Learning By Doing

So today was a big day in our household. Our little man, Xavier, who will celebrate his fourth birthday in February, was on stage earlier today dressed as a chef singing a duet as part of a recital by his music school class. He was so cute....not that I'm partial!  He is on the right in the photo below:

Xavier was a little nervous before hand but sang loud and proud and behaved well on stage. His Mom and Dad are so proud and we know that he learned a great deal today. He continued his development as he gained confidence, overcame a fear and had a blast the entire time. He gets an "A+" in our books!

What if we had graded Xavier and his classmates today based on a set of national standards that required near perfect pitch, ideal timing and mastery of tonal ranges to receive a grade even resembling an "A"? The beautiful thing about the performance today was that no assessment was ever part of the deal....but every child benefitted from learning new skills and overcoming obstacles. I realize that Modern European History, Physics and Trigonometry differ slightly from a group of 20 four year olds singing Christmas carols on stage but what if.....

What if we assessed students by using content as the foundation for a performance or presentation in all subject areas?

What if we got away from memorizing things in order to regurgitate them?

What if we committed songs and stories to memory as part of an engaging presentation that used math, science, English, history and a foreign language to argue a point related to global warming through a presentation style learned in fine arts class?

The opportunities for collaboration and cross-curricular teachable moments are endless as we look up and down our curriculum. I don't mean to say that teaching with these types of methods is easy or accepted on a wide enough basis to change everything we do but wouldn't it be cool to watch students develop and grow through performances? After all, in the classroom we grade everyone and on a scale that results in some failing - or feeling like a failure. When an orchestra performs do any of the members fail? After a team plays, even if they lose, does the coach walk into the locker room and announce that three players failed?

The singing was certainly rough around the edges at the recital today but I can assure you that none of those precious kids failed in my eyes!

Grandparents' Day

Today is Grandparents’ Day at Casady.

I love Grandparents’ Day. Many independent schools take one day each year to celebrate with the grandparents of students by having a performance, showing off class projects and generally observing all things good about grandparents being in the lives of children. I suppose part of my fondness for this day is the celebration of children and the wonder with which they start each new day. But I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a great excuse for me to reflect on my grandparents and how they have impacted my life.

Knowing all of my paternal and maternal grandparents and having them live no more than a mile from my childhood home puts me in fairly exclusive company. My maternal grandfather, Papa, died when I was in elementary school so memories are sketchy but I do recall watching plenty of Grand Prix Wrestling in his den with him. His wife, our Gaga, lived to almost 100 years of age and passed in 2007 having served as my Gin Rummy partner for many years. Nanny is my paternal grandmother who is still living in her own home. While she may not be quite as spry as she once was her days as a one room school teacher have spawned many great stories that I have absorbed and applied in my line of work.

Perhaps the one person who had the most significant impact on my life through my college years was Berton Warden Huestis – my paternal grandfather and the man I considered amongst my best friends growing up. I had the good fortune of living approximately 300 yards from Bert until I went away to college which afforded us opportunities for great chats, time in his darkroom and watching plenty of Celtics games in his basement! He was an insurance agent, professional photographer and former Mayor of our small Eastern Canadian city. The photo link shows Bert escorting Queen Elizabeth during her 1959 visit with Prince Phillip to our fair city (the woman directly over Bert’s left shoulder is Nanny). Bert was famous for being everyone’s friend and whether he knew it or not he was much more than that to me. He taught me how to treat people, how to listen and that while we should work hard and do all that we can in our time on earth – he didn’t take life too seriously. Bert’s laugh, actually it was more of a chuckle, is one of my favorite memories as I think back to our days at the summer cottage sitting by the river eating breakfast as the sun came up over the horizon – just me and Bert and his take on the world.

In many ways I believe that Bert helped shape who I am and what I do today. He showed me how powerful it is to help young people distinguish between right and wrong and how wonderful it can be to act as a mentor through both words and actions. In small ways, I hope I fill that role for young people in my position as a school leader, and certainly as a father to Xavier Berton Huestis. I hope that Bert is watching!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours.

My best,

Peter Berton Huestis

Being Creative About Creativity

Next week (Nov. 15-17) the Creativity World Forum is coming to Oklahoma City. This is a unique opportunity for all of us to hear from the leading experts in their fields concerning the state of creativity in education and business. Speakers such as Sir Ken Robinson and Daniel Pink will discuss the need and importance of creativity in our daily lives. In education, preparing tomorrow’s leaders surely needs to focus on creativity more and more and standardized testing and rote memorization less and less.

Sir Ken Robinson asks an important question: “Are schools designed to kill creativity?” Regardless of your feeling on this issue is it not amazing that we even have to ask the question?

Tackling this issue involves analysis of traditional teaching methods, assessments and models. We must look inward as educators and ask tough questions of ourselves as we assess the priorities we have for 21st Century education. My hope is that the Creativity World Forum may help spark further conversations as we continue to move Casady into the 21st Century. In the mean time, I did a chapel talk yesterday and worked some creativity into the mix. Here’s how it went down:

I asked my beautiful wife, Betsy, to attend chapel yesterday with our 3.5 year old son, Xavier. I explained to the students and faculty that my talk would focus on our theme for the year, story, but also incorporate some creativity. One of my favorite moments of my day is when I have the opportunity to cuddle with Xavier in bed and tell him stories that I make up on the spot as he drifts off to sleep. Sometimes I make them funny (or at least I think they’re funny) and sometimes there is a lesson that I hope he absorbs but always…..the stories are original, silly and creative.

At chapel yesterday I asked my advisory group to join me on stage. They had some advance warning and even a little practice so they knew what was coming. We asked Xavier if he wanted us to tell him a story. He got to choose the topic (motorbikes) and then one by one, each of my advisees added to the creative story until the motorbike had come alive, gotten into Xavier’s bedroom, taken him to a candy store, stopped at a park and then returned Xavier to his house. It was a silly story and made no sense but the students were creative and entertaining and the scared little boy in the front row warmed up quickly and was asking for more by the end of the five minute story.

One of my favorite aspects of the exercise on stage yesterday was that it was unpredictable. The students had to think on their feet and present their creative ideas in a forum in front of their peers. One of the key messages I wanted students and faculty to take away from the chapel talk yesterday was that they are encouraged to find avenues to express their creativity. Maybe it’s in class, on stage, in athletics or at the debate tournament. Or maybe their expression of creativity will be in a forum unknown to us - it doesn’t matter. We also discussed how it is sometimes difficult and scary to step out and be creative in front of your peers but that the more we all do it the more accepted it becomes. If I can help encourage one or two students or faculty members to express themselves creativity in a safe and supportive environment I consider my time well spent.

The only down side to my chapel talk? I had a tough time topping that day’s story when I curled up in bed with Xavier last night….and he reminded me of that fact!

Choose Your Own Adventure

Once again, I recently had the opportunity to speak to the students at Casady during a chapel talk.  Below is the summary of my message:

When I was in middle school I read a lot. I played basketball and spent plenty of time hanging out with friends but one of my passions was reading. I read every Judy Bloom book. Some of my favorites; Freckle Juice, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge, Are You There God? It's Me Margaret and Tiger Eyes. I also read the entire Hardy Boys series.

But perhaps my favorite series of books that I dove into were the Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) books!

The titles of these books were fascinating when I was 12 and 14 and admittedly may be a little hokey now: Monsters of the Deep, Your Grandparents are Zombies, Secret of the Ninja, and Return to the Haunted House.

Each CYOA story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions in response to the plot and its outcome. The books often contained nearly forty possible endings, while some contained as few as eight. It’s almost like being a puppeteer and controlling the characters. Or….more relevant for you - it was like playing a video game like Grand Theft Auto or Halo where each move you make will determine the next sequence of things to happen. During the 1980’s and 1990’s over 250 million copies of CYOA books were sold and translated into at least 38 languages. There is now an iPhone App, an interactive Wiki and several bizarre attempts to recreate the fantasy of CYOA books on YouTube.

After an introduction to the story, the reader is asked to determine the character’s next course of action. For instance, the first decision offered in Return to the Haunted House is:

        If you decide to explore the large room beyond the wooden door, turn to page 11.

        If you decide to walk up the spiral staircase, turn to page 7.

After the reader makes a choice, the plot branches out and unfolds, leading to more decisions and eventually multiple possible endings. At the end of the books readers find various types of conclusions – but there were always conclusions. This is good news for people like my wife who can’t stand it when a book or a movie ends in a cliff hanger. She needs closure….and these books provided it.

I have a confession to make. Mr. Pena spoke about cheating during his chapel talk last week. Well….I cheated while reading the CYOA books. I rarely cheated until I completed at least the first conclusion. But I did go back and re-read the book, making different choices along the way, until I came to the conclusion that suited me best. I did not want to get eaten by the giant sasquatch but I did want to rescue the pretty girl from the dungeon in the basement of the haunted house.

So why would I bother standing up here and telling you about one of my favorite childhood memories of reading these books? Our theme in chapel this year is STORY - so this topic qualifies on two fronts:

        1. These are great stories themselves that were are talking about

        2. And these books represent part of my story. I spent a great deal of time in my childhood immersed in a make believe world where I was in control of outcomes and every time I turned a page there would be a new adventure

I believe that having devoured every CYOA book known to man between 1985 and 1990 has helped shape the way I look at life in general. I don’t want to overstate the importance of the books and I think I can separate reality from fiction but nonetheless; I look at life as an adventure. The paths we take, the decisions we make and the consequences of those decisions are our own. You get to decide if you’re going to go see Mr. Calderon for extra help before the Algebra II test or if it more important that you spend a few extra minutes in the student center. You get to decide if getting into the car with someone who you know has been drinking is a good decision or if it’s worth calling your parents to come and get you from the party that you were forbidden from attending. These are tough decisions and each has consequences. You have plenty of people around you who will help define a good decision but ultimately, at your age, it’s up to you to do what is right for you.

One of the reasons the teachers and administrators that you are surrounded by do what they do for a living is to have the opportunity to help you with your adventures. If you need advice, seek it. If you want a different perspective on something that appears difficult or even scary, come see us and ask for some help.

Each of you has plenty of adventure in your lives. Choose wisely as you have a great deal to say about what awaits you around every corner.

Txt Reks R Speling?

We have entered the 21st Century. Technically we entered it almost a decade ago – but who’s counting? Therefore, should it surprise us that our students use a language born and bred in the 21st century to communicate with each other? Kristen Hawley Turner, a professor at Fordam University, recently wrote an article in Phi Delta Kappan magazine in which she coined the term “digitalk” to help define this new language that seems so far removed from our traditional English language – yet understood by every teen with a cell phone.

If we were to import a typical digital conversation between two 21st Century students into a word processor like Microsoft Word my guess is that we would see red…lots of red! The software would do all but reach out, grab our shoulders and shake us screaming, “This is wrong – all wrong!”  Some educators lament the fact that proper grammar and digitalk may coexist in school writing samples. Foreigners in the digital world may struggle to understand the following question; “I 1-D-R wi rents tink im C-P all-t?” (“I wonder why my parents feel like I am sleepy all the time?”). But it is important that as 21st Century educators we appreciate digitalk for what it is: different and new…not necessarily wrong.


As technology spawns more social networking opportunities and digital communication becomes the norm we must anticipate and accept new forms of literacy. While digital literacy has a time and place, if educators communicate to students that their “language”, or form of literacy, is wrong the gap between student and teacher widens and the all-important relationship within that dynamic becomes difficult to create. Should we stop teaching grammar in schools? No. Should we appreciate and embrace the language that tomorrow’s leaders are using to communicate with each other? Absolutely!


One of the most important, and at times elusive, aspects of effective teaching in the 21st Century is relevance. What could be more relevant than employing adolescent’s mode of communication as a teaching tool? We could use instant messaging tools or Google Apps to have students work on a collaborative paper and encouraging them to communicate with each other about ideas and corrections – in their own language.


Before condemning digitalk we should consider the evolution of the English language. What we now call English is actually a blend of many languages. Old English was spoken in England until the 12th or 13th Century. The language was transformed due to influences by Scandinavians and later the Normans around the 11th Century. Then Middle English followed for approx. 300 years after the Norman Conquest. Early Modern English became popular in the 15th Century and Shakespeare modernized the language even further while the first known English dictionary was published in 1604. Latin and Greek influences became the norm and ushered in Modern English which was marked by an expanded vocabulary. Many new words were created to meet the needs of the technologically advanced Industrial Revolution and new words being adopted from other cultures due to the English Empire covering nearly 25% of the earth. Each phase of development for the English language marked a time of transition, new words and the birth of a new and expanded language.


Manipulating language to effectively and efficiently convey intended messages requires creativity and mastery of a new literacy for the digital generation. Digitalk is powerful within the communities of adolescents that we are in contact with each and every day. By giving value to the literacy that students bring to class teachers can more easily engage students in discussions about content and critical thinking. Teaching traditional academic English is most certainly an important component of a liberal arts education in the United States but the ability to speak and incorporate their language is a key to our ability to effectively teach 21st Century students.


TAFN (for a comprehensive review of digitalk acronyms - including TAFN - please see the following link)

Who Are the Digital Natives and Who Are the Immigrants?

Students have always been shaped by their environment. 21st century students are shaped and influenced by an environment that is media rich, immediate, fast, engaging, dynamic and instant. It's electronic and digital. It's a communication medium with instant gratification. Students today are digital natives. Most of us, on the other hand, are immigrants or foreigners in this fast paced electronic world in which the students we teach live. But immigrants can, and in the case of educators, should, become fully fledged citizens of the same world our students live in. Otherwise we will always lack full understanding of the power of the 21st Century tools and skills students so badly need to be successful both today and tomorrow. Additionally, without joining the digital natives in their world educators will struggle to communicate important ideas and comprehend newfound motivational techniques.

When Gutenberg invented the printing press the mass produced written word spawned from verbal communication and books became the offspring of the scroll. Can you imagine how intimidating and scary the first book was? See this link for a spoofed peek into that very world...

I have been witness to similar reactions of fear, frustration and disinterest when a computer, iPhone, website or Smartboard have been introduced as teaching tools. The reaction is understandable yet counter cultural. There are likely many more technology tools viable for the classroom that I don't know about than those that I do know about. But for me, that is exhilarating ...we have so much to discover! Which brings me to an important point: as educators we should learn as much as we teach. We don't know it all and if we need help applying digital literacy skills into lesson plans we should feel comfortable turning to a student and asking for some help. The days of the sage on the stage being an effective teaching technique are over which can be intimidating and worrisome...or liberating and exciting.

Assessing Students in the 21st Century

Daniel Pink's latest book titled Drive discusses the merits of looking at motivation in the 21st Century completely differently than we have in the past. Intrinsic motivation now dominates over extrinsic and so on....great stuff! I want to look at motivation from a slightly different angle.

What if we assessed competencies in the classroom the way video games tend to grade progress? Students would work their way upwards towards mastery without an expectation of previous experience (like having zero points at the start of your favorite game). The vast majority of school grading systems are based on the idea that a student starts with a perfect score, and works downward from there. Failed tests are a sea of red. By that definition, the most successful student is the one that has failed the least. It's like keeping baseball statistics: a hall of fame player fails at the plate nearly 70% of the time! What if students started from a point of being functionally worthless and slowly work their way up towards mastery?

Any job descriptions I have seen are written in terms of competencies such as; “you should be able to do x, y, and z and the ability to do a, b, and c is a bonus.” Any extra skills you might have are generally immaterial to the job. I’m a school administrator and so my ability to spin a basketball on the end of my finger is meaningless.

Could we define grades in terms of competencies, rather than points on a test? Consider grading a unit on Newton’s laws. What if the expectations, presented at the beginning of the unit, looked like this?

A student will receive a grade of D upon: (1) reciting Newton’s three laws, and (2) giving an example of each.

A student will receive a grade of C upon: achieving the requirements for a grade of D, and (3) solving basic force problems using Newton’s second law in one dimension.

A student will receive a grade of B upon: achieving the requirements for a grade of C, and (4) solving basic force problems using forces at right angles using Newton’s second law in two dimensions.

A student will receive a grade of A upon: achieving the requirements for a grade of B, and (5) solving complex force problems involving four or more forces at any angles in two dimensions.

A test would become five questions, corresponding to the numbered entries above. Or maybe 15 questions, three for each item. The student “passes” that competency if he/she gets at least two of three right.

Optimistically, this system gets rid of grade inflation and deflation. Numerical grades tend to be relative to one another, and the entire class can swing up or down as a whole.

If you’re an overachieving student, an average of 97% doesn’t tell you anything about your absolute proficiency at the subject. And worse, it dissuades you from learning even more, since the system says that you’re already at - or very close to - the top of the scale. At the same time, if hours of studying result in a 47% on a test don't we tend to feel defeated and confused?  Why bother?

Maybe students could even choose “majors” in high school. For those who have a good sense of what their career would bring them, this isn’t a bad thing in the least. What if students could direct their energy toward really excelling in those fields, while attaining lesser mastery in those fields in which they have no interest?

Lots of Questions.....

Why even bother having a maximum grade? Why not design assessments around the premise that students start with no knowledge in a particular area and that each student may have a different set of competencies needed to achieve traditional grades? Are we ready for such a system? If not; should we change that fact?

The future is coming....

Here is an interesting post on a blog that I visit from time to time titled 21 Things That Will Become Obsolete in Education by 2020.  Follow that, check out; 21 Things That Became Obsolete This Decade.   Enjoy!

Tell us your story!

Once a month I have the honor of addressing the students in the Upper Division at Casady and this morning my message focussed on students' lives as stories:

This year’s theme in chapel is STORY.

So what IS a story?

Stories can be movies, TV shows, books, video games, conversations, etc.....

And stories typically accomplish something.

Stories entertain, explain, sell, prop someone up, tear someone down.....

But there is another way to look at defining what a story really is.....

Your lives….our lives…..they are all stories.

Your life is a story….each day is a story….even individual activities can be stories.

I want to share my story with you throughout the year because there are little lessons to be learned and shared along the way.

Most of the time I haven't been aware that I was learning anything but one of the reasons I absolutely love my job is that I get opportunities to share what experience I have with you.

I've made mistakes along the way - and typically learned something.

I've been fortunate to have had some successes as an athlete, coach, teacher, friend, husband, father - and typically I have learned something.

I'll share my story/stories with you throughout the year.....

But for today I want to talk about YOUR stories.

Everyone in this theatre has a story to tell.

Some may not be comfortable telling their story and some may be too comfortable

For some of you (I'm resisting the urge to use names) you make it a point to tell me stories almost every day.

Some of you may even feel like your story is not worth telling but I’m here to tell you that one of the things that makes this school, your school, so special is that the faculty and administration want to hear your story.

You might want to share your story with a teacher or an administrator.....

When you need help.

When you have something exciting to share.

How about when it’s time to start thinking about applying to college?

There are lots of people on campus who will listen to your story.

In fact, as of today, you each have an advisor who acts as the primary point of contact for you and your parents for school related "stuff".

That doesn't mean that other faculty or administrators can't be a resource for you but it does mean that you have someone set aside to act in the role of "professional story listener".

Now, the other angle I want to take this morning when talking about you and your stories is helping you understand how and when you are telling a story.

For a lot of the adults in your lives here on campus....our stories are, to a great extent, written.

That doesn't mean that we can't change or that we won't ever do anything noteworthy again in our lives.

Instead; I want to draw attention to the advantage you have as young leaders who have the world at your fingertips and opportunities to do almost anything you want.

We want you to learn math, history, biology, etc. here at Casady School.

But as important to all of us is your ability to create and build upon your story while you're here.

I know some of the structure we put in place isn't always popular with you (dress code, demerit system, etc.) but all of that structure acts as the guardrails within which you get to construct and tell your story.....

The way you work in class....tells a story.

The way you handle adversity....tells a story.

The way you treat each other....tells a story.

The way you impact the world around you....tells a story.

Exhibiting your many talents....tells a story.

These things and many more tell us about you...they tell us who you are.

We're watching.....not because we're waiting for you to slip up.

We're watching because we care about you and we want to hear your story....so show us who you are....tell us your story...

Hypocrite say What?

Last evening on my drive home from campus I did something I rarely do….I surfed a few radio stations. Typically I have sports radio, NPR or the Tragically Hip along for the ride but I was looking for something a little different. I stopped on a station that was playing some classic Journey and stopped right there. When the song was over the host of an evening call in show took to the airwaves and waxed poetic about love, relationships and her latest venture into the dating pool. Then she switched gears and spent some time lamenting the fact that marketing and product placement are taking over movies and media in general. She is clearly not a fan of Skittles being placed in the cinema classic ET or Dell paying millions to have their computers appear in the cult classic Snakes on a Plane. Fine. I get it. I have no problem with her complaint even though I see product placement simply as ad revenue and a sign of the times but certainly not in an apocalyptic way. Here’s the interesting part…..after approx. two minutes of slamming the pervasive nature of advertising in the media, this particular radio show host transitioned smoothly into reading two promos on the air….presumably aware of the verbal assault on ad placements that she had just delivered! She explained how sleeping on a Serta mattress had changed her life and how Weight Watchers had helped her lose more than fifteen pounds this summer. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I waited…assuming there was a punch line to be delivered…..no dice! She was really doing promos on her radio show, for products that she claims have changed her life, immediately after exalting all things negative about that very practice in the media. Wow…..sad…..but entertaining.

I don’t understand why no judge on America’s Got Talent is even American but more importantly I don’t understand this radio host being a hypocrite…which leads me to my point: let’s not be hypocritical. In education, we ask things of our students and as administrators we ask things of our faculty. We need to model the behavior which we are asking to see replicated throughout the classrooms. W should pick up a piece of trash if we ask others to do the same. We should be courteous and listen as much as we speak if that is what we ask of others. I’m in no way immune to this notion myself and plan to do a better job modeling in my role this year as well. Perhaps we all need to consider, prior to asking someone else to do something; would that be a fair request of me….do I model that behavior?

Off to a Great Start!

New beginnings are always full of unknowns. Will it be scary? Exciting? Fun? This is no different for the start of school each year. As students gear up for the first day of school with questions abound they might be interested to know that we too get excited and anticipate the doors opening to their bright and eager faces.

The 2010-11 school year is off to a great start in Casady’s Upper Division! We have welcomed four new members of our faculty including Mark Delgrosso most recently from Los Angeles teaching biology, Dianne Dawkins from OKC teaching math, Megan Pargeter from OKC teaching visual arts and Jen Warden with ties to OKC in the role of Dean of Student Life. We have also ushered in some exciting enhancements to our daily program and everyone is back in the swing of things very quickly.

While we all may have some questions about what the year holds I am confident that with a supportive and caring faculty and wonderful group of students we are going to have a great year! Every day is a new learning opportunity so I encourage us all to live with each other and learn from each other in a way that makes a difference each and every day. If you have thoughts or comments that can help us become a better school tomorrow than we are today I would love to hear from you. Go Cyclones!

“Thank you”…..not often heard at the airport!

I recently travelled to the Washington, DC area for a leadership conference and while I do not fear flying, or crashing, I can’t say I enjoy airline travel much. Being 6’5” and sporting a lower back condition that causes a pain I wouldn’t wish on anyone, I typically fold myself into a plane seat and brace myself for the duration. On my recent journey to the Nation’s capital I encountered an act of impressive customer service by an employee at Continental Airlines that made my day – and made the act of travelling that much less arduous and dare I say it….enjoyable?

The first act of kindness came from the gate agent in Houston as I literally ran to the gate from my OKC connection with 3 minutes to spare before the doors to my flight to Baltimore, MD closed. I breathlessly asked the agent if, against all odds, there were any exit row seats remaining – knowing that airlines are now charging a pretty penny for such coveted seats. He checked his computer and informed me that there was one exit row seat remaining but that the cost would be $69.00 plus tax. It took me approx. 1.4 seconds to decide that the cost was worth it so that I could actually move my legs, avoid having a 340lb man lean his seat back and literally sit in my lap and maybe even put my tray table down to get some work done with my laptop (guess where I wrote this entry?). I informed the agent that I was willing to pay the price for the seat and before I could get my wallet out of my pocket he asked for my boarding pass and said, “Don’t worry about it….I’ll take care of it for you. You have a nice flight.” He proceeded to give me seat 21C on the Boeing 737-800 and it didn’t cost me a cent. Perhaps it was the pained look on my face after sprinting from Gate B14 to E12 in about 6 minutes. Perhaps it was the fact that I am 6’5” and a little imposing standing over the agent who likely peaked at 5’1” or 5’2” about 20 years earlier. Perhaps it was just a nice man making a nice gesture. Either way, I felt good…..I felt valued and cared for in some strange way. I was reminded of the agent’s kindness for the next 3 hours as I rode in relative comfort.

We should all strive for good customer service. Before we walk into the classroom we can ask ourselves “What can I do to improve these students’ lives and their learning today?” The same can be said for school administrators, those taking our order at Subway (I plan to shamelessly use my blog to get some endorsements from the companies that absorb so much of my monthly paycheck….) or even the way we treat each other in our personal lives. If we all tried to improve the lives of those around us the world would be a pretty groovy place.  Thanks for doing your part employee #2148 at Continental Airlines in Houston, TX!