BS - THE WHY

 BS - The Why

Vocabulary lesson:  “BS” stands for “behind the scenes.”  I am currently a one-woman show, doing this for the first time, and flying by the seat of my pants.   I am a self-taught technology person and have embraced it openly.  It is something that has always come fairly easy to me.  Needless to say, I believe that dropping a quick note as to the adventures that lead up to the actual “dropping” of an episode, just may provide some comic relief to some. For this one, it is best to do it chronologically.

In the beginning, I knew that I wanted to drop my first episode sometime during the month of September.  This has always had two reasons.  The first is that September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month.  The second is that it is also my birthday month.

September 5th, I dropped the announcement on Facebook and Instagram that I would be doing this in ten days.  Specifically, I would be doing this on my 56th birthday. I knew that if I had not set a date, this whole thing would just get lost in the clutter of my brain.  For the most part, I have always been a planner.  Knowing when events, appointments, learning opportunities are going to happen helps me to focus and predict. The biggest piece was that since I had made it public, that I told people, I was holding myself accountable to actually complete the task at hand.

Now it is extremely important to know that I am a huge procrastinator.  I have always pulled off my best work at the last minute.  There is something about the anxiety and pressure that comes with waiting that motivates me and forces me to shift into high gear.  Would I recommend this to the average person? Nope.  Would I tell my students that this is the best way to increase successful student behaviors? Nope.  But, it works for me.  

The weekend before the designated drop date, we were camping for the first time at a little hole in the wall, Shady Beach in the town I had done my first 5 years of teaching.   Shady Beach used to be a public access area and the last time that I was there it was 1985 and not developed.  Now, it is owned by a couple that "keep it simple."  They have 15 RV hookups with electric/water/sewer for a dirt cheap price.  I found a great deal of peace there.  

  

By Sunday morning, I found inspiration in the calm of the morning.  With nature slowly woken up by the sun as it crested the cliff and the mist reaching up out of the water to make a new day, I knew how to start the telling of my story.

I sat down with my graphic organizer (See, there is a reason that we teach our students how to utilize multiple strategies to be successful… and we actually use them also) and began fleshing out how to introduce the podcast.  This was a rather quick and simple process.  The next hurdle was to find a location that didn’t have the chaos that is my house to record. 

So, I decided to record it at school after a day of subbing, but when I got there in my day to complete the task, I was struggling.  Drove home and then went to the local library and recorded an absolutely flawless episode in one take.  When I got home to do the processing and uploading, the account on my iPad was different than the account on my computer for Spotify podcasting.  By this time, it was almost 2100 hours (9pm) and I was frustrated.  Out to the backyard to set up shop on the top of the Blackstone prep table. I also had my trusty big boy, Miller Lite, who was very unhappy with me because this was cutting into his lap time.  See the photos posted at the start of this post.

If you have yet to listen to the first episode, please check it out at https://spotify.link/JOc6naFQkDb. 

My hope for this is that someone out there will smile, feel included, feel a spark that motivates positive change, that something being felt or experienced is validated, and that there is some insight into their personal journey.  Until next time, what inspires you?