Yeah, I missed Friday.  My wife had a couple of appointments in which she needed a driver.  Nothing major by any means, but I was with her, a nice feeling in itself.

And honestly, I’ve been struggling.  Now, I’ve said that before,  but it seems unlike other years, the pile gets deeper and deeper.  I talked with another staff member and she said the exact same thing, more things are being assigned and expected, which leads to less and less time for anything else.  “It’s scraping off the top of the pile to have it recovered and then some.” You never get to the bottom.  Ever.

That being said, one of the things that gets me “jacked up” (I love that) for the week, Iowa Ed Chat (#IAedchat) on Twitter.  I love the various chats that I participate in throughout the week.  There are some majorly awesome people who are out there, connected, and doing great things.  The Iowa chat is a little different because, well, it’s Iowa.  It’s where I live, where I teach, and where I made the choice to raise my kids.  I’ve met a few of the people on this chat face to face, heck, gotten hugs from people whom I’ve only known via Twitter!  That alone makes it a pretty awesome.

This chat takes place Sunday nights, 8 – 9 PM C.S.T. and I think that makes a huge difference for me.  It’s around that time I’m starting to slow down and get ready to for the evening.  That time slot just makes it hard not to go to bed with a positive attitude and wake up that same way.  Judging by the amount of teachers who take part, I’m not alone in this feeling.

Finally, it’s a general attitude with the participants who are part of this chat that brings me back.  It’s not that other chats aren’t welcoming, far from it.  The Arkansas state chat (#ARKedchat), the Missouri state chat (#MOedchat),  the Minnesota state chat (#MNedchat), and a great chat from Livingston County, Michigan (#LIVedchat) all are great at keeping track of their regulars and really working to improve their craft through some real thought provoking questions.  With #IAedchat, there’s just something hard to explain.  Maybe it’s because I’m getting primed for the week and this chat just adds to it, I’m not sure.  There’s just an energy about talking with those in my home state, people I’ve met face to face, that adds something extra to it.

There’s my positive, a few days late, but positive all the same.  This Friday’s positive though falls on Halloween.  Not sure how that’s going to work AFTER a Halloween party, so we’ll see what kind of positive I can bring out after that event! 🙂