What an amazing experience at NAGC25 in Pittsburgh this past week!  So much to learn, so many new things to wonder about, lots of passionate people to meet!  

I  presented Astonish, Amaze and Aspire:  Connecting Wonder and Creativity to a full room of about 125 interested educators, my largest presentation to date.  I'll be sharing some of that content over the next few weeks.  

I shared the Water Falcon game at the Lesson Roundtables with one of the Silverquicken founders, Leslie Kerner.  Each round in this speed-sharing was a full table as well.  Want to learn more about the fabulous Silverquicken line of puzzles that inspire productive struggle and problem solving?  Check out their website at https://silverquicken.com.

Finally, I had the incredible opportunity to be one of the neighbors in the Fred Rogers-inspired closing keynote, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"  I was able to speak about the power of wonder through the lens of a Rachel Carson quote.  It was a career bucket list moment that I didn't know I had!  Really appreciated the positive feedback from my fellow presenters as well as many audience members.  Watch for future Wonder Journal posts about my message in upcoming weeks.  

Shout out to Dwayne Reed, the opening keynote speaker for NAGC25!  His message #relationshipsmatter was validating.  It is so important to understand Who am I?, Who are you? and Who are we? in the classroom.  Such a fitting message on World Kindness Day!  I wonder if that was considered or just a happy accident!  

It was evident that his approach worked well with his learners as well as our group of educators.  Loved meeting the contingent from Detroit and making fast friends!  I can't wait to try the Clap game as a brain break and look for more ways to incorporate relational skills in my instruction.  

An absolute pleasure to meet him and have him autograph his book, Be That Teacher.  

Learn more about Speaker, Educator & Author Dwayne at www.tmreed.com