As I reflect on starting this blog, I realized a few things.  First, I wanted to talk about the things I care most about when it comes to education.  I wanted to share some things about my first year as an instructional coach.  It was important that this just wasn't a sounding board, or a place where I sounded like a cynical educator.  More importantly this blog should be a resource for all educators no matter the experience level.  Of all of the things that slipped my mind was my story; why I am a teacher, and how I managed to get past that 5 year threshold and stay in education for 17 years.  So here it goes, my story, my journey as an educator:

I'm not sure if I "always" wanted to be a teacher, but I remember enjoying being around kids when I was in high school.  My high school tennis coach and I would do clinics for the Boys and Girls Club in Gary, Indiana my home town.  I enjoyed instructing and teaching the game.  There is no greater feeling than that light bulb moment.  Watching kids have those moments was so fulfilling.  I can't think of a greater sense of accomplishment than pouring into a person and watching them blossom.  I joined Students Exploring Teaching (SET) the next year and added tutoring to coaching kids the rest of my high school career.

As graduation loomed it was a matter of deciding what I wanted to teach.  In high school I loved science and history, but I had a passion for books and writing.  English would be my subject of choice.  Ironically enough, everyone told me I would never find a job as an English teacher.  I should go into special education, or science.  I felt very strongly that if I did what I was passionate about that I would find work.  Turns out I was right on that one.

Education was also practical.  I would not consider myself a risk taker.  Writing has always been a love in my life, but as the first in my immediate family to graduate from college it made sense to do something that I liked and something I was good at as a career.  I mean, yeah I could be a writer, but how do you do that?  How do you turn loving to read books into a career?  So teaching it was.

I graduated from Wabash College in 2001, but I did not complete my teacher education program.  I moved back home without my license.  I had a job fall into my lap--sort of--through Gary Urban Enterprise Association first as an after school tutor and then as an Adult Basic Education instructor.  What gratifying work!  We helped ex-cons, high school drop outs, and single moms get their GED.  Some of them went to the work force, and others enrolled in our construction trade program.

As that opportunity ended around 2003 I enrolled in Indiana University Northwest.  The UTEP graduate program allowed me to get my teaching license and complete my Master's Degree.  August of 2004 I started my career in secondary education at 21st Century Charter School @ Gary.

To say that it wasn't what I thought is the understatement of the year!  I thought that my personality and the depth of information I had would change the world.  I didn't know what classroom management was, and I hated the way I was told students had to be disciplined.  I was thrust into leadership as a second year teacher.  It was an absolute honor to be part of a staff to open a school, there were responsibilities there I wasn't ready for.

I left 21st Century in 2006 and started at Clark High School in Hammond, Indiana.  I don't name drop often, but Reid Amones and Veronica Tabon were the best principals I've ever worked for!  I was a bit more prepared for Clark, but it still wasn't what I thought.  It wasn't that the kids were bad--well maybe a few, but it seemed as if they didn't have much of an idea about making good choices.  More than that I felt like no matter how much they liked me or how much they would say things like, "I only do your work because I like you."  They would still get suspended or put out of school and everything in between.  Veronica Tobon told me once, "Teaching is the only profession were you don't see an immediate return on your investment."  I've seen many of my former students over the years who would come and tell me that they got themselves together because of something they remember me saying. 

I moved on the Eggers Middle School in 2012.  The time I was there was an odd time in my life.  It was the first time my personal life actually began to effect my professional work.  I never really got settled in at Eggers.  In spite of my "issues"  I learned more about the craft of teaching the three years I was there than any other time in my career.  I am forever grateful to two people that I worked with there: Vickie Thomas and my boss Rod Poats.  The opportunity to mentor colleagues and work with a process to funnel your pedagogy through was invaluable.

Here I am!  I spent my last 2.5 years in the classroom here at New Vistas High School in Portage, Indiana and now I am the Instructional Coach.  I've won, I've lost, but the fire to educate, and be an agent for change has never left me. 

What's next?  Well for this blog it will be a combination of narrative reflection, and some best practices.