I Mustache Myself a Question. How Excited Am I To Travel to #NCTEAR19 in Birmingham, Alabama?

It was philosophical questioning day (The Phaedrus, Allegory of the Cave) and I came prepared with mustaches for everyone. Why? Because one of my subversive goals is to make learning fun, and I learned years ago that mustaches work to encourage creative questioning. They don the mustaches and ask one another questions they have about schooling experiences:

• I mustache you about your teachers,
• I mustache you about periods in the day
• I mustache you about extra-curricular

It works and everyone gets a kick about the inquiry project and finding open-ended ways to think about education. I'm always thankful when I find the mustaches on sale in packs of 12. It works perfectly for the 24 students enrolled in the course.

I also have to give a shout out to Chitunga for leaving his tie-clips behind when he left for LeMoyne as I swiped this particular one that I wear all the time. He criticized me one time for wearing it too low, so I raised the bar - just for him. It's my happy clip, as I can look down in my professional attire and channel him over my heart (and mind).

This morning, I'm traveling with Allison Fallon (Central Middle School, Greenwich), Dr. Beth Boquet (Fairfield University), and Abu Bility (flying in from Syracuse) to report on findings from a spring/summer project in collaboration with the Fairfield University Art Museum's exhibit: #UNLOAD: Guns in the Hands of Artists. The project offered opportunity to 120 middle school youth, as well as 80 adolescents in CWP summer programs and 14 teachers. Some of the writing was published in POW! Power of Words (5th edition) which should be on our campus next week.

We are presenting our work with Pens in the Hands of Writers. It will be a reunion, too, as it's hosted my National Writing Project Director, extraordinaire, Tonya Perry, and my mentor, Dr. Marcelle Haddix, as well as doctoral friends, Keith Newvine and Sarah Fleming. I am looking forward to the joy the conference will present (and the grading that will occur in my uncomfortable airline seat).

Here's to the experience!