I mentioned yesterday that this week is the first time in 28-years where I’m not scrambling to get ready for the coming school year. I’ve been very busy trying to get my “writing career” up and running, but I felt the need to take a moment and recognize the path I’ve been on. I thought I’d use my school ID photos to help remember the adventure. Little did I imagine, when I took my first teaching job in Hawaiian Gardens in 1995, that teaching would take me from Southern California to Orlando Florida, ending in Las Vegas, Nevada 28-years later. 

The first thirteen years, wearing IDs wasn’t a thing yet, so these are my staff photos with a couple years missing. When I got to Full Sail University in Orland, wearing an ID was the thing and I thankfully took a picture of my ID, because I don’t seem to have it anymore. I’m guessing that I might have had to turn it in when I turned in my keys. Also we didn’t update IDs every year like we did in the public school setting. So I’m posting some images that I took while working and a screen-grab of one of the videos I presented. Next stop I ended up at Full Sail Labs teaching kids filmmaking, music, programming and robotics. I again took a picture of my new ID and an image of us in the green screen room. I learned a lot at Full Sail Labs but the compensation wasn’t equal to the effort level, so I took an offer to teach STEAM at the elementary level in Las Vegas. We’re back to yearly IDs (which I still have). During the fourth year COVID hit and I needed a change in administrative support. And even though teaching middle school before I left California had been extremely difficult, I felt like my experiences with robotics and online learning would workout at Cashman Middle School. 

When we started the 2020-2021 school year, even though I had no idea what to expect, I got very comfortable teaching online. But it was a huge challenge teaching robotics, which is usually a hands-on class, to mostly distracted middle schoolers with no access to robot kits. It didn’t help that the schedule and remote/hybrid/face-to-face settings changed three times that first year. I got by the first and second years due to the great support I got from my fellow teachers and administration. When we went fully face-to-face for the second year the incoming sixth graders were mostly out of control and I seriously considered ending my teaching career at the end of the 2021-2022 school year. But there was a part of me that felt like I could take what I’d learned and fix things for 2022-2023. Some things were much better, but I grew disappointed because my core group of fellow teachers was disbanded, the administrators I’d been working with left the school (including the one who had pleaded with me to stay this third year), and the teacher shortage was causing a lot of students not interested in robotics were dropped into my room and I found myself subbing several times a week to cover for others (and most of the time finding no lesson plans to work with). So, in February I pulled my ticket and said 28 is enough (even though I was not in a position to go “full retirement”). One of my administrators told me that I’d get bored not teaching. Yeah, that’s not happening and it’s a bit sad that she didn’t know me well enough to realize that I’m always busy. 

According to the calendar my former-fellow teachers were required on campus yesterday and will be having Open House on Friday to welcome new students and families and students will begin their school year on Monday. I wish them well. I do have great memories from the many years and many friends I’ve gotten to meet and work with over the years. It’s been fun, but it’s time for new challenges while I still have a little time left. Here we go!