A New Chapter

Here I am starting yet another new chapter in this journey called life.

At the end of February, I decided to leave elementary school administration and head back to my passion of teaching in the classroom. You can read about that here. After a challenging time personally and professionally, I needed to find my passion again … why did I become a teacher? Why did I become an administrator? What was my purpose? Has that purpose changed? Developed? Evolved? It has been a process for sure that started with some health concerns and evolved into focusing on my word of the year for 2018, Perspective, which you can read about here.

In March, I began teaching Kindergarten again full-time. What a joy that was. Truly. Yeah, there were times where there was pee all over the floor in the in-class bathroom and even poop occasionally, but it was still joy. I had kids struggling to leave their parents in the morning and requiring some extra cuddles. Joy. There were kids hitting each other and struggling socially to express themselves in appropriate ways. Still joy. Seeing the lightbulb go on when a child can find a word in the pocket chart when we are playing a game of “Where is…”. Joy! Watching a child learn to express themselves in their writing. Joy. I could add to this list all day. Teaching kindergarten was a joy. What a gift it is to be able to provide these children with my undivided attention and to help them with their struggles and be a small part of their triumphs! 

So, now I am taking my next step in my journey. I am leaving the school district that I joined in January, 2015 to return to my previous school district – the district in which I live and the district in which my own three children attend school. I spent almost 20 years in that district and made many good friends and developed good relationships with many inspiring, dedicated people. It’s time to be closer to my kids and closer to home – both literally and figuratively. I am even more fortunate to be able to be a teacher at two of my own kids’ school this year! I feel so very grateful and fortunate that this is where we are on this journey.

Thinking ahead at what I hope for the educators in our schools – both in my new district and my previous district, my hopes lay in a photo I saw on a friend’s wall on Facebook. Ultimately, this is what I believe our students need, from all of us … not just the teachers.

As teachers, it’s important that we are cheering on our students, holding them up, and walking with them along their journey. It’s important that we do this with the parents of our students as well. It doesn’t stop there though. Administrators need to be doing this with their teachers, support staff, parents, and students. Likewise, staff need to be doing this with their administrator(s). We are all in this together… we all want our students to be successful and be the best versions of themselves they can be. In this day in education, we are all learners, or we should be, and we should all be supporting each other as learners.

Please, let us all remember that, at times, we all need support and encouragement. It’s important that we all work together in the best interest of our students – all of the students – not just the ones in our classroom. We need to build each other up and support each other when (not if) we struggle. (This is really another blog post that I have in draft form that I will publish at another time. )

For now, I am so grateful to be going home to Surrey Schools and to be working with amazing educators!  Who knew that this is where my journey would take me professionally? I am so honoured, grateful, and excited for this next chapter!

I wish you all the best as you head back for the 2018/2019 school year! Your students are fortunate to have such a caring, passionate, dedicated professional before them. Thank you for all your hard work, sweat, tears, smiles, and laughter that this year will surely bring.

Tia