1st Day of School - Leading the Charge

Checking in...

The song "Welcome Back...Welcome Back...Welcome Back!" from Welcome Back Kotter! comes to mind as I reflect on the 1st day of school at Phillip O. Berry Academy.  This is my 2nd year teaching at my school and I have been given the opportunity to teach two classes this semester:  Digital Video Production and Web Design.  Both classes are fun to teach and I am looking forward to them. 

I met my students today and they seem to be very excited about returning back to school to see their friends and for the Senior Class of 2011: Graduation in Sights.  My homeroom is a senior homeroom and it was great to meet them.  They will be a great group and I will do my best to help them as much as possible to accomplish many of their goals this year.

On average, I have 23+ students per class and it will be interesting to make sure all students learn/master the materials that will be provided to my classes this year.  Most importantly, I want to continue to make my classes engaging and fun!

The highlight of the day happened in my 2nd period where I was going over my rules and procedures with my students to set the tone for the year.  During this time, I noticed that a student (a senior) had his cellphone out and he "secretly" tried to text someone during this time.  So, I had to get the phone from him and hold it for the remaining of the day.  I thanked him for serving as an example for things not to do for class for this year.  I guessed I was a bit shocked because it was the 1st day of school and this student tried to "test" me and you know I had to get him.  Otherwise, the students observing would have thought I would be a "push over" for the remainder of the year.  You know that is not the case and that won't fly! (smile)

Other than that, the 1st day of school was great and I'm looking forward to the next day to share knowledge and inspiring students to learn.

Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts.

Checking out...

Fine: It's Done and Official!!!

Hello all and I'm checking in!

"It's hard to say goodbye to yesterday..."  - Boyz II Men

It seems like yesterday when I reflected on the moment of thinking about applying to graduate school, flying to LA to attend VirtCamp, and going to through a condensed 1 year hybrid graduate program at Pepperdine University.  All I can say is, "I'm so glad I did!"  My classmates and I from Cadre 12 journeyed into another adventure and got along so well that other MALT Alumni and Faculty members thought this couldn't be real.  Pepperdine University MALT Cadre 12 is the Real Deal and I am so glad this is my Crew aka La Familia!  I miss them a bunch and it feels odd not being in classes/meetings Monday-Wednesday with them.  Trust me!  We had a bunch of fun!

I wrote this to say that I am grateful for Cadre 12 and those MALT/OMET Alumni who have paved the way!  Most importantly, thank you God for my wife and family who supported me during this challenging but rewarding journey!  I look forward to the many "Learning Adventures" that lie ahead for me as an educator and technology steward.

In closing, Cadre 13 is next on deck and I look forward to the great things that will come about from this group.  I ask that they lean and learn from each other to make it through.  Your journey will involve us all.

Take care and I'm checking out!

Peace and Blessings...

Senior Awards Day Presenter...

On Friday, May 28, 2010, I was asked to fill-in as the awards presenter for our Academy of Information Technology.  It was more of an honor than just a task to do for the 2010 graduating class of Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology.

Funny moment:  As a fill-in, you're not going to be on the program and they are going to call out a name of the individual to present but you have to introduce yourself instead.  I wasn't nervous and I had fun presenting the awards for the top seniors in the National Technical Honor Society (NTHS), IT Courses, and Cardinal Connection broadcast team.

At first, I thought I had to present once but, I had to present 3 times.  So, imagine yours truly getting up in front of the audience once as someone else and 2 more times as myself.  I'm so glad that I wore my GQ tailored suit to look presentable regardless if I would have fumbled on my words or not. (smile)

Overall, it was a great program and it was great to see that my students that I had an opportunity to teach were receiving awards and scholarships.  This graduation class had been awarded a total amount of $4.5 million dollars of scholarship monies.  Again, I am very proud of them and I am honored to be one of their teachers.

"Best Teacher Award" goes to...

It's Thursday, May 27, 2010 and this is the day that I planned to provide refreshments for my students for working very hard and making my 1st year at Phillip O. Berry a memorable one.  This is one of my rewards for my students who work hard and play hard.  Again, each of my class periods had refreshments and each of the students had took a moment to express their experiences in my class(es) and what they learned.  Let me just say they were very thankful for me being their teacher this year and some were saddened to the fact that they couldn't take the same class again for credit. (smile)  The kicker to this day was when my students presented me with a small token of appreciation in a form of a certificate and a huge carnival lollipop.  The certificate says "Best Teacher Award" goes to Mr. Flowers.

Here's a picture of me showing how happy I was to receive this award: 

This let me know that I don't teach for the $$$$ nor for the decision makers in our district.  I truly serve as an educator to help our students learn and prepare them to be future leaders in technology.  My students will always have a special place in my heart for their gratitude.

Thank you God for allowing me this opportunity to serve as an educator.

NASCAR and My AR...

Each year around the week before the Memorial Day Weekend, Charlotte, NC becomes the centerpiece of racing for NASCAR fans from around the world to support their favorite drivers.  The two key races that Charlotte is host of within this two-week span are the Sprint All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600.  As a kid, I remember that I would always watch NASCAR on television but, I never been to a race in person.  My father would take me to the car shows and to a few drag strip races but, I never been to a NASCAR race.  I owned a Tyco race track and I would act as if I was a driver in NASCAR for hours.  WooHoo!!! 

Now it's 2010 and I have 3 sons who seem to enjoy watching NASCAR on Fox whenever there is a televised race.  Three years ago, I decided to go to my first NASCAR race with my oldest son Jaden and my brother Marcus.  The race we went to happened to be the Sprint All-Star race which is only 100 laps and the drivers race at night.  The cool thing about NASCAR in person is that everyone was having a great time with family and friends.  Before we could get out of our car good, we were greeted by some fans of Dale Earnhardt, Jr and Jimmy Johnson.  They invite us to their tailgate area and we had a great time before we stepped into the Charlotte Motor Speedway (Lowe's Motor Speedway was the previous name).  Again, we had too much fun for a 1st time experience.  Jaden and I have attended 2 more Sprint All-Star Races since our 1st race in 2008 and each one gets better and better.

At this year's race with Fantasia singing the National Anthem and Michael Jordan waving the Green Flag to start the race, I was sitting there with my son Jaden with the excitement of stock cars going around a 1.5 mile track at speeds up to 190 mph @ 700 hp.  It is such an adrenaline rush as a fan particularly if you can imagine sitting in the cars with the drivers.  In addition to my focus on the cars, I had a few thoughts about how NASCAR is a metaphoric subject that I can speak about towards my action research project.  I know I mentioned to my Learning Circle Team (Mike and Nick) that I was going to compare my AR to Gears and this idea led to my thinking of NASCAR as my metaphor to use in my elevator speech for my AR instead.

Here's a draft of my Action Research Elevator Pitch with my metaphor of NASCAR:

Come take a ride with me to Charlotte, Daytona, and Talladega.  These are the famous places where I have been.  Within a year, 23 of us from around the country have gone through multiple races for the ultimate win.  By following a pace car 3 times around, this helped me to get a good grasp of an action and start from the ground.  My crew chief Margaret R. provided advice and feedback of my turns.  My Cadre 12 crew assisted me with any changes needed and supplied fuel to help me understand several theories on how everyone learns.  In my community of practice, I was sponsored from A to Z to put a logo or seal of approval on my work.  From those sponsors who helped in the process, the truth was told and no feelings were hurt.  Establishing a legacy like those of Earnhardt, Petty, and Waltrip have come to mind.  Through this season, I shifted gears from gaining the trust of others in a PLC to incorporating a technology framework for others to use over time.  The stock car that I drove has been touched by many with a different hue.  The waving of green was not the driving force for starting my work but, the black & white in the checkered flag did let me know that I am finishing through.  This is not about NASCAR! It's all about my AR!

Hello ladies and gentlemen.  My name is Juan Flowers and my action research as a 1st year teacher at Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology in Charlotte, NC consisted of 3 cycles to help me bring "Educational Technology Tools into the Classroom to Help Students Learn."  The 1st cycle involved me meeting new and seasoned teachers in my PLC and other PLCs to introduce myself and gain their trust while learning about their experience with technology.  My 2nd cycle involved introducing different Web 2.0 tools and resources to teachers within and outside my PLC and for them to provide their feedback.  My final cycle involved developing a framework of the tools approved of/used by the teachers and their students to help them enhance the learning of different subjects being taught through the use of technology.

It's a new day...It's a new daaaaaaaaaaaay!!!

As I'm sitting here typing this entry, reflecting, and reading articles/books about "Action Research," I'm just happy to announce that God is great and he continually needs to be praised. This is my faith talking and it's proven to me again how I need to keep this strong.

To make a long story short, I did receive the phone call from HR last Thursday (7/30) to congratuate me about my employment for the school year (2009-10) with the same school that I taught at previously. The principal stepped in on my behalf to get me back to his school and I'm truly thankful for the opportunity to help inspire new leaders in areas of Education and Information Technology.

This moves us ahead to today, I met with my HR Recruiter and signed my contract to solidify my start date and FT employment. My role will be a CTE - Computer Engineering Technology Educator and I'm looking forward to this opportunity. It brings joy to my heart to know that I have been given another chance to make a difference in young people's lives in the classroom. My start date is two weeks from now (8/18/2009) and the 1st day of school is (8/25/2009). Again, I'm looking forward to it and I'm amped right now just thinking about the opportunities that I plan to bring to students and faculty to enhance their experiences at the school.

While I was in the Education Building today, I visited some of my colleagues to share with them the good news. With the good news, I may have stumbled upon a great idea for an Action Research project that will involve "Digital Citizenship" within my school district. Again, I've been talking to a few key persons about an idea of what I want to do and I'm gathering data as I go along to solidify my "AR Outline."

Lastly, I'm very ecstatic as you can see. I'm overjoyed and I truly feel blessed with the opportunities that have "panned" out thus far and I'm only looking towards greater things to come. Keep me in your prayers to stay focused and humble through it all.

"It's a new day...It's a new daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!" Thank you Wyclef for this song because it flowed so well with my events and thoughts for today.

Thank you for allowing me to express my thoughts.

Signing off...

JF

Oh, what a great first class...

All I can say is, "Oh, what a great first class." As many times we test chatted on Skype as a cadre for two nights straight to make sure all is going to be well for our first class with our professor, Murphy's Law generally comes in mind here in a humorous sense. Usually, Skype allows users to use a voice chat feature to verbally speak and hear from others clearly without any echos or disruptions. As a class, we learned that technology can have a "mind of its own." We expect it to work. When it doesn't, it can be a very interesting time trying to troubleshoot a problem(s) that occur. After 10-15 minutes of class, we put our minds together and figured out that the version numbers of Skype had to be 2.8 for MAC users and 4.1 for PC users.

To move things along, we had a text chat class that became the "brainchild" of cognition greatness and Texting Olympics to see who could type the fastest to get points across. It was a great experience. The topics of discussion were about 1) Distributed learning, 2) Distributed cognition/Cognition, and 3) the differences between them. The dialogue and questions asked by the class and our professor brought out some very interesting thoughts.

To reflect my thoughts in this blog about technology, it reminds me of the many of years that I have helped 1000s of customers resolve problems over the phone in the mid to late 90s as a support engineer. I would know what our technology was supposed to do but you wouldn't know what you would expect from the customers calling in with their problem(s). Some of the problems would be new without a known solution and others would be known issues with document solutions in the knowledge base. At the end of the day, it would be all worth it because you became more knowledgeable about issues and you were able to "ramp" up and collaborate with others about these issues to make everyone better prepared based on feedback given from other engineers.

My reflection about learning about the key concepts/topics talked about in class reminded me of my freshman year as an undergrad sitting in my Humanities class and my professor would question the class what was considered a competency and what was an assessment. This question would push me to read, read, and read more about what these were. Our professor was a bit challenging and I see this being very similar to what we will have to do as a Cadre to come up with our Action Research projects and do a lot of reading.

Again, I'm still excited about this class and the potential of greatness that will be shared to the world after this is all said and done. I'm reading the assigned reading again to make sure I am comprehending what has been documented for us to help us gather our thoughts about what action research and learning is all about.


Again, thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts.


Signing off...

JF

Be happy...Never satisfied!

Today is my 8th wedding anniversary and I am happy to celebrate it with my wife. It's an honor to be with her and I can only do my part as a husband and a dad to keep it going for more years to come. Through God, I know it will since he ordained it from the beginning. I thank my wife for putting up with my flaws. No one is perfect but, we should all strive for excellence in our lives daily. I can only ask God to help me stay focused on the "prize" and to give Him the glory.

I reflect on this day as a new beginning. I wouldn't have thought after 8 years of marriage and 3 children later that I would be pursuing a Master's degree nor would I think about transitioning into my calling as an educator. I got a phone call today from the Principal of my school and he mentioned to me that he wanted to know if I was interested in coming back to teach in a different academy. Of course, I said, "Yes!" Later that day, HR called me to confirm my decision. So, I'm waiting on the final confirmation.

Bottom Line: "God has the ultimate say-so!"

Again, I say, "Be happy...Never satisified." You cannot limit God and His Righteousness. When we think small, He will show up big make our hard work and determination worth it all.

Signing off...

JF

What I am Going To Do...? Pray!!!

Today is a moment for me to check off my list of things to do to make sure I'm ready to start my graduate program with my Cadre. I received my financial assistance and I'm thankful for it. Assistance is good but, more assistance is better when it comes to paying for your education.

I can only hope for a miracle to help my family and I pursue this grand opportunity. I can recall that my undergraduate education being "paid for" without any worries. Now, that I'm pursuing a graduate degree, it seems that I can't find a scholarship or grant to supplement the awarded financial aid to ease the frustration that I'm feeling today. I can only pray, ask God what's next, and tune in.

Signing off...

JF

Last Day @ VirtCamp (Cadre Camp) and Heading Home...

After all the hard work earlier this week, we finally are to the last day (7/18). As I type this up, I'm reflecting on my grand experience of meeting new people and a great week of camp in Malibu, CA. As Cadre 12, we have alot of talent that was displayed through our final LEGO Robot projects and team videos.

Our LEGO robot named, "StageCoach" which started leg #1 to transport LEGOman to the next robot without any user intervention. All the hard work paid off once we saw the action in motion. Hi-Fives everywhere and smiles from everyone was a great sight to see. It reminded me of a party moreso than a project final. It was fun and rewarding after it was all said and done.

All of our teams' videos were great. My immediate team's video was titled, "Way of the Ninjahh!!!" All of our hard work came to life on the "silver screen" and I have to thank Fabiola and Nick for being great partners this week. They were very professional and fun to work with. I look forward to working with them in the near future.

After the videos, we ate lunch and took plenty of photos to capture our "great moments" as Cadre 12. Again, we have a great group and I couldn't ask for a better team to go through this program with. Everyone has a unique gift to bring to this program and I'm glad to be a part of it.

Lastly, we had the opportunity to "check in" and say our final words to summarize our week and what we look forward to for the months ahead. It felt like a family reunion that came to an end for the week before everyone had to go home to their destinations.

After turning keys in, a few of us headed out to Dukes Grill and Bar
on the Malibu Coast to enjoy the scenery of the Pacific Coast. What a nice
view!!! All I can say is "Wow!!!"

Fabiola took me to the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, CA since she lived on that side of town. I was thankful for her taking me there and not to worry about a shuttle fare (~$49). She looked out for me and got me there in great time.

As I sat in my seat on the plane and it had me thinking; "Now the work begins!!!" I had plenty of time to reflect on what's next en route to Phoenix. Note: Phoenix had dust storms that were causing all types of delays going there but, we landed safe and sound. Thank God!!! My layover in Phoenix was 3 hours so, I just relaxed and took it all in: The Pepperdine Experience. Got back in Charlotte, NC at 6:30 am EST/3:30 am PST and saw my family. I was glad to see them and we went to our 7:00 am Worship Service to praise God for all that He does daily. It feels great to be home.

Signing off...

Day Four - LEGO Robot Practice and Celebrations...

As I write to express about how I am feeling, it gives me a great pleasure to reflect on the importance of this graduate program to-date. Each day this week, I have woke up and looked outside the condo to see another great view of the Pacific Ocean and Pepperdine University. The view constantly reminds me on how great life is. There has been been an ocean to see but, there seems to be a different vista every morning. With the Pacific giving me a new look to see each morning, it reminded me that life comes at you differently on a`daily basis no matter who you are.

Today was pretty cool. We mainly performed test runs on our Lego Robot (Stagecoat) time after time to sync it up with our teammates that are responsible of parts 2-4). Since my team is responsible for part 1, we have to make sure that we have programmed our LEGO Robot to start it and it worked off/on. During this process, it allowed me to reflect on the time where I had to practice playing my trumpet in order to get better and ready for a class concert. Playing trumpet was not easy for me but, I gave it my all to learn the song prepared for us. Wouldn't you know that I overcame a huge fear of mine which was playing in front of hundreds of people because I've always strived for excellence. So, there are building blocks in life that help us become more involved to enhance our personal and professional development.

The moral of this posting is to remember to live your life with what you have to offer and not to let an obstacle stay in your way from reaching your goal(s) to become successful. Imagine that it took Thomas Edison approximately 1000 times before the light bulb worked.

Thank you for allowing me to share.

Signing off...

JF

Dia Tres with the Cadre

As I sit here thinking, I must say that is was very informative. It was very interesting to see all the tools/websites that we are going to use to help assist for our learning circle, cohort, and cadre. The information that we were given pertaining to the syllabus, book list, web tools/sites reminded me of my 1st year in college sitting in Freshman Orientation for quite sometime. You're just thankful for the day to move along and for it to progress forward.

Today's activities were fun and productive. We were assigned time to build our student web site which will be used to serve as a portal of learning but, to uniquely design your site with some flair. This exercise reminded me on when I first developed my 1st website with Notepad back in 1995. Oh, there was challenges with HTML web editor and we worked through those challenges. I am so proud for my learning circle and cohort team members. We all stepped it up today. In my previous years, I was introduced to FrontPage 1.0 which allowed users to choose this tool and design websites via WYSIWYG. Oh, what fun it is to recall imagery to reflect self-reflection . I've had fun designing websites for others but, I would not know how to begin about designing the websites locally until they can pbe posted later.

The next activity was to transfer information for the Lego Robot. Our Lego Robot is called StageCoach since it will serve as the catalyst for the whole representation of people, money, etc., Once we were able to get everything set, we assisted other teams to help towards completing the tasks. Through it was for the W, I still found it interesting. The bottom line is to: Plan, Plan, and Plan for your education and careers. Keep Art and Music in education. Again, we had to test, test, and test our model by compiling the code and the code to transfer to the "yellow brick".

Overall, we had a great day and I look forward to what God blesses me with to be a great student and leader here at Pepperdine as well as the world.

Thank you for your time.

Signing Off...

JF

Oh What a Day 2...

All I can say is that today has been a very busy but, fun day!!! From the start, we have been busy working on team lego robots for our learning circle and partnering up with our cohort team to verify that each of our robots will pass along LegoMan to the finish line. Again, this exercise is part of our Ninja Warrior theme, too. Our Lego Robot's name is called StageCoach 1.0. It will be the catalyst of our journey.

As much as I watch the TV Show Iron Chef America, we actually had to design a dish with "surprise" ingredients that reflected the sense of Community. My team designed a Community Garden which reflected the center of pride and progress of success. Although, we didn't win this challenge, our team was very proud of our dish.

Lastly, we had to design our web banner that will reflect and represent who we are. This is usually an easy task for me but, it seemed that I had some minor challenges with what would be an ideal web banner that would represent me as well as reflect my experience as a graduate student at Pepperdine. I can assure you that I am pleased with my efforts for today.

I am truly enjoying my experience here with my learning circle group and Cadre (class). It's been challenging today but, it will be well worth it in the end.

Oh what a blessing to wake up and be "vertical" again. Thank you God for another day to make a difference. I'm looking forward to our next challenges...

Signing off...

JF

1st Day @ MALT Cadre Camp

After a long day of flying starting at 6:45 EST/3:45 PST and settling in on campus at 4:00 pm EST/1:00 pm PST, I am now sitting in my first session with my classmates from Cadre 12. I am very excited about this program and I'm glad that I made the choice to pursuit this graduate program.

The campus is astonishing. They don't call this place the "most beautiful campus in the United States" for nothing. The ocean view from my condo is phenomenal. Imagine that you are on top of a "world" and all you see is the campus and panoramic ocean views.

So far, I have met at least 24 out of 25 students in my class and my group comes from all across the United States. My two classmates that are in my assigned learning circle are: Nicholas Mattos and Fabiola Torres. Both of them are from Los Angeles, CA. We did our 1st introduction videos around the theme of the TV show Ninja Warrior. Very interesting to say the least but, it was fun and memorable.

As I type this, I am thankful for this opportunity that God has presented before me. I understand that pursuing this graduate program at Pepperdine University is not only for my own benefit. It will definitely help me grow and help me explore new opportunities to develop future leaders in education and technology.

Lastly, I look forward to the opportunities to meet/greet my classmates more to establish a great rapport with them and to knowledge share ideas that supporting each other to be successful in this program and beyond.

Signing off...

JF