Posts

The Birth of a Sun

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  Over 4.6 billion years ago, right before the COVID pandemic started, a giant cloud of gas and dust swirled about in space. This Solar Nebula collapsed under its own gravity and the materials were pulled to the center forming what we know to be our Sun. Someday, maybe 5 more billion years from now, the Sun will die and become a giant red star, engulfing nearby planets, possibly including Earth.  Today I was talking to some old friends, whose son also had Myotubular Myopathy. They were telling me the story of his final illness, which ultimately took his life. I cried, my heart is broken for these parents who gave their son every opportunity, who built a world for him that created experiences that often far exceeded what others thought he would be physically able to do. This young man fully experienced life until his last days. I think about my own son, who is my sun, one which much of my life revolves around. There will be a time when I, too, will have to deal with my own loss. It will

Transformation Station

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 As I sit here listening to a group of people that I have had the honor of participating with in the world of transformation, I think about the Transformation Station. We all arrived at Transformation Station last March, bright-eyed and ready to take on the world.  We were naive, believing that we had all the answers already. What could Transformation Station possibly bring? We took our lives, folded them up, and put them into our suitcases of Possibility.  One step at a time, we created powerful interactions and opened up the world to others. We bring them to the Station, opening the windows so the breeze of possibility can fill their lungs. We breathe in the air, reminding ourselves of the world that we have created for ourselves and others. We lead them onto the platform where they walk gingerly to join us at the tables, where we drink coffee and talk about our future. Transformation Station is a place where you open your heart and fill it up with the possibility of a future that yo

Who knew? Lessons from the last year..

 Welcome back to The Other Side of the Equation. This is where deep thinking and conversation happen about the transformation of education, taking care of our well-being, and creating a world where everything matters. I have been missing from the blog world for months. The Pandemic came in March of 2020 and I, like many others, moved into survival mode. We all hunkered in for what we thought would be a few weeks. Our naivete about the situation now seems so clear. Looking back it's hard to believe I, a scientist at heart, ever really believed that we would return "back to normal" in just a few weeks. (facepalm) The Pandemic destroyed the creative juice that flowed from my mind. Consumed with worry and concern, isolating from others, made getting by each day the priority. Now that over eighteen months have gone by, and we're still here, I realize that if I don't build some normalcy in my life, I will continue in this suspended state. Lots has happened over the last

Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021

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  There have only been a few times in my memory that I can remember being truly happy that the year was ending but 2020 was definitely one of them. The year just seemed to suck the life out of everything. This will forever be known as the year of the Pandemic, Comprehensive Distance Learning, mask-wearing, and social distancing. It is the year that the death of George Floyd launched protests around the world for Black Lives Matter.  It was the year when we, as white Americans, had to look deep within ourselves and ask how White Supremacy had been and currently was running our lives. It was a time where recognizing White Privilege was and is painful and feels raw when considering the harm caused to others simply because of the color of their skin. It was a year where the presidential election brought so much stress and anxiety that its conclusion, which wasn't declared for weeks, seemed almost anti-climatic. The deaths of John Lewis and Ruth Bader Ginsberg cut deep for so many that

Everyone's Mom...

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                                                                      So I joined TikTok.  Yes, I am one of "those" people, who has joined the latest craze. I am there with all the millenials who are much younger than me (although, yes, there are those who are older as well.) I joined for fun and began  making fun videos.  That's when my daughtrer called, saying that she and her friends "decided they wanted to make me famous" (I laughed). She asked if I would be "everyone's mom." I laughed again and asked why she would want that. This is when I got an asnwer that almost made me stop n my tracks. "Times are really hard right now, Mom, and everyone needs a mom like you. You accept people for who they are no matter what, you love them, and acknowledge them. People need that right now."  I was honored and surprised. If you know anything about my daughter and I, you know that her teen years weren't an easy road and I was definitely not her

I Teach, What's your SuperPower?

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 It is hard to believe that it is September 9th already. What happened to the Summer (although in many ways this has been the longest summer ever! We left school on March 13, thinking that we would return sometime in the Spring. I had not idea that, in September, we still wouldn't be going back to school (in the building per se).  Although we still have two weeks before students begin,  my level of anxiety is increasing every day. This is my 28th year teaching and I feel unequipped to fully meet the needs of the students I love so dearly! We have started Professional Development and Professional Learning Communities..zoom meetings all day. Everyone is starving for information, trying to put the puzzle together as to how we will serve those we teach.  We are starting school in a new world, both during a pandemic as well as a time of social upheaval. There have been nightly protests in Portland for over 100 days. Protests that stand for Black Lives Matter, protests that ha

Teachers, students, and the State of Education

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I started this blog post in May. For some reason I have been really struggling with writing. I think because so many things are in flux that it can be challenging to find focus. I want to change that. I am working on literally making a schedule of my day to help me find time to read, write, work on my side hustle, Two Giraffes Lularoe, I am both trying to simplify my life as well as find some order. It's a strange combination...Order and chaos. yet it is the life that I have now.   This time in my life, during the pandemic, education is at a cross roads. We have the potential to change the way we teach, change the way students have the opportunity to learn. In this scary time, we have the opportunity to make a powerful difference on education as a whole!  I am a teacher. This past year I finished my 28th year of teaching. I have been an educator for more than half my life. Being a teacher defines me. I love teaching. I love the students, the challenge of unlocking th