A beginning of sorts

To begin is always the first challenge, often even more so than to complete something. Based on the number of marginally filled notebooks, halting attempts at journaling, and the many other blogs and blog-adjacent type things I have floating around on the internet you might be tricked into believing I am quite good at starting things. But that would not account for the number of ideas that barely survived the firing of a few synapses, the million dollar ideas scribbled in notebooks never to be looked at again, or the best laid plans that always materialize after beer number 3 but are gone by the end of number 4.

But life is funny like that. We never know which of these seeds we plant are going to even sprout let alone grow and put down roots and come to overtake us. Which is kind of what happened when I finally decided to return to the classroom several years ago.

Growing up my mom was a teacher, first in Kindergarten and then as a teacher-owner of a preschool. I never had any illusions about education being a magic fairy tale land of learning and creativity. After we survived Y2K I watched as former governor Jeb Bush pushed Florida into educational reform under the guise of charter schools, vouchers, and merit-based pay for teachers. All things that, at the time I had a vague sense were not actually good for public schools, their students, and their teachers, but I didn't have the context to fully comprehend their impact.

Now having been in education, in the classroom for going on five years, and having worked with students across the spectrum, my eyes have been opened to the stark inconsistencies between what we as a nation say we believe about education and what we actually want and do with our public schools. My two years spent pursuing and completing my masters degree opened me up to a number of other things. First, and foremost, that their is a towering wealth of research, knowledge, and wisdom about what comprises good teaching, effective schools, and sound policy, but that is all roundly ignored by districts and policy makers and out of reach of most teachers. Second, that I finally learned and honed the skills necessary for effectively accessing, identifying, and analyzing information pertinent to what was important to me. Third, that for all the griping we teachers do about how problematic things are and how much they need to change, we rarely take action to change them. Of course, we also rarely have the time and energy left over to do little else besides make it through each day.

These last few years I've been paying much closer attention to whats happening around me, both in my school and my district, but also more broadly across the state of Florida and across our country. I've watched teachers fight back with massive city and even statewide strikes. I was filled with joy watching throngs of teachers clad in red filling the hallways, stairways, and lobbies of their seats of government. I've also watched as both our federal government, and my own state government has fallen more and more under the sway of right wing politicians who continue in earnest the work of dismantling our entire public education system. I was filled with rage and dread when the Florida State legislature passed unconstitutional legislation to broaden charter and private school access to public education funding. But both of these things fueled my passion for wanting to make a difference.

And so here we are, at a beginning of sorts. I felt I had spent enough time posting on Instagram stories or pigeonholing friends and family about educational policy and reform at the dinner table, and that it was time to turn to a better outlet. Something that allows for more in-depth discussion, but also the flexibility to take what you like and leave the rest. The goal is to have one main post a week, with other smaller posts as needed. I'll be talking about the books I've read, the insanity and beauty of Florida, the broader going-on's in our country and world, and of course, looking in-depth and at length at the whos, whats, whys, and hows of our educational system. And if it all works out, hopefully it will all connect together.