I love my life as a teacher. Of course, if you told me in high school that I was going to become a teacher, I would have laughed and laughed. I was going to be an Intelligence Analyst for the CIA or NRO or some other clandestine agency. Yet my senior trip to Europe set off a series of events that sent me in a different direction.
I was a recovering Reagan Youth and had a chance to visit East Berlin in the days of Evil Empires and Checkpoint Charlie and discovered that, hey, these people are a lot like us! I mean, yeah, they were all command economy and loving Lenin, but I saw that they weren't the three headed monsters I had once believed. Huh. My junior year in college allowed me to study in Vienna, Austria, and as I popped in and out of the Eastern Bloc nations I still entertained the idea of a life as a government policy wonk or think tank analyst. I even took the U.S. State Dept. Exam! A trip to St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) changed it all. I got caught up in having fun - with Soviets no less - and decided that the world probably didn't need another hater and I became interested in supporting student exchange programs with the U.S.S.R. after college.
Funny thing is, a wall in Berlin came tumbling down and before you knew it, the Soviet Union became a historical footnote. Seeing the writing on that proverbial wall, I was recruited to work in exhibition and education programs for a human rights and holocaust education organization. In a funny turn of events, I found myself giving tours to students, planning workshops for teachers, and creating educational materials. I decided that museum education was the way to go. Sort of.
Fast-forward to graduate school when I made the fateful decision to go ahead and choose the teacher certification route in Bank Street College's Museum Education Program. That meant being a student teacher and when my first placement fell through due to a clerical error, I walked a few miles south to Brooklyn New School (BNS) and into the classroom of Steve Wilson. And THAT was when I knew I wanted to teach. Yes, I loved the museum world and some part of me even thought I could marry my love for international exchange and exhibitions, but really, once I was working with the kids in Steve's classroom I knew that this was what I would do for the rest of my life. Steve was masterful and magical in how he planned, taught, and reflected. Kids eagerly learned from him and I did my best to do so, too.
Moving from Brooklyn to Rochester, NY, provided me several chances to refine my teaching and learning. My dedicated mentor, Margaret Finch, helped me get through that first, whirlwind year of solo teaching. I embraced project-based learning while at BNS and made it a staple of my own classroom. When the opportunity came to merge that philosophy with my museum education background in the form of a new school, I grabbed on tight and helped bring Genesee Community Charter School to life. I am still there, having moved up from second-grade teacher to third, fourth, fifth, finally settling into the sixth-grade aerie. Not everyone wants to work with middle school students - but I love their enthusiasm and the “big kid” veneer that still reveals “little kid” vulnerabilities and wonder.
I have been fortunate to have become a part of the Expeditionary Learning network through my work at GCCS - people talk about education reform, but this is the real deal. Through EL I have been pushed outside of my educator comfort zone so many times, that taking risks is now part of my professional identity. I have been so grateful for the opportunities to craft curriculum, contribute to their publications, and present at their National Conferences.
Through EL, I was fortunate enough to learn about Fund for Teachers. Can you even imagine for a moment an organization that not only embraces the DIY professional development of teachers, but puts their money where their mouth is? Through FFT, I have learned all about raptor migration and participated in the Cape May hawk count. Through FFT, I have walked in the footsteps of early humans, explored cave art and artifacts and tried my hand at creating neolithic tools. Through FFT, I will be able to explore how the Roman Empire projected its power through public works projects and how societies reflected their values through the built environment. FFT has transformed how I learn - and how I want my students to learn.
So this blog is as much about sharing my learning with you as it is a chance for me to take stock in what I've learned so far. As a parent and a husband and a teacher, I am always learning (often from my mistakes) and I try to help my students see that learning happens all the time no matter where we are. For now, learning lives here and I'm glad you've decided to learn along with me.
