Where I’m at: Reflections on who I’ve become as a person and educator

Twenty years ago — in July 2003 — I created the first version of this website to share resources for educators.

I had just completed my third year of teaching, and was collaborating with other educators online via message board forums. I took the plunge of learning how to code and built my first website to share what was working in my classroom.

In this three part podcast series over the summer, I’ll share more about how I got from that to where things are at today, along with reflections on how I’ve changed as a person and an educator over the years. I’ll end by sharing what I have planned next, where I see the field of education heading, and what I’m optimistic and hopeful about for all of us.

Episode 280 is the second installment of this series. If you have’t yet listened to episode 278 called How I got here: Reflections on 20 years of sharing teaching ideas online, I highly recommend you back up and start there. Usually you can listen to my podcast episodes in any order you want, but since this is basically my life story, what I’m sharing in this episode will make a lot more sense if you’ve heard the beginning of what happened.

Listen to the audio below,
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Content warning: In the second half of the episode, I will share how my religious and spiritual beliefs have changed over the last 20 years. If you’re not interested in hearing my experiences in this area, you can listen to the first half of the episode, and I’ll let you know when I’m about to shift into discussions of religion.

Listen in as I share:

• My honest answer about whether I miss being in the classroom
• How the focus area I choose for my Master’s degree lit a spark that led to the work I’m doing now
• What I discovered about myself through the National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) process 
• What my close friendship with the teacher next door taught me about my own strengths and weaknesses as an educator
• The ways being an introvert and empath impact my work and how I see the world
• How I rebounded from religious trauma as a teenager and found a new way back to the Christian faith in my mid-20s
• How spending years doing prison ministry and mentoring the incarcerated has shaped my thinking
• Why I began to feel pushed out of the Christian faith and disillusioned with the doctrine
• Where I’m at now spiritually and what brings me a sense of peace and joy
• How these changes in my belief system, personality, and identity shifts have impacted my marriage 

Anything else you want to hear about?

If there’s anything I didn’t talk about in this podcast series that you’re still left wondering, I’m doing an AMA (ask me anything) episode next month!

Use this form to submit a question about an aspect of my life or work you’d like to hear more about.