Feeling Hippie-ish

I have officially decided that this will be my last school year as a classroom teacher. 

I really enjoy teaching, and the feedback I have heard over the years from students and observers, is that I'm actually pretty good at it.  But teaching is a HARD job, and when you are doing it well, you are putting in 1000 percent of your time and energy.  When I decided to pursue my PhD in education in 2010, it was because I wanted to transition out of the classroom.  But as I have shared in a former post, after graduating in 2015, my husband was unexpectedly promoted to a role in the St. Louis area.  I wasn't prepared to move across-country, and as it relates to jobs, the roles I wanted to pursue, have a tendency of taking several months to attain.   But I knew that I could get a job as a teacher fairly quickly, and it would allow me to get adjusted to the St. Louis area.  After acquiring this teaching role, I thought I would do the job for 1 year, but I fell in love with the students and the community, so I decided to commit to a second year.  After my second year, I thought about pursuing a leadership role, to appease my passion for project management and teacher education.    This year, which is my 3rd year,  I have enjoyed teaching as well as my leadership role, but the leadership role reaffirms how much I enjoy working with adults, project management, systematic improvement, curriculum writing, and leading professional development for teachers.  

Another major reason I feel like my time in the classroom is over, is due to my new passion for blogging.  I don't think the world of blogging is compatible with being a classroom teacher.    I always feel insecure about whether or not what I am wearing in my pictures, is teacher appropriate.  And although I am an adult, I don't feel the freedom that most adults feel.  I'm consistently worried about what I say and whether my outfit is covering me up enough.  In the digital era, there's always a level of caution that we must have, but as a teacher you have a heavier level of worry and concern.  In some ways, I feel like an over-grown teenager trying my best to play by the rules.   

I don't feel safe. 

Soooo....I am loving myself enough to pursue a job that aligns more with my passions, and to be quite honest, one that makes me feel more free.   I do believe I was supposed to teach high school these last three years.  The students have filled me with so much joy and love.  Being in the St. Louis area, and not having my dc-area network, they really served as a big extended family.  I have sooooo many beautiful memories where I can recall laughing so hard, I forgot I was at work.  

My last big reason, I am deciding this is my last year, is because I want to leave on a high- note.  I don't want years and years to go by, and I become resentful towards the kids because I was too scared to leave and too scared to take a leap into something different.  It's time for change, and it's time to continue learning who I want to be and what I want to do.  

This decision has me feeling a little lighter on my feet, a little dreamy-eyed, and a little hippy-ish.  I am already beginning to feel more free, and even the wind that blows across my face feels different.  I'm looking forward to saying goodbye to bells, goodbye to telling students to be quiet, and goodbye to the rigidness that schools usually bring. 

My exit is my way of saying hello to my sense of peace, personal freedom, and to loving myself endlessly.  

Below you will find links to a variety of bell bottom jeans, brown leather jackets, and platform heels.   If you don't have anything 70's inspired, go find something now, and get groovy baby!!