Twenty Years in Education
Any amount of time in education is a long time so I still can't believe I'm 20 years in.
20 years is a long time for anything...
All throughout these 20 years, I've experienced the push and pull of education. The ups and the downs, the highs and the lows.
Reforms have come and gone in these last 20 years. I've seen students flourish and students falter. I've seen teachers come and teachers go.
Now... in 2023... I have had a chance to reflect on the last 20 years in education. I have an opportunity to consider where we've been and where we are going as a collective educational system.
In 20 years I've gained significant experience in many diverse aspects of education. I've spent the last 20 years elevating students' needs, coaching teachers to reinvent their practice, and solving school-wide problems with leadership teams.
My sincerest hope is that where we're going is far more inclusive, creative, and innovative than any of us can even imagine.
Education Blog
PH.D. Student
When I began my studies in UVI's Ph.D. program in Creativity for Innovation and Change, I wasn't 100% sure of what I was going to study. I knew I wanted to pursue a terminal degree and I knew I wanted to study something related to education, particularly Black education, but I didn't have a clear picture of the end in mind.
Not a full year had passed before COVID arrived. I trudged through coursework over the next two years, earning mostly A's along the way, but still unsure of my ultimate path.
Over those years I poured over research on creativity and leadership, keeping education in the forefront of my mind. Being an educator and a student wouldn't allow me to forget. For the first time in my 20 years as an educator, I was seeing a shift taking place in response to the pandemic. Educators at every level - from states, to districts, schools, and classrooms, people were collectively open to trying new approaches to teaching and learning. Through the chaos, I found a moment of inspiration. Change can indeed come... and it is quite possibly here.
I started to consider what education could become if it was a more creative space. The possibilities of a reimagined educational landscape were endless.
I'm energized by the post-pandemic changes I see happening to education.
Right now there is a very quiet movement happening within the Black community. More families are embracing the increase in available micro-schools and homeschools, especially those founded by people of color. More families are finding success outside of the traditional public school system.
My goal is to study and uncover the nuances of this phenomenon.
Content Creator
I'm no stranger to content creation. Before I knew the term, I was simply making things I needed for my classroom. My students needed reminders of behavior expectations so I got out my markers and made some posters. My students needed references to help them remember math processes... so I made a poster for that. When they needed visuals to drive a point home, I used to tools at my disposal to create something useful, supportive, and colorful. Whether it was handmade or digitized, I've been able to meet my classroom needs by using creativity to get the job done!
Creating content to support positive and productive classroom environments is kind of my thing!
The "Want Points?" example to the left was made during... you guessed it. The pandemic! It represents my ability to harness technology tools, such as Canva, to design a poster that is not only visually appealing but also communicates important information students need to know and be reminded of.
This Feedback Form is a basic example of how I create low-prep, high-value tools to be used during instruction.
Teacher
Don't get it mixed up... I still teach. Teaching is at the core of what I do. Even though I've moved on to leadership, doctoral studies, consulting, training, and content creation... I still teach. As an educator, it's important to stay fresh and up-to-date with what's happening in the classroom.
New strategies, policies, and tools are always arising. Not to mention the changing nature of students. These days, students are more agile, more connected, and more advanced than ever before. How else would an educator keep up? You have to be there!
So I've been back to the classroom a few times since transitioning to non-teaching roles. Even now, I teach in the new frontier of online education. Teaching online has evolved quite a bit over the years. There was a time when you would see an online teaching job and had a 50% chance of it being some kind of scam. If you were lucky to find yourself a legit opportunity, you might have found that either the pay wasn't that great, the hours weren't consistent, or the technology wasn't up to par.
Fast forward to this post-COVID world we're living in teaching online has arrived at a much more consistent, advanced, and well-paying space. Teachers who are still open to teaching and tutoring online can find a lot of great opportunities with well-known and respectable companies these days. Especially with the influx of ESSER funding being pumped into schools to fill learning-loss gaps.
