After days of struggle with a single issue, I received a nice note from a college student I taught last year. She was looking for resources we had discussed in the university course, resources she hoped to use with her students during her student teaching practicum this semester.
Her kind words were very welcome as the struggle to understand the recent issue has been very challenging. I started down a road I thought to be clear and easy only to find that the path was filled with unexpected twists and turns resulting ultimately to a dead end sadly.
I thought that I had planned the path well. I felt like I consulted those I should. I read the protocols and rules related to the efforts and reached out when I didn't understand, and then, all of a sudden, there was nowhere I could find to turn to in order understand the path with clarity. I was met with so many different answers from so many people, many of which conflicted. I'm actually not sure why any of this happened.
A similar issue happened about a year ago. I ventured outside of my classroom expectations with what I thought was a promising new idea only to be met with a dead end that time too. I can conjecture all day about why I think this has happened, but conjecture typically leads to nowhere, so instead, I'll redirect the path back to my classroom work and expectations as those are, for the most part, clearly laid out.
I'm the kind of person who likes to learn, enjoys venturing out, and trying new endeavor. Creating helps me to grow and develops my craft in ways that matter. The venture with my PLN and outside efforts have helped my teaching a lot, and I will continue to seek that kind of growth in places that have been supportive, encouraging, and forward moving, places like edcamps, NBPTS, NEA, MTA, CTQ, ECET2, #edchat, #edchatma, Teachers.Do, Teacher2Teacher, the university connection, MassCUE, and my grade-level/school team. All of those people, places, and related events have served to help me serve children well.
In time, this experience will probably make sense to me, but for now, I have to pack it away as an effort that didn't work out. Sometimes that happens.
