Back in to the swing of things

Hi everyone,
I have been away for a looooong time!  My last post was in June (yikes!).  I had these great plans to do lots of posting over the summer.  I wanted to get all of the amazing stuff that happened in our classroom throughout the year down on paper (well...sort of... digital paper I guess lol), as well as documenting the things that we tried that weren't so awesome - after all that is just as important :). I was so excited to reflect on the year and start preparing for the next one.  I had visions of me sitting on the back deck, sipping a pepsi, writing blogs....ha!  That was a cute idea ;)

But all of that changed a few days after my last post. My dream job was posted in our board -  a kindergarten consultant position.  In our board this position did not exist...until now!!!  So I frantically prepared my resume (what is that?!?!  I had not made a resume since graduating 12 years ago!)  I am so thankful for the amazing team of educators I was working with.  They encouraged me, helped me, revised and edited my application with me, and so on.  I was FREAKING out!!!  Within a few days I heard back that I got an interview....now I was really freaking out!

On a side note:  I was SO overwhelmed by the support I received during this process.  Everyday I was blown away by the calls, emails, texts and so on from colleagues, other administrators, and parents of students who had heard about the position, and wanted to make sure I knew about it and offer me good luck.  I was so humbled.  Even today, months later it brings tears to my eyes.  Never have I felt so supported and encouraged.  It really made me think about myself as a parent...do the wonderful teachers who care for my own kids at school truly know how much I appreciate them?  Do they know that I notice all the extras?  Right then I resolved to make sure that each of my kids' teachers know how much we appreciated them.

I have loved my journey of rethinking Kindergarten, and rethinking my whole role as the teacher in the classroom.  It has been so motivating and freeing!  If there were such thing as a "PD junkie" that would be me.  I love learning new things.  I love hearing and seeing what is going on in other classrooms.  We were so fortunate this year to have over 40 educators come and visit our classroom.  In some cases we got release time to meet with them for part of the day and discuss our journey.  That is where my love for working with teachers truly sparked.  I knew I loved it (as I said, it was my dream job), but now there was no doubt.

So, as you can probably guess, I GOT THE JOB!!!!!  (insert choir of angels singing, and me jumping up and down crying....seriously, it was quite the scene) - Do you think it's bad that I started to cry on the phone when the Superintendent called to offer me the job????  Yep...that happened.  I just can't describe it....I am still pinching myself, and can't believe that I am here.

So...it's been 8 weeks on the job.  It has been a whirlwind, and I am loving every minute.  I have so much to share with all of you.  I am so blessed to be in a position to visit so many different classrooms and learn from so many other educators.  I am trying to keep an "ideas" book for when I return to the classroom, but to be honest I am not even sure how to organize that.  There is so much great stuff going on.

I can never say thank you enough to the educators in our Board that open up their classrooms to me, and invite me to be a part of their learning journey.  I definitely don't have all the answers, but I am so pumped be on this journey of learning with them!

I am also excited to share my learning experiences with all of you.  I am really going to try and post as often as can, and perhaps you can find inspiration, or find something that pushes your thinking.  I know that I am pushed everyday :)

Chat again soon,
Carly