MentorMeEdu

Where do I even begin?  😀

When I applied for the Los Angeles cohort of the Google Innovator program earlier this year, the problem in education that I identified as being passionate about solving was that of new teacher attrition.  After going though the design thinking process at the academy, I decided that I was going to work on this issue from the angle of a virtual mentoring program.

This is definitely a passion project of mine!  I don't get paid for this.  I just want to make a difference!  I am soooooo passionate about helping new teachers remain in the teaching profession and I truly believe that having a virtual mentor, someone that is non biased, not in the same school or district, is a VALUABLE resource for new teachers!  When I was a new teacher, I had a mentor in my school (that didn't REALLY mentor me) and I had a mentor at the district who was awesome.  Along the way of my educational career, I've gained a TON more mentors that have assisted me and guided me.  As a new teacher, having an innovative, seasoned, passionate mentor in my corner would have been priceless!  I STRIVE to make this a reality for new teachers so they NEVER consider leaving the teaching profession.  So that they won't get burned out.  So that they will ALWAYS remember their calling to teach and to make a difference in the lives of the students that they have the pleasure of interacting with each and every day!

Fast forward!!!  I have been assigned an AMAZING mentor, Quin Henderson (@qhenderson) who is also a Google Innovator and is seeking to solve teacher attrition through a different means.  Quin has created EdTrex that seeks to keep educators passionate about teaching so they don't leave through creating meaningful experiences!  Check out more about this awesomeness here:  https://edtrex.net/

After bouncing ideas off of him, continuous brainstorming and a LOT of research, I have been able to accomplish a lot of things!  In an attempt to toot my own horn, be my own cheerleader, and take a look at the progress that I've made, here is what I've done since leaving the academy in July:

• Launched MentorMeEdu!!!
• Created a twitter handle. @mentormeedu
• Created a website. www.mentormeedu.org
• Created interest videos and put them out into the world!
• Successfully recruited a pool of 30 PHENOMENAL mentors ready to serve new teachers.  I mean seriously....if you saw some of the names on this list, you'd be blown away!  I am so blessed that so many of you believe in this passion project of mine!  Eeeeekkkk!!!!  With this, with you believing in me and this work, I KNOW that I have to be successful in making it happen!
• Started the matching process of new teachers to virtual mentors.
• Have started creating the monthly focus/monthly curriculum that new teachers and mentors will use as a guide for their monthly meetings.
• Set up a MentorMeEdu Slack account to continue to engage both new teachers and virtual mentors.
• Reached out to various new teacher organizations in an effort to recruit new teachers to become a part of MentorMeEdu.

The one area that I am needing to grow is in building the pool of new teachers interested in receiving a virtual mentor.  I believe that there is not only power in celebrating the successes of what I've been able to accomplish, but that I also need to be transparent and vulnerable about where my areas of opportunity are as well.  

So what do I want to continue to accomplish?  By putting this out there, into the world, I am going to be held accountable to make sure these things happen!  Before the end of the 2018-2019 school year, I want to do the following:

• Start a MentorMeEdu podcast where I interact with new teachers and veteran teachers/teacher mentors about their successes and failures along the way.
• Successfully recruit, match and engage with at least 30 new teacher/virtual mentor pairs.
• Continue to tweet consistently and build social media presence about this passion of mine.
• Present somewhere all about my journey of creating MentorMeEdu and it's impact on new teachers and virtual mentors.  

I am so excited about the future of MentorMeEdu and it's impact that I KNOW it will have on both new teachers and virtual mentors.  I am still working and making changes so that it becomes a valuable tool for all of those that join the MentorMeEdu family!  

How can you help?  I'm glad you asked!  Here you go!

• Follow us on Twitter @MentorMeEdu and retweet the tweets!
• Share MentorMeEdu with new teachers interested in receiving a virtual mentor!
• If you're a veteran teacher, become a virtual mentor!
• Spread the word!
• Send me ideas of how to grow MentorMeEdu!

Thanks so much for allowing me to be vulnerable about this journey.  Thanks for celebrating my tiny successes with me.  Thanks for any and all suggestions/help/good vibes that you send my way!  I LOVE my PLN and know that I couldn't do this without you support and guidance along the way.  For that I thank you!

90 days left in 2018....

This post is a little professional and a little personal.  Right around this time of year, I think a lot of us begin to reflect on the resolutions that we made on January 1 and examine how much progress we've made towards accomplishing them so far, along with figuring out how much we can realistically get accomplished before the end of the year. I am no exception to this!

Rachel Hollis, author of "Girl, Wash Your Face" (which, if you haven't read, you need to) has started a 90 day challenge to pick people up for these last 90 days of the year, refocus their intention, and push them towards accomplishing those goals that they set out to accomplish at the beginning of the year!  I signed up for it, because, well,  I LOVE a challenge. It began today!!  She challenges members of this challenge to what she calls, "5 to thrive!" I already know that my challenges will be #1 and #2.  I'm going to work at it though!

Every week of the challenge for the rest of the year, she will be sending out an email to those that signed up for the challenge and each of these emails will contain a powerful quote to focus on for the week.  Here's what got us started today:

Reading Rachel's words in the email that I received this morning, really made me reflect on what I set out to do this year.  At the beginning of the year, I wrote a blog post about my goals for the new year.  Read all about it HERE!  Below are the goals that I wanted to accomplish both personally and professionally.  My responses to their progress are in red.

Professionally, I wanted to accomplish:

• Launching the first Google Bootcamp in our District!  Check!  I did this!  Since then, several of my colleagues have started Google Bootcamps are their schools, with their teachers!  We've see a LOT of success from this effort!
• Creating a district wide instructional technology podcast.  I totally forgot about this one!  I'll definitely be moving this goal to 2019!  It's been SUPER busy!
• Creating a cohort of edtech superhero educators!!!  This tells me that I need to be more specific with my goals!  While I definitely believe that I've had an impact on numerous educators this year, I don't know that I'd call them a "cohort."  I take this as a lesson learned to be more specific!
• Launching the next phase of Tablet2Read.  Our district is currently working on this as we speak.  We may be moving this to 2019 but we'll see!
• Launching the second year of our Central Office Tech and Talk Series.  This one is in the works!

Personally, I wanted to accomplish:

• Continue growing my PLN on Twitter, learning from amazing ed tech educators! Check!
• Continue blogging, more often.  Check!
• Spotlight Speak with EdTechTeam. Check!  This has been the highlight of my year!  The opportunities that have come as a result of this have been incredible!  I've been able to meet AMAZING educators from all across the world and make a true difference!  
• Deliver at least ONE keynote this year.  Check!  I've actually delivered several!  It gets better and better each and every time that I deliver it.  It's been a true pleasure to deliver my message of the importance of finding your why and living with intention to educators all across the nation!
• Sign up for and take Classy Videos by Tony Vincent.  Check!  I did indeed take Tony's course and would DEFINITELY recommend it to others!  I LOVE that the course is still available for me to access.  I've gone back to the videos numerous times to refresh my mind with the content that he shared.  
• Renew my Google Certified Trainer status.  Check!  
• Renew my Microsoft Innovative Educator and Surface Expert status.  Check!  
• Apply for the Google Innovator program.  Check!  I applied annnnnnnd....I got in!!!  CRAZY!!!  Little ole me got in!!  I spend time in Los Angeles with 37 other edtech educators from around the United States (and Canada) learning all about the Design Thinking Process as well as brainstorming a solution to my Google Innovator Project.  More about this in the next blog, but check out www.MentorMeEdu.org for more information in the meantime!
• Being active with the second cohort of Our Voice Academy.  In process!
• FINISH MY DISSERTATION and FINALLY become Dr. Natasha Rachell!!!!  ALMOST!!!
• Attend ISTE.  Check!  
• Get healthier: eat better, exercise, drink more water, meditate.  Hmmmm...eat better, yes.  Exercise, nope!  Drink more water, at times!  Meditate, not as much as I'd like.
• Continue on my spiritual journey.  Always a work in progress!
• More to come..... There has been a LOT more and I'll blog all about this at the end of the year!

I was really dreaming big at the beginning of the year!  It's refreshing to know that I've made progress on ALMOST all of the goals that I set for myself.  With only 90 days left in the year 2018, I will definitely continue to work hard so that when I recap at the end of the year and begin to set my intention for 2019, I can cross all (hopefully) these off of the list!  It's not too late to continue working on these goals and even making a few more that I'll be able to achieve before the end of the year!

How about you, where are you with your 2018 goals?  You've got 90 days to make magic happen!