Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man

I’ve decided to go back into the classroom this school year. I thoroughly enjoyed being a principal and all it entails. It was not an easy decision to leave—to leave my friends, my colleagues, staff, teachers, school community and especially the students. 

There is no easy way to say it—I no longer could stand up and by the decisions being made by leadership and the Board of Education. They’ve lost their way and I truly hope for the sake of the students, they find the path back to truly thinking about the students first, not adults first, in their decision-making. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening anytime soon as the District is still talking about the same things they’ve been talking about for the last ten years with little to no progress forward. I do wish them luck for the sake of the 85,000 students they propose to serve, which includes my own.

Enough of that…

The picture is of the room I will be teaching in for part of this year (we move in November to a new building). It has been a journey over the past few weeks in transitioning my mind from one of a principal back to one of a classroom teacher. These two roles definitely have different mindsets, and both equally important.

Rather than thinking about handbooks, duty schedules, class lists, enrollment, and the list goes on, I’m thinking about how to set-up the room for maximum student engagement, movement, line of sight, and instruction. What has also been on my mind is going from a high-tech school to a school with little to no tech. How will I help prepare students to meet the demands of future employment where they will most likely not only need to know how to think critically, problem-solve, and collaborate, but also how to use technology to discover, to learn, and to sort through what is opinion and what is fact?

Of course, things like lesson plans, classroom management, parent communication, volunteer schedules, and community building are also on my mind. At the same time, working to learn the systems, procedures and policies of a new school are present as well. It feels like my first year of teaching all over again, which was 16 years ago. Good thing I enjoy a challenge and change.

My goal with the switch in blog name and thinking, is to bring you along for the journey. We can laugh together, cry together, and hopefully learn together. 

Join me and share your thoughts about my journey, and that of your own.