When I was teaching high school English, I discovered how much I enjoyed teaching writing and how much I actually enjoyed writing. But as a teacher, I didn’t really have an outlet for that creativity. So I started this blog (I had a personal blog that I wrote on occasionally) to share my thoughts about teaching and scratch my creative itch all in one place. And it was a lot of fun (and hard work). I learned about building a website, creating graphics, and reaching an audience (and how much I enjoyed some of those things). Writing this blog helped me gain confidence as a writer, introduced me t ..read more

I originally wrote a version of this networking for teachers post in May 2020 on LinkedIn when I was just a couple months into the transition process. This is an updated version now that I have completed the transition process. ___________________________________ For teachers, networking isn’t often “a thing”. But for those who are looking to transition beyond the world of K12, it is a must. Teaching is an isolated job. You get to school early, close your door so you can focus on grading without interruptions, scurry to the copy machine hoping there isn’t a line, and work right until the kids ..read more

I’ve been out of the classroom for a full month now and I have a lot of thoughts to share. My original plan for this “series” (very loose term, fyi), was to move from my last post to a post detailing why I left teaching. But every time I try to write that post, I either stare at a blank screen or end up with an unwieldy monster of a post.  So, let’s hit pause on that for now. Maybe someday I’ll be able to articulate my reasons (or maybe not). Instead, today I’m going to write out a list of my observations. There is no rhyme or reason to this list. The thoughts are just being written down ..read more

I’ve known for several years that I would not retire from the classroom. It’s not that I didn’t love teaching, I did. It was just that I wanted to see what else is out there. (And–surprise!–there is a lot out there!) I wrote a post a few years ago about shutting down teacher ambition. As a teacher I personally found it hard to mesh teaching with ambition. Don’t get me wrong, you can totally be ambitious IN the classroom, but oftentimes if you share that you have ambition to move out of the classroom, colleagues (and others) look at you askance. (I feel like in the past couple years this has ch ..read more

Please note that this post contains affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward me a small commission – at no extra cost for you. What an interesting nine weeks it has been since I left school on a Friday afternoon, never to return. I have truly enjoyed emergency remote elearning (more than many others, I know), but that doesn’t mean the whole situation hasn’t got me down. I’ve had to find some go-to sanity-savers. So, on those days when I wonder how much longer this will go on, I am extra thankful for these things to keep me going. Routine Not a crazy one. I don’t h ..read more

Y’all, I’ve said it before: I hate teaching vocabulary. I do. It’s the worst and I’m the worst at it. (The worst as in, I just don’t because I’m so bad). In the past, vocabulary has felt like a chore to me. It’s boring, it takes up time I need for other things. It’s just…ugh. And thus, it has been moved to the back burner, which I have then turned off completely. Which is bad. I know that. I’m aware of the importance of vocabulary. I’ve read all the articles. I have all the ideas. I’ve bookmarked all of the resources. And then ignored everything and just kept chugging along because I couldn’t ..read more

I have been out of the blogging scene for several months now, and I can’t even explain to you why. I still enjoy writing, I still love reading blogs, I still have ideas, but I’ve just been feeling rather meh. Between suffering from imposter syndrome last year and then making a big decision to move to our system’s new campus this year, well, let’s just say it’s been a lot. So I think I’m just going to have to force myself to write a few times a week and posts like this might be crap, but at least I’m writing, right? Today I’m going to share what I’ve been up to and the feelings that are all sti ..read more

I haven’t written much lately, but I have read a LOT. I just finished book number 42 of the year, and I’ve really discovered some gems! Over the next few days, I hope to share my favorites organized by genre. Here is the line-up: Romance/Chick Lit, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Mysteries/Thrillers, Other, and Professional Development. This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase through the link, you pay the same amount and I get a tiny kickback for recommending! Win-win. The best part about my reading life this year? I’ve only bought maybe five books TOTAL! And those were PD ..read more

For the past few years, I have chosen “one little word” to guide me through the year, and for the most part, it’s been great. (But in full disclosure, last year I forgot my word! OOPS!) This year, I considered using an idea from my administrator, Jennifer Hogan, to choose three words to guide me; however, the more I tried to come up with three words, the more I kept coming back to just one. Dedicate. I have Adriene Mishler of Yoga with Adriene to thank for this word choice. Each year she creates a 30 day yoga series, and this year it is called dedicate. The more I thought about this word, the ..read more

When I was teaching high school English, I discovered how much I enjoyed teaching writing and how much I actually enjoyed writing. But as a teacher, I didn’t really have an outlet for that creativity. So I started this blog (I had a personal blog that I wrote on occasionally) to share my thoughts about teaching and scratch my creative itch all in one place. And it was a lot of fun (and hard work). I learned about building a website, creating graphics, and reaching an audience (and how much I enjoyed some of those things). Writing this blog helped me gain confidence as a writer, introduced me t ..read more