The Authentic Learning Journey Begins

I have decided to begin to blog and write again after a very long hiatus from doing much of any sharing or quite frankly being vulnerable in sharing thoughts and ideas around the world of education let alone life in general.

I need writing. I need a space to process. I need a place to put the words. More importantly what I have come to understand while not yet fully processed what it all means for me professionally and maybe even personally is that I need a place where I can get the words out of my head. Yes, I have journaled, scribbled, done morning pages, bullet journals, etc. I have done the work and yet as I reflect on where I am and where I want to be I have found that losing my way in not writing on my blog has been one element that needs to return.

I am not going to lie that there is a selfish element (why are we embarrassed about being selfish to ourselves in our needs?) that a small sliver of hope that an idea of mine might cross the path of someone else to help move them on their own journey of thinking, doing, creating, and living. It is a place where it might help me feel like I could make a difference no matter the degree of difference. Sharing the words and ideas could help fill a void of questioning what purpose my work serves. What I am realizing is that I want to feel like the work I do makes a difference. And while I know there has been some amazing things that I have been part of, people I learn so much from and admire, I have lost the aspect in my professional journey internally where I feel the work I do matters. It is a personal quest of mine to reignite that part of the work I do.

And this leads to why I believe so passionately about the work that I spend so much time and energy on when at times it feels like an endeavor not always worth pursuing in a system that says one thing yet has so many constraints in the system that it is impossible to do at times.

I don’t want our youth to feel this way.

I don’t want my own children and your children and youth of your community to go to a place for eight hours a day for 180+ days a year for 12+ years and feel like there is not a purpose to their work. I don’t want them to feel like their ideas don’t matter. I don’t want them to give up their passions because nobody nudged them to keep going when it feels hopeless. I don’t want them to feel like they have not been heard or seen or feel part of something bigger than themselves. I want them to know that the world has a place for them. I want them to see and realize the opportunities out there waiting for them to arrive.

I don’t want them to question if their work, ideas, and self-worth matter.

What I want to do with my future writing, podcasts, videos, and whatever else I decide to create for content is document the journey of how to create authentic learning experiences. Yes, I know there are books, articles, organizations, graphic organizers, and all the experts who can give you workbooks and templates to design, but that is not what I am focused on. I want to share the journey. The story of how to navigate it all. Yes, I plan to share the tools I have found useful in creating projects with incredible educators over the years and the current projects underway this school year, but I want to capture the underside, the unspoken elements to not only designing, but developing the conditions for authentic project-based learning opportunities to exist in a very antiquated system of education. It is the parts of the journey that you can’t put in a cute template or a standard rubric. It is the parts that cannot be placed into a 10-step process with a guaranteed outcome.

It is the human side of the experience. The messiness. The chaos. The pivots to be able to pivot. The self-discovery for the adults so that students can discover themselves. The setbacks. The moments of pause. All of things that do not always get addressed because it cannot be boiled down to buzzwords and acronyms.

Even as I write this, I don’t have a list of the topics or things in some perfect chart that will be shared. I have ideas, but as I endure through another year of education like all of you these conversations and ideas will be organic to the moment. They will be raw and honest. They will be truth, but my truth for you to find your own truth as we all walk in our own shoes.

But I hope somewhere in the process connections are made, supports are created, ideas are strengthened, and friendships formed. I hope we all realize we are not alone in the journey as it will be professional development of sorts, but rather than a slide deck and a book to sell,  it will be more of a “personal development” because one thing I have found is that in order for quality authentic learning experiences to emerge in the classroom there is a lot of personal work that needs to be done in ourselves.

So, here is to a new school year. A return to writing. A return to developing strong skin again where I am no longer worried about judgement of my thoughts and words. A year of speaking truth to help those educators on the same journey. A year of creating connections to strengthen the field of education. A year to finding the purpose to the work I do and to making a difference however that plays out.

Here is to give myself permission to explore and wonder beyond my own growth edges to find out more about who I am and to stop being ashamed of myself internally. Here is to my own authentic learning experience of figuring out my authentic self and what purpose I want to serve in this world.