At some point I realized that I wanted to be a student for life, so I became an educator. I am currently a School Librarian at Main Street Elementary School in Exeter, NH working with students and staff in a grade K-2 environment. I love working with learners of many ages, whether they are the children in a school or the adults teaching them.
I started out with a plan to be a high school band director which lasted right up until I spent a semester student teaching in this capacity. I had an amazing mentor and quickly realized two things: 1. I did not want to be a high school band director and 2. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do instead. As luck would have it, I was blessed with friends who knew me better than I did at the time and one set me up with an opportunity to teach elementary school music – something I absolutely never wanted to do. It turned out to be a fabulous learning opportunity for me. Teaching elementary school music was when I began to grow up as an adult and I was extremely lucky to have that experience.
After a few years I began to realize that I wasn’t in quite the right role anymore. I’d grown and changed and had a different view of what I wanted to be working on. I began a degree in School Library and Information Technology. Timing is everything and shortly after I started this path the librarian at my school retired and I was able to step into that role. I still get questioning looks when I tell people I left teaching music to be a librarian. I describe it as the most amazing pair of shoes that everyone compliments but never really fit me right. And I will always remember a fifth grade student who, after a few weeks of my position change said, “I didn’t understand why you would want to leave music for this, but now that I see you doing it, it makes total sense. You’re really good at it.” He of course added that I was good at teaching music too but having this young man who’d been my student for some years so easily see the change in me was one of those moments that will stick with me for life. You’re students know when you’re all in. This told me I was on the right path.
After taking a year off with my first child I again changed paths. This change was less planned- the result of a number of elements of life at the time- and it brought me to a new learning opportunity. I left my school of 14 years, that place where I grew up as a an adult, and started at a new school. While it offered many learning opportunities nothing new comes without the trade of some things lost. Starting over is hard and as much as I love learning it’s not always easy. But it all moves forward. It’s always about learning something new about the yourself, the world and how the two fit together. This blog is a place for me to log my learning going forward. To share my learning and my questions with the world.
Thanks for learning with me.