Final New York Thoughts

As we sat in the airport waiting to go home Sunday morning I had a few final thoughts.

Thank you Macy's for giving my family such a memorable weekend. A special thanks to Ruth Hamilton and her staff in Florida who fretted over so much and were with us in spirit all weekend. We are still eating from the gift basket! Thanks to the Macy's people in New York who put on such an outstanding parade!

Thank you to the staff at the Iroquois Hotel for making us feel incredibly special. A special thanks to concierges, Angelic and Marga who found our elusive Broadway tickets!

I need to begin walking everyday! You don't see a lot of fat people in New York! They must have either walked it off or been eaten in the subway! With all of the walking over the last few days Susan and I have pledged to get out everyday and walk away our pounds!

I am blessed with two wonderful sons, a fantastic wife and a great daughter to be. At the risk of being too syrupy - I really do have a wonderful life!

Saturday in New York

Saturday was spent in the place I was looking forward to the most. Susan and I got up early, braved the cold, found a natural food bakery and proceeded to the place we had been looking forward to since learning we would get to visit NYC. The Museum of Modern Art! We love art galleries and spent a great day among the impressionist masters, the modern wonders and the hanging Calder's! We became members of the museum, brought home things for our classrooms and will be ordering some prints.

We had lunch at a neat mom and pop Italian Bistro and topped off the day with a Broadway show. Though most of Broadway is on strike, we managed to get tickets to see Mell Brooks' Young Frankenstein. If you loved the movie you will love the play. The sets were lavish, the singing perfect and the evening pretty special. Zach and Emily went to Xanadu and said it was also great. My only regret is not sitting in the fourth row center seats I had purchased two months ago for three really special shows that were effected by the strike. Maybe someday we will come back for the total Broadway experience.

The Rest of Friday

While family history was being made on a carriage ride, Susan and I were in a different carriage taking pictures of fall leaves. Our driver was a former high school teacher from Turkey who gave us a great tour. Later in the day we paid a visit to the Guggenheim Museum enjoying the architecture of the upper East Side and the art. Lots of food, lots of art, lots of New York. Lots of fun!

A Big Day For the Ellenburg Family!

Our family has been sworn to secrecy for two months in the biggest conspiracy we have ever been a part of. On Saturday the surprise was sprung. On a romantic carriage ride in Central Park, Zach proposed to his long-time girl friend, Emily! The day was clear and cold and it couldn't have been more perfect. Zach graduates with a degree in Finance in May and has already accepted a job in Orlando - so this caps off a great senior year. They plan to be married in a year or two.

Emily currently lives outside of Cleveland with her family and teaches preschool. Their courtship began as sweethearts in high school, was broken off for a few years and reignited through the telephone during Zach's Junior year. After thousands of airline miles, phone calls and extended visits on both of their parts they have reconnected.

Susan and I love Emily to death and couldn't be happier for the two of them. They bring out the best in each other and are truly best friends in life.

Post Parade New York

Central Park is still in fall colors! After a walk through some of the park we eventually returned to the hotel; we feasted on strawberries and apples brought to the room courtesy of the hotel; took a wonderful nap; had dinner at a very posh, downtown restaurant; and went to the Off Broadway show, Altar Boyz. A totally fantastic finish to Thanksgiving.

A few shots that had to be added!

It seemed only appropriate to include Snoopy, Scooby, Santa, Dancing Christmas Trees and Wynonna on a guitar!

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The weather was perfect. Clear skies and temperatures in the low 50s. Unfortunately it was too warm for the pull over Macy's Parade sweatshirts that were give to us. It was warm enough for me to sit on my jacket through much of the parade! We got an early start and rode the subway uptown with our VIP tickets in hand. Walked a few blocks and got to our entrance to the grandstands. The grandstands were at the beginning of the parade and stretched for two blocks. We were about a half a block down from the NBC people and could hear Mat Laurer do his running commentary. We had a clear,unobstructed view of everything and it is definitely a once in a lifetime experience! My TV at home was Tivoing, I bought a new digital film camera just for the parade and I handed my still camera to my son, Zach. Boy do we have some pictures. My wife, Susan, hates to be photographed - so if she is in a picture consider it a rare thing!
The best way to describe our experience is by just sharing the pictures. The viewing order is before, during and after the parade.

Wednesday in New York

We had a great flight to New York and a wild ride to the hotel. The Iroquois is a beautiful, small, boutique hotel just two block off of Broadway. After settling in it was off to see the inflating of the parade balloons. Well we couldn't figure out how to hail a taxi, we walked a longggggg way and we got lost in the subway. All of that in the first two hours! But then we ended up in Central Park where they were inflating the balloons. A street was filled with partially filled characters that you could almost walk up to and take pictures of. Above are just a few of the neat ones.
We called our oldest son, Mat. Mat lived in New York for five years and helped us figure out transportation and we finally mastered the cab system. New York is definitely colorful, crowded and loud. We had a fantastic first day!

A New York Thanksgiving

This week I will be sharing the event that has drawn the most interest as Florida Department of Education/Macy's Teacher of the Year: my trip to New York City for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! Each posting will highlight one of our days. Traveling with me on this adventure was my wonderful wife, Susan; our youngest son, Zachary; and his cute, long-time girlfriend, Emily. I want to thank the wonderful people at Macy's of Florida for making everything you are going to read about possible! As you read these postings I think you will agree that Macy's has given our family the most wonderful Thanksgiving memories we could ever ask for!

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade !!!!!

Excitement is in the air! Our family will fly to New York on Wednesday morning to begin our big adventure. Expect pictures, stories, and perhaps a few clips of the parade. My wife Susan and I will be traveling with our youngest son, Zach (a senior at the University of Florida) and his girlfriend, Emily. Emily is flying down from Cleveland to join us and Zach has a break before finishing his next to last semester at UF.
I have my fingers crossed that the lights of Broadway will be back on so that we can see our shows. Regardless this will be a trip the Ellenburg family will never forget. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Progress Energy/UCF Leadership Institute

On Friday I spoke before about 150 educators and administrators from a ten county area and experienced a first for me. In almost 30 years of speaking to groups I have had a number of snafus - but Friday was the first time I have taken a tumble. That's right - I stepped onto the steps leading to the rostrum and had the unpleasant experience of having the steps collapse. I fell onto the portable stage, off the stage, against a wall and to the ground. Yes, fat men do bounce! I completed my speech and I want to thank the people in attendance for bearing with me because it definitely threw me off a bit. Today is Saturday and I'm sore and stiff. Who knew there would be such danger and adventure linked to being Teacher of the Year.

The only real damage seems to be to my ego and of course my aspirations of life as a circus performer is dashed. But nothing seems to badly damaged so I'm ready for my next adventure.

A busy Thursday!

Thursday I had the privilege of meting with the Mount Dora Kiwanis Club at the historic Lakeside Inn in Mt. Dora. The pictures are of the wonderful people who do such great work for this Lake County community. Thanks to my new friends in Mt. Dora for a wonderful lunch and great time.

Later that day I was at Jones High School in Orlando for the State Science Standards town meeting. As we continue the review process for the proposed standards town meetings have been help across the state. Though not heavily attended, there was a great deal of interesting discussion.

Seminole Education Association

I celebrated American Education Week this afternoon with the teachers of Seminole County. Hosted by the Seminole Education Association I had a wonderful time sharing and learning from a great group of teachers. And thank you for the wonderful ink pen which will travel around the state with me. Thank you Rosa Pickett and Gay Parker for allowing me to share this time with your teachers.

Thanksgiving in New York is just around the corner

In one week the biggest perk for the 2008 Florida Department of Education/Macy's Teacher of the Year takes place: our family trip to New York City hosted by Macy's of Florida. Next week my family flies to New York to be guests of Macy's for the Thanksgiving Parade! We are flying up, being met and taken by limo to the Iroquois Hotel located just off Broadway.

This is the event everyone asks me about wherever I go! I don't have any more details yet, but I will share them as I find out more. When we get back expect incredible pictures, and perhaps a video clip to appear on the blog.
Thank you Macy's of Florida !!!

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

I spent a wonderful afternoon learning more about a resource that every educator in Florida should be aware of: The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. I have been to the Center years ago, but I was amazed at the changes that have taken place. Billy Specht, Manager of Education took me on a tour of the facilities and shared the new teacher resource materials now available to teachers. Wow!

I rode the new Shuttle Launch Experience, a high quality simulator experience that had me convinced I was pulling Gs! This is a great experience and not to be missed. I also visited Astronaut Encounter where I listened to a presentation and met retired astronaut John Blaha. Mr. Blaha has logged 161 days in space on 5 space missions. He served as pilot on STS-33 and STS 29, was Spacecraft Commander on STS-58 and STS-43, served on Mir-22 as Board Engineer 2, and was a Mission Specialist on STS-79 and STS-81. Astronaut Encounter allows visitors to meet an astronaut on every visit!

I came away with the new teachers packet that is filled with classroom information. And finally I visited the Astronaut Hall of Fame and got to see the interactive Student Astronaut Training Experience (ATX). All of this is an incredible field trip experience that I would highly recommend. For more information contact them at www.KennedySpaceCenter.com.

The first picture is me with astronaut John Blaha. The second is me with Billy Specht, Manager of Education and Vicky Santamaria, Education Sales Manager. I want to thank both of them for a wonderful visit.

And for the teachers of Florida and Georgia a special treat! You may go online and request an application for an Educator Study Pass. Bring the completed application with a valid teacher ID card or teaching certificate and you will receive a free pass to the visitor center for one year. This entitles you to ride the Shuttle Launch Experience, meet an astronaut at Astronaut Encounter and have access to the teacher resource library and educational center facilities.

Zero Gravity !!!!

I will be sharing more about this shortly, but Saturday I attended a workshop at the Stephen Hawking Microgravity Education and Research Center at the Kennedy Space Center Education Center where I worked on lessons to be conducted in ZERO GRAVITY !!!
That's right, on December 8th I will be joining a group of educators from around the state and flying on G-Force One, a specially created Boeing 727-200 cargo aircraft. We will take off from the Kennedy Space Center and reach an altitude of of 24,000 feet, begin a 50 degree ascent peaking at 32,000 feet and turn the nose down in a 45 degree descent. This "roller coaster" inertial effect results in a 30 second weightless flight (also known as parabolic flight).

Joining me on this flight are Florida's Presidential Award finalists for Mathematics and Science, the new president of the Florida Association of Science Teachers, a team of research students from the University of Central Florida, media representatives, and a select group of educators from Florida, including my wife, Susan Ellenburg. Susan and I will be the first husband and wife educator team to fly the same Zero-G flight in the state of Florida! More details will follow soon, but for now check my link or go to www.HawkingCenter.org to learn more about this great flight.

I must take a moment to think a few people. First a huge thank you to Dave Sadlowski and the wonderful people at Space Florida for underwriting this flight. Space Florida is a group dedicated to promoting space industry in Florida and creating opportunities for Florida to become the center of research and educational opportunities related to space. Go to www.spaceflorida.gov for more information. Secondly I would like to thank Gwendolyn Annello, Vice President Education and Research and Michelle Peters, Director Education Programs of ZERO-G Corporation for giving us this once in a lifetime experience. Go to www.gozerog.org for more information. And personally I want to thank Vie Vie Baird from the Math and Science Department of the Florida Department of Education for making this happen for me. Vie Vie has flown on G-Force One and is a wonderful friend to teachers in Florida. She knows what this flight means to me.

For a guy growing up in the backyard of our nation's space program this is a dream come true! I grew up idolizing the Mercury Seven, I have watched launches for almost my entire life. The space program fueled my passion for model rocketry, which I share with my students, made me especially proud to be a Floridian and I am particularly honored to be the Christa McAuliffe Ambassador for Florida. I never expected in this life to share any of an astronaut's feelings, but thanks to all of these people I will experience weightlessness for a total of 7.5 minutes as we complete 15 parabolic cycles. In the first manned flight Alan Shepard experienced weightlessness for 15 minutes. I look forward to sharing more of this adventure with everyone as it unfolds.

It's Teacher of the Year time!

The process for Teacher of the Year begins quite early. Though the finalists for National Teacher of the Year won't be announced for a couple of months, the work toward the next crop of TOYs begins. In our district schools recently selected their individual school winners who then spent a great deal of time filling out a rather long application.
Thursday I joined other former OCPS District Teachers of the Year, selected principals and district personnel to review all of the applications. Our task was to select those we feel would best represent Orange County as district finalists. We were each given a very comprehensive rubric and a group of applications and each application was read by a number of readers. With the completion of our task the process now continues with a second team and eventually the selection of our district finalists. In December I will join a selection committee tasked with visiting each finalist and observing a lesson being taught. Each finalist will then be interviewed by the committee. The next OCPS District Teacher of the Year will be announced at a gala event at Walt Disney World's Contemporary Hotel.
As you can tell from October, when schools make their selections, until the next Florida Teacher of the Year is announced next July, the entire process takes almost ten months!

Honoring OCPS Grant Recepients

This afternoon I was part of an Orange County district reception for teachers receiving grants to be used for classroom enhancement. The Foundation for Orange County Public Schools put on this event to celebrate the hard work going on in our classrooms. Almost $250,000 was given out to almost 400 teachers to be used in support of learning. Led by the Bond Foundation, Citigroup, Universal Orlando Foundation, Darden Restaurants, and Progress Energy, grants were awarded to teachers or teams of teachers received anywhere from $500 to $2000.

Local WFTV television anchor, Vanessa Echols served as master of ceremonies as teachers were recognized, pictures were taken and checks were given out. WFTV sponsors reading initiatives and is a major partner in their support of learning in Central Florida. This afternoon was a wonderful example of the great things that can happen when the business community partners with education and support excellence in our schools.

An upclose look at a cell

While visiting Crooms Academy earlier in the week I poked my head in a biology lab and saw this. The teacher created a cell using light weight plastic attached with duct tape. Two fans run into it to keep it inflated. Students can actually enter the cell. I wish I had gotten more information but contact Crooms Academy in Seminole County Public Schools and I'm sure they can put you in contact with the right person. What a neat idea!

Florida PTA Conference

Friday I spoke in Daytona Beach before the Florida Congress of PTA. What a great group! The weather was overcast and blustery, the waves were crashing against the seawalls, but inside the Hilton hotel the atmosphere was filled with excitement and discussion. I've been a member of PTA for my entire teaching career and appreciated being allowed to address the group. Among the many special guests, I found myself seated between Dr. Margaret Smith, Superintendent of Volusia County Schools and Jan Harp Domene, our National PTA President. What wonderful company and conversation!

I was also surprised and overwhelmed to be recognized by Florida PTA in a very special way - a brick with my name on it is being placed in the Honor and Memory Patio at the Florida PTA Building recognizing my service to children. My mom was a devoted PTA officer and room mother through out my school years and I know this would have had a very special meaning to her as well. I can't thank the members of Florida PTA enough for this honor.

Leadership Orlando visits Crooms Academy of Information Technology

Leadership Orlando

Thursday was spent with Leadership Orlando at the Seminole County School District Educational Support Center. The topic of the day was education and our group spent the day exploring the problems and challenges faced by Central Florida schools. We learned from Dr. Bill Vogel, Superintendent of Seminole schools, and Barry Gainer, Seminole School Board Chairperson of the accomplishments in their district. Dr. Jim Schott, President of O-Force talked about business initiatives which are promoting math and science. PRISM is the regional program they have designed to highlight and promote math and science excellence. I have the privilege of being honored by PRISM earlier in the month.
Later in the morning we visited Crooms Academy for Information Technology and Hamilton Elementary School. Both are extraordinary examples of how a district's commitment to a community through enhanced technology and opportunity are having dramatic effects. The Drum Line pictured is composed of ELEMENTARY students! They were incredible and are featured at the Orlando Magic games regularly.
Our afternoon was spent hearing about the Blue Ribbon Panel on Education report from the chairperson, Bill Sublette. He was followed by a Q and A discussion with Dr. Voge; Mr. Gainer; Jim Martin, OCPS School Board Member; and Linda Sutherland, executive director of the Orange County Healthy Start Coalition, Inc. This was an overwhelming day of information and challenge.
Leadership Orlando is becoming a class I look forward to every month. The energy and dedication of the members of this group gives me hope that our community can answer the complex challenges we face. These are dedicated community and business leaders who give their time and energy to many causes and are dedicated to doing even more.

OCPS Science Meeting

Wednesday I came home. I spoke at the Orange County Public School elementary science contact teachers meeting. Every elementary school in our district has a teacher who serves as the "science contact" for the school. That person shares news, information, and often sparks the science going on in the school. Usually the teacher is an interested classroom teacher or elementary lab teacher. We meet twice a year. These are my friends and colleagues. So it was with great pleasure that I was allowed to visit on Wednesday afternoon.
There were no insights, no wisdom, just a chance to catch up. The lady in the picture is Bev Cox, elementary resource teacher for Orange County. Bev is a great friend, a mentor and the person I go to for ideas, news or direction. Bev is the thread which keeps elementary science together in our district. Thanks Bev.