Filed under leading …

Sep 14 2011
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leading, teaching

In awe

Continually in awe of what God is doing for me in my career. I added on a 3rd job today. Because I’m not already overworked :)

Do. not. get. it. twisted.
I am not amazing. I am far from it.

(because… man… sidenote: MAN I have those moments where I’m like… WTF AM I DOING IN THIS CLASSROOM.
Those moments where I feel so ineffective, or those moments when I think about my milk-crate FULL of stuff waiting to be graded, literally bring on emotional breakdowns)

But as more opportunities open up for me, I have this genuine internal curiosity about what my role in the educational world is evolving in to. I tend to feel very tiny and yet somehow full of potential, waiting to burst out at any given moment.

Jun 30 2011
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leading, life in general, teaching, thoughts

The definition of HORROR.

The moment when you walk back into the conference room after lunch, only to find that your computer has been playing a slide show of ALL of your personal pictures for the past hour.

Not cool dude. Not cool. If you’ve ever happened to be in front of my computer when this happens… then you KNOW how horrifying this was. To make matter’s worse, the majority of the people in the conference room are people I’ve only known for 2 days.

Sidenote: I am extremely jealous of all of you who work in an office and/or get to take hour long lunches. It’s such a luxury! When school is in session, I get 20 minutes to inhale my food, go to the restroom, and get my classroom ready for post-lunch craziness. I’ve been at the district office these past two days, and the ability to go to a sit-down restaurant, eat my meal at a leisurely pace, and even step outside to call a friend… has been such a novelty.

Jun 28 2011
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leading, life in general, teaching

Back to work attire!

Summer, as one might imagine… has been fabulous. In addition to the activities mentioned in the last post, there was a Britney Spears (and Nicki Minaj) concert, KBBQ, dancing, Bad Teacher , Glen Ivy Spa, and three trips to El Torrito.

But tomorrow… it’s time to go back to work for a committee I’m on. I’m at my parents’ house tonight because I’m getting a free rental car in the morning, and then I am promptly heading to the district office in downtown LA. The problem with the late notice for my rental and my subsequent impromptu trip here tonight is that I do not appropriate work attire for tomorrow. My options are a few pieces of laundry I left here over the weekend, what I wore today, and [shudder] cast-offs from my high school days.

Tomorrow, will I wear:
-The strapless dress I wore to the day spa today? – Inappropriate and scented with chlorine and sunblock!
or….
-A size 3 mini-skort from 9th grade? I have no other words. Size 3. Mini-SKORT. 9th Grade.
or…
-Spandex capri-length leggings that I wore to a 5k? No worries, they’ve been washed. As an added bonus, Susana pointed out this weekend that they are see-through!

I’ll keep you in suspense.

May 25 2011
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getting old, grad school, leading, life in general, thoughts

NYC, macro, and reform thoughts.

“I’m sick of spending these lonely nights
Training myself not to care
I know you’ve supported me for a long time
Somehow I’m not impressed
But New York cares (got to be some more change in my life)
New York cares (got to be some more change in my life)”
~ “NYC” – Interpol

Am I going to New York? Goodness knows. All I know is:
-It is amazing to feel a passion, turn that into direction, and to realize the realm of education that I want to be involved in, long-term (macro, not micro).
-It is fascinating to see opportunities presenting themselves on both coasts.
-There are a lot of steps to be taken and considerations to be made (new car and CA-contingent loan forgiveness vs. $840 Million more invested in the type of reform I am interested in and [consequently] NY being THE place for ed-reform and education policy. UCLA and USC vs. Columbia and NYU to continue my studies). Etcetera etcetera (DO YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE.).

God is good. I am thankful for options, even if the freak me the EFF out.

Apr 13 2011
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2nd year, leading, teaching

Growth

This has probably been the most significant week of my career thus far. So busy, so tired, but loving every minute.

I want to document my growth for myself, so:
~Led my first Professional Development for my staff and got good reviews (on official exit slip survey and verbally). 1.5 hours of disseminating a ton of info (45+ slides) while modeling good instructional techniques to help with the processing of said info.
~Collaborated with my bosses (school admins and my boss for my district level position)
~Put together focus group data for WASC (organization that accredits schools) visit to our school tomorrow.
~Getting sub’d out of class to sit in on the board for WASC visit tomorrow.
~Receiving a lot of funding for my grants on donors choose
~Crazy conference period: parent/student/admin/teacher conference, covering a class, photoshoot in my class, planning PD.
~Teaching! It’s always happening :)
~Sleep? What’s that?

I’m thankful to be in a place that is growing and developing me.

2 days til Spring Break–so close yet so far, I can’t even think about it yet!

Annnnnd GOODNIGHT.

Apr 11 2011
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leading, teaching

I need to stop working past midnight.
When I need to wake up at 5:30am.

Pleeeeeeease, no stress dreams tonight!

Mar 02 2011
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2nd year, bliss, grad school, leading, teaching

feels familiar

ah, yes.

the stress and pressure of work and taking classes again.
the joy of learning.
the working hard to pack my day full of productivity.

…i love it.

Feb 12 2011
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2nd year, grad school, leading, teaching

Being stretched!

[I still have my teaching job, but...]

I got a new job. I love it. I’m honored and in awe of the opportunity to be doing it.

I’m working at the district level on a project that is seriously overhauling education for about 34,000 students in Los Angeles through 5 charter organizations (~8,000 students being served through my specific charter organization). Should I really post specifics here? No. But if you want the detailed rundown, I’ll be more than happy to tell you all about it!

Today was spent in our first meeting, and I loved it. Yes, it was a long Saturday meeting after having three 12 hour work days this week… but it was so worth it.

A lot of learning, a lot of discussing, a lot of collaborating… soon to be a lot of leading. Very exciting! I’m once again so happy I went to grad school, because it helped prepare me for this. There’s something wonderful to doing research and having discussions that are not only engaging, but amazingly important. It was a good reminder that I love the field of education, I love keeping busy, and I like having responsibilities above and beyond my teaching role.

Life is getting crazy again! New job, classes starting next week, Wisconsin this week….

Like I said:

Life is good, God is good.

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