Last year, I stepped into a journey I wasn’t sure, at one time, was in my future. I became a doctoral student. It’s the first time I’m writing about it, not because it hasn’t mattered, but because I hadn’t yet given myself permission to name it. That first semester was filled with internal questions. How …
Continue reading Nothing Feels All the Way Right in the Beginning
We were sitting together, teachers gathered around student work from a newly designed performance assessment. The task asked students to engage in a deep study of character in literature. Instead of a single written response, students were given multiple pathways to show their thinking through a multimedia performance assessment. Students could write, speak, design, create, …
What helps you lead well when the days feel full and the expectations feel high? If you’re reading this, it’s likely because you care deeply about your work. You care about doing it well. You care about the people you serve. You care about growing, even when growth feels uncomfortable or unclear. And while many …
At the beginning of the week, I was driving into work thinking about my long to-do list. If you work in education and are reading this, you know exactly what I mean. I was thinking about projects that matter and need to be lifted the right way. Communications that needed to go out so people …
This time of year has a way of making us pause. Not to count.Not to measure.But to notice. To look back not just at what we accomplished, but at what shaped us. What stayed with us. What we’re still carrying as we step forward. The longer I’ve been in education, the more I’ve come to …
Time is magic. It may be our greatest resource, and the one we never seem to have enough of. Yet it’s not magic because it appears out of nowhere; it’s magic because of what happens when leaders intentionally create it. When leaders carve out time to learn with teachers, meaningful professional learning doesn’t just happen. …
Recently, I was having a conversation with an educator that stayed with me long after we finished talking. It was grounded in her being so passionate about her work, in caring so deeply, but she was unsure if her efforts were being seen. By others. She was expressing that in some spaces her work feels …
I still remember the first time I stepped into a classroom as an instructional coach. I had my notebook, my questions, and my curiosity, but I also had something I did not yet have language for: the sense that I was entering magical space. At the time, coaching was a role many didn’t fully understand. …
I want to start by saying that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s because the only gifts we are expected to give are the ones that matter most…our presence, our attention, and our gratitude. And as we head into the week, I’ve been thinking a lot about where we choose to shine our “flashlight,” where …
Before I stepped into a formal leadership role and even before my career in education began as a teacher, I thought a leader's role was to be a manager. I believed their work was about organization, structure, and oversight. It wasn’t until I encountered leaders who inspired me to become the best version of myself …
Empower. Collaborate. Connect. 