Overwhelmed By Kindness

The text pinged in on my phone (actually it we do wee wo so…yes yes… R2D2… Stop laughing…I know…I can’t help it) 

TEXT: Can Francine come over for a playdate on Friday?

Francine had been dear friends with this little girl in kindergarten. The change in grades and then into different classrooms for 1st grade had made it tough for the friendship to continue to blossom.

I knew didn’t even need to ask Francine (my 6 year old), though. I knew she would 100%, without hesitation want to go over to her friends house.

MY REPLY: Of course!!! She would love to see her!

As soon as my finger hit the send key my heart sank.  

What about Olivia (my 7 year old)?  

I would be at work and she didn’t have a play date of her own.  She isn’t going to like this!  Telling Francine that she has a play date and then telling Olivia…sorry sweetie you don’t have a play date was NOT going to be fun!

Wait!

I thought for a moment. Olivia has her wonderful, long time, we only get to see on days off, since they go to different schools but are like kindred spirits friend…

Nahhhhhh

Sighhhhhh.

Wait… Maybe…just maybe….nahhhh.

Grrrr…

What was I going to do?!!

Maybe I could.

Nahhhhh I couldn’t.

Could I??!!!…

I just got done telling Olivia that it is rude to invite yourself over to other peoples houses.

Sigghhhhhhhh

How am I going to do this without being rude??

So I took a deep breath and just said it like it was.  I texted Olivia’s friend’s mother and told her about Francine’s play date. I explained the situation and how Olivia didn’t have one.  Then I told her I knew what I was doing was very forward of me but I asked her please could she have Olivia over on Friday.  Then I apologized profusely for my forwardness and told her over and over again that I would make it up to her the next time there was a day off.   I knew I would owe her BIG!

In a couple of hours my phone rang (YES!  it was not a normal ringer…the popcorn song from the Muppets Movie….shut up!).

“Hello….”

It was Olivia’s friends mother. Without hesitation, without concern for me to repay this favor, without any thought but that this is what friends do she said yes.  My heart lit up.  Olivia would be giddy to have a play date with her friend and my world of motherhood with two daughters would remain peaceful and drama free.  Most of all I was deeply moved by the selfless, each word that told me not to worry about it and overwhelmed me with her unconditional kind act she did without hesitation for me.

It is an act of kindness I will never forget.

It is an act of kindness I will seek to pay forward to other mothers.

It is a feeling I want other mothers to know and feel…that we are in this together. That we are here for each other. That sometimes we just meet people that are willing to without hesitate an unselfish act of kindness.

It is an act that I will be certain to share with someone else!

Unexpected Kindness

Road Closed

Piloting being a 1:1 iPad classroom* and being an almost completely paperless classroom left me filled me up and wanting more. It inspired me to be a risk taker, it inspired me to follow a brewing passion (technology…duh?!!) and it pushed me to go big, prove to everyone, to show everyone that if the students in my classroom can accomplish this, do this, be successful at this then anyone can…everyone should!!! Quite frankly, the end of last years’ school year was career and life changing for me.

When the new school year began this year I was filled up with idea, inspiration and a ton of tricks I was going to try in my classroom.  We were going to seriously rock it as a 1:1 iPad.  Only I forgot to do one thing…. I forgot to check to make sure that I would even be able to be a 1:1 iPad classroom. Call me naive, call me dumb, say duhhh Carrie, but I seriously believed that if we seriously rocked the 1:1 iPad pilot …I mean rocked it so hard the audiences would cheer and clap and break down the stage if we didn’t come back out for an encore rocked it there would be no way that our technology awesomeness could be denied. Well it was and not just in a just wait a bit it will happen or maybe next year style…it was a road block. Full on stop traffic.

I thought about crying in a vat of coffee and piles of chocolates or get so mad I’d bust, but really neither of those would solve my problem…coffee and chocolate are so very nice though. We were a classroom full of skilled iPad users/paperless classroom with some access to iPads and we would no longer be able to be paperless. What was I going to do…

I decided that I was going to ignore this stupid road block and take it upon myself to find away around it. It might take longer, it might mean I’ll have to ask for direction, it might mean we have to conquer some mountains but gosh darn it we were loading up the car and we were going to get there. We were going to get back to being a 1:1 iPad classroom.

First I reassessed any students who were not already being evaluated for assistive technology. Were there any other students (last year we identified two) that if we took the technology away from them it would significantly impact their organization, their access to information, their participation in class etc. We identified two more.

Second (and this was super hard for me) I had to have a talk with my students who would not qualify for assistive technology. I explained to them the situation and told them that we would still be using technology, we would work together to pick a preferred technology tool and they would become an expert at it. It would have to be a tool that was accessible by desktop. We would also go back to hand writing notes and worksheets.

Third I decided I needed to stay ahead of the game. I needed to continue to use all the new tools and techniques I was learning about. I needed technology stayed ever present and an active part of every period, every lesson, conversations…an ever present tool.

Fourth (and final) I was going to make sure I made and took opportunities to teach others. I was going to make sure I took opportunities to work with my peers, help them figure out technology, how to use something, how to create with something. I was going to work with our tech person to make opportunities for me to help her or for me to teach staff some of the tools I use with students.

…most of all I was not going to give up. I would keep sharing, keep talking, keep asking, keep moving forward with as much technology because road blocks can’t last forever and if they do I’ll just find a way around them!

RoadBlock

 

A Note about the post… I am fully aware of  how very lucky I am as an educator to work in the district I work in.  I am also extremely grateful for the tools  and technology that I have to teach with.  Technology is an amazingly fantastic tool that is powerful and has so very much to offer students.  When you know the technology is there and you know its potential its hard to not have it.  I also know money doesn’t grow on trees! 

*A classroom that each student has their own individual iPad to use, in many cases (in mine) the students are allowed to also bring them home to use

I Can Do It All By Myself

“Really? Sunday?! I don’t know,” he said with a deep sigh “Our Sunday is already so packed busy and there’s football. I’d miss it! “

“That’s okay. I talked to my friend and she said we can move it ourselves,” I replied confidently.

Sunday came along I was ready to do it all by myself.

“I’m coming with you,” he insisted. “I want to make sure you can drive that truck.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve driven U-Haul moving truck before. I can do it,” I insisted back giving him the stare…you know… the I’m serious about this stare because…

I could do it all by myself!

“Ok, I’m still coming with you,” he said like he knew something I didn’t.

“Ok. If you really think you need to!” I answered.

We picked up the moving truck from the local U-Haul. It was big but not too big. I was confident that I could drive it myself. So what if it was raining cats and dogs. So what if I had to take the highway to get to my friends house. So what if I could only use the side mirrors to change lanes and couldn’t check my blind spots.

I was going to do it all by myself!

Satisfied that I would be okay driving the truck (or done arguing with me about what I can and cannot do) he followed me in the car to my friends house.

I managed to make it to my friends house without running anybody off the road, cutting anybody off, having to slam on the brakes, or causing any crashes…and I didn’t get lost!  Win Win Win!!

See I could do it myself!

Safe and sound at my friends house I could hardly wait to get it onto the truck and get it home.

“It doesn’t look too heavy,” I say with a smile looking up to see my husband give me the are you freakin’ kidding me look?!

An easy push down the short entryway to the front door, through the front door and over the first step…

“That wasn’t too bad!” I said smiling, “It was easy.”

We could have totally done this all by ourselves.

“Easy???” My husband said as sweat drips from his forehead.

“Maybe he lifted it more than I thought,” I considered for a second… “nahhhhhhh”

Down the second step my husband gives me another…seriously you really got this look… followed up with an I’m the real muscle here Carrie gaze.  I ignored him and kept pulling it down the sidewalk pathway toward the truck.

We could have totally done this all by ourselves.

Up steep ramp that it just barely fit up and almost fell off of.

On to the truck.

Secured in the truck.

Another 30 miles to our house.

As we backed the truck in our driveway, I remembered the ramp it would barely fit down, looked at the pathway to our front door, saw the two stairs up to our front doorway and was suddenly giddily relieved to see our neighbor pull in his driveway and over joyed when he asked if he could help because…

photo

DON’T TELL MY HUSBAND! 

 

 

Pigs Do Fly

I still write in my about me section of any of my bios…

“Three years ago my friend thought it would be a great idea to start a blog together. With a deep breath and fear that all the weirdos in the world would start stalking me or come to my house and kidnap my children we started blogging together and Laverne was born…”

That single moment when I took a deep breath and hit the publish key as Laverne for the first time still brings back a flood of deep emotion. Looking back and remembering becoming Laverne, the memories of stories shared in this space and the discovery of words and the voice they have given me brings tears to my eyes. Being Laverne gave me an anonymity that I needed as a I met new people, built my confidence and eventually found a voice I never knew I had. As many of my long time friends in this space know, over the past six months that voice and your support also gave me the courage to start a second blog as me the Special Education teacher and change from sharing just as Laverne on social media to sharing as Carrie, teacher, mom, wife and just me.

Knowing all this….it is with a heavy heart and tears in my eyes (yes I am a blubbering mess) that I am sharing this with you today. Today marks the end of Laverne. The end of this amazing journey behind this name that has for three years given me the much needed anonymity I have needed to share and find my voice. This will be my last post as Laverne. The last time a post is seen under the header of akaLaverne. From this point forward as I meet people in the blogging world or twittersphere there will be only a few close dear friends that will ever remember me as Laverne and remember my journey.

{blubbering mess here}

It is with a heavy heart and tons and tons and tons of indecisiveness and lots and lots and lots of conversations with Abby (god bless her for her ability to text and chat incessantly about this topic as I spew and ramble on and on about this change) and my husband (this amazing man rallies behind me and supports my decisions and choices, helps me see the good choices and the ooooo thats not such a good idea ideas) most of all they both said it’s time….

GO FOR IT!!!!

{anyone got a tissue….still blubbering here}

soooooo it is with a heavy heart that today I say good by to akaLaverne.

BUT saying good bye to Laverne does not mean you are saying good bye to me!

Starting next week (what!? a girl needs some time to get her new place ready) I am joining my two passions. I am joining my love for writing, drawing, creating and sharing with my passion for Special education, learning, empowering students and showing others what children can do when we think differently! Next week all of this will become….

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carriebaughcum.com

I can not wait to share with all of you this new space.

I can not wait to have one fantastic space to share all of my passions.

I can’t wait for this new adventure to begin!!!

Just when I thought not in a million gazzillion years would I ever blog. Just when I thought not in a million gazzillion years would I ever have the courage to blog by myself without my friend…on my very own blog. Just when I thought not in a gazzillion million years would I ever ever ever share anything about being a teacher or write about what I do in my classroom. Just when I thought not in a million gazillion years would I ever be me…the real me on social media and just when I thought not in a million gazzillion years would I ever step out from behind the name Laverne and write as me….me Carrie….

I can suddenly say see…

Pigs do fly….sometimes they really do!!!!

Pigs

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Talking to Strangers: BlogHer13 Random Shtuff I Learned

Well it has been over a month now since I attended BlogHer13 and this post is ohhhhh about a week late and I missed one of my four blog posts I had planned…but oh man life just took off and I was treading water…akaNoTimeToWrite.  Things have settled down now and I am not exactly floating along with a mini umbrella, fruit embellished drink in hand but I’m not gasping for air as my arms flail like a mad women just trying to keep from sinking.

So lets do this!

The last of my Talking to Strangers BlogHer 13 posts number three in a four three part series!

TalkingToStrangers

I had no expectations and no real goals for what I was going to accomplish when I headed to BlogHer13.  I was happy that way.  Going into a hugmongous conference I didn’t want any pressure on myself.  I knew the size of the conference, the number of bloggers there and the experience would be enough pressure.   As usual, I had no idea how much I would learn about myself!

Besides being knocked over the head by life with amazing lessons about myself and even with those two very moving experiences…Talking to Strangers: BlogHer13 A New Inner Beauty and Talking to Strangers: BlogHer13 Table of One (one would think that those would be enough) I found my days…and nights (BlogHer seriously is NON-stop) filled with fantastic random lessons from old friends and new ones too.

I give you…

TotallyRandom

I learned that now that I have met Kirsten from the Kir Corner and Mel from According to Mags I can not longer read their blog posts without  reading them in a strong Boston / New York accent.  Also, Mel texts with an accent too!

I learned I could just sit on a couch, on a beach, on a park bench and just…be with Kirsten.  Her warmth and genuineness and heart is as wonderful as you would expect!  Just being with her makes you happy!

I learned you never know who you are going to meet or what they are going to teach you.  Joanne from Tiniest Tiger  and Rachel from Preston Speaks  taught me that no matter how much you know or how successful you are people are willing to take time to talk to you,  get to know you and share what they know with you.

I learned to never underestimate where your greatest lessons are going to come from… one of my BIGGEST lessons came from Joanne  and Rachel.  I never in a gazillion years would have guessed or predicted that I would learn so very much from two amazingly fantastic bloggers who share their stories about their pets.

I learned that lessons can come from girl talk and a couch in the middle of the Verizon section at the Expo.  Jackie from a With Just a Little Bit of Magic laid back style and years of motherhood experience taught me that I need to keep embracing Olivia for exactly who she is and there are many different ways and activities that our children can do to teach them what we want them to learn.  Sometimes our way is not the only way…just go with it!

I learned that I can run farther then I thought I could.  Running the 5k along the Chicago lake front gave me a pace I never knew I had.  The pace to take me farther then just a 5k.  A pace that didn’t leave me sucking wind or doubled over with wobbly legs.  A pace that would take me on more and more runs, farther and farther, that would make running…fun!

I learned that friends I have met through blogging are just as amazing  as a I thought they would be.  The journeys I have taken with many of these woman on their blogs has all been worth it.  That the relationships we have built in this space are just as important to them as they are to me.  That the connections in this space can become in real life friendships.

I learned that I am a vault of Random SHtuff… from facts and tidbits (TONS of facts and tidbits) about people I have chatted with on twitter to random bits of information about bloggers to ooohhh she writes “this or that” blog  to ooo ooo ooo have you seen this new app or this new piece of technology that will do this or this or that on social media. Kim was never left moment that wasn’t filled with random information awesomeness overload (Think Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada when she is at the big event dishing facts about people Meryl Streep is meeting….yeah!)

FFFWWWEEEFFFF!!! I learned a lot!

BlogHer13 was an amazing event full of amazing strangers.  Some of them were strangers I had met through blogging that were friends.   Some of them were strangers I knew through twitter that I now got to meet in real life and some of them were strangers I had never known before.  Each moment of this event filled me with lessons and reminders about myself and this amazing place we call the blogosphere!

 

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