school)

HOW MANY schools can we get to take the 1,000 Thank Yous Challenge?

Let’s look at the definition:

I am so excited to be organizing a celebration for my school! I have thought about this for years, but never took action. I am in action now. What fun we are going to have! We will see where this goes! My invitation is made. I have a Facebook event. Now to send them out and see what happens!  At the least, I think people will get a giggle out of the penguin picture! We need to giggle more!

Check out the details of this new campaign! HOT Celebrations – Honor Our Teachers

As a teacher, I have the honor of working with hundreds of students each year. These students constantly inspire me with their passions and determination to impact the world. At the beginning of school, one of my new students came up to me with an idea she had for a mural to speak out against gun violence. Her ideas were fresh and filled with her passion to help people. She had so many ideas, I could barely keep up with them. Hearing her ideas shows me the power young people have, the ideas that they create, the impact they will have on the world. Being able to guide these powerful young adults to share with the world is exciting because I know they will make a difference, a big difference. Best wishes to the beginning of another powerful Conversation-Changer! The possibilities are limitless!

I am so very happy to have created a new flyer which highlights a few of our projects. What is so exciting to me is that my students bring them to life.  Thank you Marielle, Leonard, Julie, Juliette, and Noelle for sharing your smiles and beautiful energy.  You are the power behind this program.  You are so inspiring and are making a difference in the lives of so many others, Thank you for who you are.  I am so fortunate to spend so much time with you!

You are why I teach!

Je vous aime!  Merci pour tout votre enthusiasm et esprit.

Bises.

Service Learning Projects flyer 2015

As we walked into the Kiva auditorium, the evening before our presentation with Candy Chang for the New Mexico Municipal League Key note address, I was overwhelmed by the size of the space,  the number of seats, the stage with risers and a small podium. The thought that I would be a that podium in 16 hours was surreal. The whole experience was surreal. We would be  on stage with an amazing woman who changed the world, including ours, with her “Before I die I want to…” Project.

As we walked down to the stage to practice our talks, we walked in front of the first row seats. Several were reserved.  When I saw the one with my name on it, right next to Candy Chang’s I was flooded with the reality that I was in a special place, a very real place, on I never imagined.  I was moved to tears as it was such an honor for me to be sitting with amazing woman that I greatly admired because she makes a difference in the world with everything she creates.

It was amazing to me to think that my journey to this place of honor started with an invitation, with my inviting my French friends to my school for a community celebration.  It was at that moment that I discovered my friend was bringing Candy to Albuquerque for an annual conference, a private conference that was then opened up to us. Inviting my friends was actually a stretch for me. I wasn’t sure that anyone would be interested in coming to my high school for an evening event. I was so wrong, a point which reinforced my confidence that sharing is the best thing we can do despite our feelings of insecurity or doubt.

My speaking out about our project with that invitation opened up new worlds for me and my students. Candy shared her ideas, we shared ours and we were brought together as a result, a beautiful result.