The best was the Twitter feed.

Today was the first official day of the new year.

For teachers, not students.

It was full of greetings and meetings and talking.

It was exhausting.

It was also really positive.

I think my favorite was our "convocation," a yearly event that brings the entire staff together to kick off the year.

Though this is usually a fun event with lots of energy, it has never been as inspiring or entertaining as it was today.

Props to our administrative team for planning and executing this event.

The best was the Twitter feed.

Not only did they model using, even encouraging Twitter, during the presentation, they projected a continuously updating slide show of the incoming Tweets.

And they were super open and honest about the discomfort trying this caused them.


There were a couple of especially humorous moments.

One was when our Superintendent started his speech by reminding us that he loved each and every one of us...and then reminding us to keep Tweeting.

It was adorable, endearing, even sweet.

The second moment was hilarious.

Picture the same superintendent earnestly declaring his faith in his staff and highlighting our past accomplishments when a message like this appears on the Twitter feed:

"Where are all the Poke stops in our building? Just for community building reasons"

At first, it was just a smattering of giggles, then a few more guffaws, and then more widespread titters.

The superintendent glanced up from his notes, clearly distracted, and saw the Tweet.

He stuttered to a stop as the dam broke and all 600+ audience members exploded into laughter.

We quickly settled down and he began again...only to immediately interrupt himself with "I just read that...you distracted me!"

And so the gales began again.

He only blushed a little and openly admitted, with some chagrin, that trying this new Twitter tactic was not easy.

It was hilarious, honest, and awesome.

It isn't often that you are lucky enough to work with an administrator who is willing to take such a public risk, laugh about it, and admit it can be difficult.

I work for people who started the year this way.

Today, that is my good thing. And it is a great way to start the year.