When I first announced to colleagues last winter that I'd be returning to the classroom, I got a lot of questions as to why I was making another move and especially "back" into the classroom-- Was my position being cut? Did I get pushed back into the classroom? Did I dislike being a TOSA? Why not administration next? It's funny that so many of the comments made it sound as if I were moving backward in my career, or questioned whether I was making a move out of necessity.
Rather, I've always been the type of person who loves to be challenged and thrives on the opportunity to do something new from time to time. And so, when the "teacher and design team" positions opened in our district, applying for a new job teaching in, and helping to design, a brand new school in CampbellUSD was an easy choice for me.
While I loved working as a TOSA, and spending the last 3 years getting to know and work with so many teachers and admin district-wide, I am excited about getting into a classroom again and working directly with students. In my role as a TOSA, I was lucky to do just as much learning as I did teaching and coaching, and I cannot wait to take all of the learning that I've done (and shared with others) and put it into practice for myself on a daily basis. Time to practice what I preach, as they say, and actually live on a daily basis the #K2CanToo mentality that I'm so passionate about by developing a classroom of my own in which we empower our primary-aged learners.
Am I nervous? Of course I am! I feel a little bit like a first year teacher again. While I do have some tools in my belt for sure, I've been out of the game for a bit, and planning for CSI feels a bit like starting with a blank page again as we try to rethink most everything we may have done in a more "traditional" school setting.
I'm more excited, however, to help build something new. I'm learning a lot as we start up a new school from scratch, and it's such an honor to be a part of the team that's working together to reimagine education, develop new models of learning, redesign spaces and truly make it a priority to empower students to lead the learning, in all classrooms and all grade levels.
That being said, I also wanted to take some time to reflect on all of the good work that I've accomplished with my TOSA teams over the last 3 years (shout out to Eve Lindsay, Cathy McAvoy, Lindsay Blass, Julie Goo, Misty Kluesner, Sherry Burch & Tiffany Spaulding). It's been a whirlwind couple of years of unit writing, demo lessons, grade level meetings, newsletter mailing, PD facilitating, living out of my car, and "other duties as assigned..." and I loved every minute of it.
