I am trying to find my place in the world. Two years ago, I changed jobs. I have always defined myself as a teacher. It's not what I do, it is who I am. So when I moved to the district office, to the "dark side" as my teacher-friends called it, I felt a bit lost. A few months after changing jobs, my husband and I made the choice to buy my childhood home. He was all in, and I was hesitant. Life, I know, is always about change, but I am just so tired of moving forward. There is something to be said, too, about breaking out of the world you know. Am I making my world too small, to move back to where I began? The move was hard. I left my neighbors and friends, the people who have known my children since that very first day. The first day we walked into church as a family of six, all my little boys were wearing boots. One of them had pee down the front of his pants. Buzz cuts and new socks and hesitant smiles. We walked into that room and said, "Hey. We're parents n
I’ve been an Innovation Specialist for one year; here’s what it has taught me. I have been an Innovation Specialist for one year. In this time, I have only scratched the surface of what it means to have this role. I am beginning to understand teachers and students at higher levels. On a given day, I have brief moments in which I believe I have cracked the code: I know what to do and I know how to help and I can acutely see how one small pivot will make a difference in our school district. And then, a little hiccup hits the next day and I realize just how little I know. In the past year, I have been in 5 schools, dozens and dozens of classrooms, and held individualized learning sessions with teachers and teachers and teachers. I love it. I work in Google Drive and Facebook and Twitter. I work from my phone, and my MacBook, and my iPad. Every day is different because every day is focused on meeting the needs of my teachers. There are quiet days where I can focus on the projects th